Taking ergonomics to the factory floor

This month, Best Practices takes you into the world of bad backs and worker injuries — specifically, how to avoid them.

Precise Tooling Solutions Inc., a mold maker and precision machining company in Columbus, Ind., has been diversifying its offerings. Two years ago, the company bought the ErgoSmart product line from Extol Inc., an engineering company that designs plastics welding equipment and makes assembly equipment. Precise CEO and owner Don Dumoulin said demand has been strong ever since, from broad range of industries.

He said ErgoSmart has had its best sales ever in the first quarter of 2018. "We're on pace to double the business," Dumoulin said.

What is ErgoSmart? It is a family of products inlcuding the ErgoStation. Think of those adjustable computer desks where you can adjust the height and even stand up and type.

The ErgoStation is like that, except it is made for factory use. Using an electric motor, it moves up and down, with a lifting capacity ranging up to 3,500 pounds. An upright frame accommodates customer-specified features, including an overhead light, a compressed-air manifold, a fan, a tool trolley rail and other possible options.

Other products in the line include ErgoWeld Station, which can be adjusted up and down and has a rotating top plate that can turn 360 degrees, and the ErgoBase and ErgoTable.

Dumoulin said ErgoSmart products are an affordable way to improve safety and employee comfort — and reduce costs.

"Back injuries are the No. 1 cause of workers compensation issues," he said.

Dumoulin said Extol built them to put under its automation and robotics equipment in packages supplied to customers. And Precise Tooling continues to supply ErgoSmart products to Extol, in Zeeland, Mich. Precise also uses them for its internal manufacturing. That was part of the deal — and a good endorsement for Precise.

Dumoulin believes ErgoSmart products, which have been in use for more than 20 years, are well-positioned for the resurgence in U.S. manufacturing.

"Hardly a week goes by that an injection mold or plate machining customer doesn't ask us about building custom work stations of machine bases," he said.

One customer is Cummins Inc., the maker of large engines and Precise Tooling's neighbor in Columbus. Last fall Cummins installed nine of the ergonomic work stations, configured with custom shelving and hardware that could accommodate multiple packaging operations.

ErgoSmart products have a welded frame, incorporating an integrated bearing system to eliminate table flexing and side-to-side frame movement. Customers can select the weight lifting capacity and table top material along with decide how, or if, it is fixtured as well as the paint color.

If you've been in an assembly plant where men and women put together cars or appliances, you've seen investments these big companies have made to raise and lower the work for employees. But any company, large or small, should want to make work as comfortable as possible for their people.

Car plants in the old days forced workers to contort themselves to install parts. Those days are gone now, and products like ErgoSmart bring about a low-cost solution for lots of applications.