The clamp-truck handling is now becoming popular day by day in supply chain operations because it can help reduce labour and also accelerate the product distribution process. However, it is important to ensure that your packaging is properly designed for clamp handling.
You may unload or load trucks more quickly and cut down on manual labour by employing a carton clamp. Clamp handling has increased, with particularly large product volumes coming from Asian manufacturers in intermodal containers, according to Top Industries Engineers.
These loads, which are frequently floor loaded and combined, are either mechanically unloaded by a clamp truck or manually unloaded by hand, which is sometimes a labour-intensive procedure.
What are clamp handling’s pitfalls?
1. Not suitably designed
The majority of packaging is not made to withstand handling by clamp trucks. Corrugated board switched from Mullen burst board to one ECT grade board in the 1980s. The fibres in ECT paper are arranged to support compressive and vertical stacking loads.
However, as clamp handling flattens boxes, products may need more internal packaging support or heavier boards in corrugated shippers to endure repeated clamp truck hits.
2. Lack of operator training
Before your product ever leaves your facility, something can be harming it. You can be damaging your product or at the very least causing packing fatigue depending on the clamping pressures and location on the package.
Because operating a clamp truck properly needs more skill than operating any other truck front end, operator training is essential.
To become proficient, however, requires more than six months of experience, during which time many packages are destroyed by over or under-clamping risks.
To minimise losses, few businesses employ or enforce clamping regulations, and skilled clamp truck operators make up a very small portion of the labour force.
3. Equipment usage
So far, no options were available for variable control over any clamping pressure outside the operator’s “gut feel.” But “gut feel” is the most difficult part of any operator training to achieve
These control systems will certainly be improved. We will prefer to see is a certain smart controller emerging that can scan the product before picking it up and then automatically control the clamping force which is based on pre-programmed values.
Although it is still in its infancy, mechanical manipulation of clamps is evolving. There is a narrow line between exerting just the right amount of force to grip and pick up one or more boxes and exerting enough force to seriously harm the product packaging.
Based on their unique product mix, each company applies variable top-end forces to their equipment very rarely does an organisation measure or request the highest clamping forces throughout the supply chain that their products travel.
We have observed a high variance in the force exerted by individual operators. Many may just push the lever by using their maximum strength. Most trucks may also apply a standard force of about 1,200 lbs or few are measured in terms of pounds per square inch.
You can find here is Linkedin profile of Top Industries that can present you what are the current status of clamp handling.
