Paving and loading lifts

“These are our fakir boxes,” says Thomas Donner, laughing. The mesh containers owe their nickname to their pointed, sharp contents:

Knife tip after knife tip flashes out of the boxes. They go into the cleaning machine, where the blades lose their last traces of processing. Knives that have made it this far at the Solingen twin plant have come a long way: the steel has been stamped, upset, forged and ground. “It takes around 40 work steps to get from the steel strip to the finished knife,” Donner tells us. The safety engineer is an occupational safety officer.

And because the company, which was founded in 1731, spans several buildings and floors, not only he but also each knife covers long distances. “We mainly transport in shepherd’s panniers,” says Donner. “And they can weigh as much as 25 kilos.” They have long since ceased to be balanced from the pallets onto the transport carts using pure physical strength. “That leads to back problems and even absences from work,” Donner has learned during his many years on the job.

Mobile loading lifts have been saving backs and joints at Zwilling since 1998. Now, employees pull the shepherd’s crate from the stack with one hand and let it slide onto the roller platform of the EXPRESSO lift2move. The other hand rests securely on the blue push bar. With the next hand movement, they then move the crate onto the four-wheeled trolley. The entire motion sequence is ergonomic and safe. And because the power comes from the loading lift, the employees hardly tire at all. So, it’s no wonder that wherever there’s a stack of shepherd crates at Zwilling, a lift2move is not far away.

The back-friendly helpers are as much a part of the load here as the ubiquitous first-aid boxes and plaster dispensers are for handling sharp steel. Donner is always looking for ways to improve. On his rounds with the company’s physician and members of the works council, he scrutinizes work processes. Can the manual movements be carried out in a way that is easy on the back? Where do movement sequences need to be optimized? And what aids are useful? Donner often calls in EXPRESSO sales representative Jürgen Neumann. Over the course of many years, he has gathered a great deal of expertise in the field of healthy working. “With him, we analyze the situations and work out a customized solution together.”

The fact that these solutions have to be robust becomes clear when walking through the factory halls. Where steel is processed, it can get not only noisy but also dusty. Some lifts reveal with their patina that they have been doing service here for a long time – reliably and safely. Thomas Donner greatly appreciates their longevity and the advice. “It saves us valuable time; after all, I also have to take care of fire and environmental protection.”