Year over year growth of Topper Industrial Mother Daughter carts is projected at 50% from 2018 through 2023. The wide adoption of the Fork Truck Free movement in North America is driving the rapid growth. This does not mean all fork trucks will come off the plant floor of North American manufacturers. The term “fork truck free” (or the initiative toward increasing fork truck effectiveness) has become the first initiative for many facilities starting a Lean manufacturing journey. Primary motivators for this initiative are efficiency metrics and the stated objective to improve safety in the workplace.
Extensive research supports the installation of tuggers in conjunction with Mother Daughter carts significantly reduced personal injury and damage to product. Tuggers with a train of carts ensures that material movement becomes predictable, dependable, and available in environments that may not be suitable for operators for safety reasons. Given the accuracy of a tugger pulled Mother Daughter system, routes can be timed to function in conjunction with the conveyors and travel closer to the production line than a manual fork truck manual route. The results included elimination of safety concerns, space savings in a manufacturing plant, and reduced part damage.
As inventory reduction is mandated, the Fork Truck Free process concretizing the efficiency of a production system—time, space, effort, and inventory. These are measurable impacts which directly affect profitability. The use of Mother Daughter carts ensures that items can be brought to the production line on a schedule, in sequence as required, and presented in the best ergonomic location, without a material handler transporting them. When materials can be replenished and displayed in rack or cart form, lean manufacturing plants are rapidly replacing existing layout with a Mother Daughter cart system to run the delivery route.
In evaluating the root-cause analysis of Fork Truck Free adoption in North American plants, the role of improved ergonomic forces is driving the huge demand for Mother Daughter carts. The ergonomic push is found in the Topper best-of-breed design. Unloading and loading is a primary area for potential injury. Because the types of daughter carts are designed with operator pick point in mind, the daughter carts in Topper’s design travel with the casters on the floor. They are manufactured with the best casters to ensure easy pushing. The larger casters on the Mother Carts is intentional and part of the patented design; it accomplishes better push pull forces.
Building a forklift-free program is happening at a faster pace as more new manufacturing plants are scheduled to be built or revamped since the 1960s. While Fork Truck Free requires that a significant amount of time on the “front end” of the planning process lean kaizen teams are well-versed in clarifying plan targets, goals, identifying waste, ergonomic, and safety threats.
Manufacturing industrial engineers and material logistics personnel are the VOC (voice of the customer) and designated as Fork Truck Free project leaders who make decisions with input from safety and ergonomic teams, production managers, line operators, proposed tug drivers, market supply teams, purchasing and buyer/planners. It is these engineering project managers that can be defined as the root cause of rapid Mother Daughter cart growth.
About Topper Industrial
For more than twenty years, Topper Industrial, (www.topperindustrial.com) based just outside of Milwaukee, WI, has been a leader in the material handling equipment industry. The company’s product roster features industrial carts, conveyors, lifts, lifts & tilts, shipping racks, containers, casters, and cart components. From mother-daughter carts to quad steer carts to tilt carts and rotate carts, Topper’s material handling solutions make delivering material line side more effective through more efficient practices. Topper Industrial has a team of experienced professional experts able to assess and provide the right product for all material handling equipment requirements.
Topper Industrial is a proud member of MHI. Follow on Twitter @TopperInd or on LinkedIn.