Cleveland Tramrail Paper Handling
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Industry: Manufacturer of Pulp and Paper
Product: Cleveland Tramrail Dual Monorail System; 600 lb. capacity; manipulator
The Problem: Operator injuries, especially back
The solution: Green Bay Packaging selected a 600 pound capacity Cleveland Tramrail® crane with dual monorails featuring a platform to support the manipulator. The Cleveland Tramrail® system was important because it is strong enough to support the weight of a large manipulator reaching outside the support structure to lift the 600 pound paper rolls.
Read the entire story: Green Bay Packaging is a pulp and paper manufacturer using 100% recycled materials to produce a wide variety paperboard packaging. Large bulk rolls are slit and sized based on customer demand, and moved to a work cell in stacks where they are loaded onto skids for final shipping. Occasionally the large rolls need to be loaded into a machine to be rewound prior to shipping. The size of the rolls vary significantly, but can be as large as 3’ x 5’, and weigh as much as 600 pounds.
The primary problem facing the company in this application was operator injury, especially back strains. Back injuries were the leading cause of lost time injury for the company, and at one point were occurring as frequently as once per week. While most rolls are far too big for a single operator to lift, some smaller rolls are tempting for an operator to move manually in a time saving effort.
The company began looking for a lifting solution that would be able to reduce the number of employee injuries, while at the same time handle the paper rolls without product damage.
“The two options being considered were an up-ender and a crane with a manipulator,” said John Frederick of Green Bay Packaging. “The problem with the up-ender was that we couldn’t handle the rolls the way we wanted to when loading the skids. The manipulator became important for stacking multiple rolls.”
With the manipulator selected for tooling, the next obstacle was figuring out how to support the manipulator. The work cell where the rolls would be rewound had space restrictions that prohibited an overhead crane from covering the full work area.
Green Bay Packaging selected a 600 pound capacity Cleveland Tramrail® crane with dual monorails featuring a platform to support the manipulator. The Cleveland Tramrail® system was important because it is strong enough to support the weight of a large manipulator reaching outside the support structure to lift the 600 pound paper rolls.
The implementation of the new process was very effective, as workers found moving even the heavier loads was easier. The manipulator inserts into the hole of the paper rolls and turns it to the proper position for loading into the machine. Operators have complete control over the linear movement of the manipulator with controls for the drives on the handle for the manipulator.
Of course, the primary goal the company when putting the system in the area was to reduce injuries. “There’s been a huge reduction in workplace injuries,” said Frederick. “Keeping our workers safe is our top priority. With this crane, there have been no injuries, and that was this project’s biggest success.”