
Beverage Giant Safeguards Pallet Flow Lanes
A worldwide beverage company recently built a new distribution center, which featured three levels and two large pick modules. The facility, designed to store, move, pick, pack and ship products, includes large pallet flow system to move its products from storage to packing to shipping.
Within the new facility, every inch of space was maximized, include flow lanes for pallets. Due to the goals of using all space, the customer created a unique pallet flow application, with the rollers extending throughout the entire bay, the full 96 by 96 foot flow area, instead of a typical setting in which rollers and aisles are featured in the bay. This made the area very dangerous for anyone to walk out on the bay, due to the rollers; if product got clogged in the system, a fix would require a time consuming process to bring in equipment to unjam the lines.
Given it was a new facility, safety systems that included fall protection throughout the facility were needed to be installed to ensure its future employees would be safe. The pallet flow lanes were a priority - safety could not impede on the continual flow of products in the system. And, while employees are not asked to walk on the flow lanes to dislodge stuck products, it was extremely dangerous for them to do so in the new configuration. All working areas higher than 48 inches above the ground level also had to be guarded to satisfy OSHA fall protection requirements.
The facility manager worked to ensure elevated ledges of pallet flow lanes were guarded to provide a safe environment with fall protection for employees at all times, even while still allowing the flow of materials. Knowing harnesses and fall arrest systems did not work with the employee workflow, they set out to find industrial safety gates for fall protection that would automatically open and close as the pallets were pushed through the system. After reviewing a variety of safety gates for pallet flow lanes, Mezzanine Safeti-Gates, Inc. was selected to provide the equipment.
Maintenance on pallet flow safety gates was a big consideration for the new facility. In some of its other facilities, the pallet flow gates used hinges, which were constantly breaking and having to be replaced. One of the biggest reasons Mezzanine Safeti-Gates was selected to provide the pallet flow safety gates was the springless design, which would save both time and money due to very little lifetime maintenance needed.
The team from Mezzanine Safeti-Gates worked with the facility manager to determine the best fit for the pallet flow safety gates, and also noticed that the outbound lanes would be unguarded. The team suggested using the Roly® safety gate, its dual-gate system. Once each area was measured, the gates went into production and were installed throughout the facility. The pallet flow gates automatically open as the pallet is pushed through the system, and closes behind the pallet once it is through and on the lanes, preventing employees from stepping onto or falling from the edge of the flow lane. The Roly safety gates on the outbound lanes protected employees from the ledge while material was removed from the bays.
When the new facility opened, the pallet flow safety gates were in place to keep employees safe. No maintenance has been needed on the safety gates, even after hundreds of thousands of products have been through the pallet flow system.