Palamatic News Update - Week 5 2009
31.01.09
As expected Week 5 was a hectic one, with preparation and execution of a two day training program for our new Norwegian distributor; Busch Vakuumteknik AS. Thankfully the weather did not interrupt procedings this time as it did back in December 2008, when fog prevented the flight out of Oslo.
Distributor Training Program
Staff at Palamatic extended a warm welcome to our new colleagues from Busch Vakuumteknik AS. The two day event, which took place on Tuesday and Wednesday, was the first in a program of establishing Busch as our new distributor for Norway. The event included demonstrations of various pieces of Palamatics vacuum tube lifter range as well as a look at component manufacture and quality. Time was also spent in the 'classroom' going over various selling tools, marketing media and an overview of how to correctly evaluate a vacuum handling application.
Following the event, Øyvind Hansen Billing - General Manager sent his thanks by email...
"Thank you very much for a very interesting visit in your factory. We all had a very good impression about your company. your products and your people. Especially the availability to the necessary information in order to do sales of your products was excellent. Making it easy to sell is in my point of view a key success factor. We look forward to starting the business with you and hope that this is the start of long and fruitful co-operation for both parties."
On behalf of everyone at Palamatic I would like to thank Øyvind, Erik, Martin and Nina (who suffered a broken ankle just before the ill fated trip of December 2008) for making the 2hr trip from Oslo and for their enthusiasm and investment in opening up a new distribution channel in to the Norwegian market for Palamatic.
Custom Tooling for the Food Industry
A new custom tooling design recently left the factory. Having taking orders from two individual companies, this design was destined for a multi-national food producer and a household name in tea dsitribution. This inventive tooling allows operators to quickly swap from bag lifting to carton lifting, at the press of a button. Particularly useful in process and warehouse or order picking lines where the operator is randomly presented with sacks or boxes as they move along a conveyor. With no time to switch tooling through conventional quick change couplings, Palamatic combined the flat carton handling suction pads within the housing of a sack lifting suction head. The soft sponge rubber is used when sack lifting, as this moulds nicely to the contoured surface. Whenever necessary, the operator can engage either tooling dependent on which product is presented. A simple pneumatically operated function presents or retracts the carton lifting pads quickly and efficiently, allowing the operator to continue unhindered in the handling process. In total, Palamatic engineers successfully installed three vacuum lifters at the clients premises. Each installation included a Palamatic aluminium bridge crane suspension mechanism mounted from specially designed steelwork.
Articulated Jib Crane Package
Also completed for despatch this week was an articulated jib crane (also known as a knuckle jib' crane) system for suspension of a vacuum sack lifter. Articulated jib arms are particularly useful in working environments with restricted operational space i.e. where a standard straight boom cannot swing through the required radius due to physical obstructions. The knuckle jib pivots about a central point, allowing the outer arm to fold back towards the vertical support column. This helps avoid any vertical obstruction and the manual sack handling process can continue unhindered. Articulated arm jibs also help to maximise the headroom available in a working environment as the vacuum lifter suspension point is elevated as high as physically possible, thus enabling increased vertical lift.
'In-Stock' Tooling for Panel Lifting
Palamatic aims to meet customer demands with the quick and efficient delivery of a variety of vacuum lifting products. This vacuum tooling is used to lift and rotate payloads through 90 degrees. In this example, a door is lifted from a horizontal product stack. After engaging the vacuum pads (which are specially made in a narrow design for picking on doors with routed surface patterns), Kevin (our workshop foreman) lifts the product using the vacuum control lever. While walking over to the payload destination using the free movement of a jib crane, he rotates the door manually by pushing on a conveniently positioned handle. This effortless process presents the door at a 90 degree angle; specifically for the loading of vertical panel saws or wall saws as they are commonly known. Once located on the saw, vacuum is released from the panel using Palamatics lift-off or assisted release feature. The action of this feature means that when vacuum is released, the vacuum tooling softly 'pops' off the surface, rather than heading for the ground as gravity takes effect. One obvious advantage of using the lift-off feature is that it prevents the operator fighting against gravity, which could otherwise result in personal injury or product/equipment damage. Palamatic fits this feature as standard on all such tooling designs as a commitment to operator safety.
Remember, you can enquire about any of the equipment featured above by using our online enquiry form or quotation request form; or by calling either of the numbers shown at the very top of your screen.
