Features/Benefits Provided: Business: Stone Countertop Fabrication SIC Code: 3281 Product type: Free Standing Work Station Crane Lifting Device: End Effector (provided by others)

This customer fabricates countertops using granite and marble. In this application, workers at a new facility need to move huge slabs of granite from station to station through the various stages of the fabrication process.

The slabs of granite are huge, weighing up to 850#, and are often oddly shaped. At a similar facility, the customer had been lifting the slabs from a storage rack onto a cart, rolling the cart into the facility, and then 3 people were required to lift the slab into the machine, where it is cut and then moved to another station to be edged and finished.

• Obviously, this was a huge job and was very physically taxing on the three people lifting these massive slabs. Imagine the potential for injuries if this slab had dropped on any of them.
• When the pieces were manually lifted and handled, they were being held at the corners and the pressure created by the weight of the slab could create a break point in the center of the slab. The results of such a break? A costly piece of unusable material!
• Each piece was lifted multiple times as it moved through the fabrication process, so with each lift, the potential for product damage or worker injury increased.

Solution: A Free Standing Work Station Crane w/Aluminum Bridge

The customer chose a 43' Gorbel Work Station Crane system with 2 1-ton bridges. The crane system easily handles these huge slabs and now only one worker - not three - is needed to effortlessly move the slabs from station to station. Plus, the end effector (by others) grabs the slabs in such a way that pressure is evenly distributed over the slab, reducing product damage.

Results:

• The customer estimates that productivity has increased 25% due to the ease of movement made possible with the crane system.
• The job now takes 1 worker instead of 3.
• The risks of personal injury and product damage are greatly reduced.
• The operators love the easy to move crane. It's less tiring than manually lifting 850# slabs in the heat of summer!

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600 Fishers Run
Fishers, NY 14453-0596
800-821-0086
Email info@gorbel.com
Website: www.gorbel.com