It is not unusual for a company with specific needs to find themselves looking for a bespoke solution when ordering equipment. Off-the-shelf products in ready supply may have once satisfied work tasks but the more specialist an undertaking becomes, often the more bespoke the requirement demands. We are finding that the most productive workplace practises are needing materials handling equipment that have been designed and built for exact purpose.
It is always preferable to look at the supply of equipment between customer and supplier as a collaboration. By offering further after-sales support and help, as and when expectations and applications change, then new ideas and alterations that can improve the use of material handling products, can be easily implemented.
Such was the case of the humble picking trolley where an element of tailor-made design made a huge difference in the performance of a workforce and then in turn, on the productivity results that ultimately improved delivery times throughout the industry. What started out as an idea on the fabrication workshop floor for a very simple picking desk, soon evolved into something rather more useful when it turned into a mobile trolley.
Frayed waste collection bag
Redesigned waste collection bag
A supply chain customer was originally supplied 30 picking trolleys back in 2017 with a further 20 since. That same trolley has continued to be refined to include not only the mobile castor base but also picking bins, packaging holders, note boards and more recently some clip-on waste collection bags. However, after several months of use we found that the waste collection bags were tending to fray and unravel along the top edge opening. So, we put our design people to work and they came up with a far better design that incorporated brass eyelets along the top edge to secure the bag in place with a Velcro fastening method.
We shall of course continue to support our customer should any further enhancements be required to the picking trolley.
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