Cartridge-style Industrial Cart
A well-known company in the small appliance industry had multiple line-side flow racks on its production floor supplying parts (e.g., bolts, nuts, etc.) for the assembly process. The rack consisted of multi-lane, multi-level roller conveyors set at convenient ergonomic heights for the assembler.
The current method of restocking the flow racks required a material handler to tow a simple two shelf supply cart out to the various flow rack locations on a “route” to manually fill the roller lanes with full totes and retrieve empties. The route typically took an hour to complete but had to be repeated 3 times per shift. The company was looking for a more efficient delivery cart process which would allow the material handler to complete the route much more quickly providing more time for the support of other assembly areas.
Lean Material Handling Solution
K-Tec was asked to address the small parts challenge and proposed a modification of its delivery cart that would integrate directly with shortened stationary line-side flow racks. The modified cart would resemble a mobile flow rack and function as a cartridge style industrial cart system for quick replacement.
When the assembler was ready for parts, the material handler would tow the full cartridge cart system to the line-side location, remove the empty cart and replace it with a full cart positioned directly behind the shortened flow rack (to allow the system to fit without extending into the aisles). The empty cartridge carts would be towed back to the market areas and filled with totes for the next runs. Exchanging cartridge carts instead of filling stationary racks will give the material handler approximately 1 ½ to 2 hours per shift to allocate to other supply issues.
K-Tec customized order picker cart
A well-known discount furniture manufacturer and retailer with several locations across the eastern U.S. was building a new warehouse and decided to overhaul its warehouse cart system. They discovered K-Tec through an Internet search, and the two companies quickly embarked on a project to make the furniture manufacturer’s order picker carts easier to use; with increased furniture payload, reduced noise and increased durability.
The company’s current order picker carts were too heavy, limiting the amount of furniture that could be loaded on the cart while on the picker. Noise was a big concern. In addition, the manufacturer was concerned about the safety of the carts, which required the picker operator to load material from 10 to 15 feet in the air.
Material Handling Solution – Custom-Designed Industrial Cart
K-Tec’s material handling solution included partnering with the company that made the order pickers so the industrial picker cart more securely attached to the pickers. We also adjusted the height and width of the cart openings to better fit the forks on the pickers.
K-Tec cart on order picker
The new industrial carts were less noisy and lighter in weight, which allowed more furniture to be loaded and then hitched “train style” so multiple industrial carts could be transported to the dock area at one time.
Tags: customized industrial carts, industrial carts, order picker carts, towable industrial carts
A large manufacturer of heavy-duty transmissions placed its components for machining on industrial carts staged line side opposite the machining centers. This allowed the operators to easily retrieve their next batch of parts and manually push them into their work stations.
However, the carts were loaded and empty dunnage retrieved by fork trucks. This created an unsafe situation for machinists, who were often standing in the narrow aisles where fork truck operators were maneuvering the loads.
Material Handling Solution
A much safer, streamlined material handling solution known as a “mother/daughter” (M/D) industrial cart was proposed. The M/D industrial cart is essentially two small carts within a larger cart. Bulk parts were fork truck loaded onto the two small daughter carts (while in the mother frame) in the market area. 
One or two complete M/D frames were towed to line-side positions and “dropped” for use by the machinists. Full daughter carts were manually rolled out of the frame and empties pushed back in. The large mother industrial cart can be towed in both directions, allowing the tug to handle “dead end” aisles by simply connecting to the other end and towing.
The M/D solution eliminated the safety issues associated with fork truck loading/unloading of dunnage on carts within tight aisles and improved delivery efficiency by carrying more material per run.
Tags: customized industrial carts, industrial carts, towable industrial carts
As companies consider industrial cart systems, there are many factors to be weighed, including whether a standard or customized delivery cart will meet their needs. K-Tec offers a combination of both — an industrial cart solution with a standardized base and a “task oriented” bolt-on upper frame. Benefits to the customer include:
- A stronger, more stable cart base suitable for the rigors of towing
- Ability to easily interchange and/or reorder common parts on the lower base that experience the most wear and tear (i.e., wheels, floor locks, tow bars and hitches)
- A solution that is tailored to product handling needs but can be more cost-effective than a completely customized cart
- Base cart with interchangeability with other customized uppers or use as a simple flat deck
There are several examples demonstrating the value of this approach:
Industrial cart with secure cage
Example 1: Utility Company
A utility company needed to put valuable property inside a security cage that was easy to transport yet protected. By utilizing a common K-Tec delivery cart base (slightly modified) and a custom wire security cage upper, the company received a rugged and robust industrial cart solution that accommodated towing in both directions and kept the utility company’s valuable cargo safe during transportation.
Example 2: Truck Engine Manufacturer
Industrial cart with "leaf" frame
A manufacturer of diesel truck engines needed a solution to move bulky and heavy components to the assembly line. Rather than build a completely custom cart, K-Tec provided a common rotational deck cart coupled with a custom dual-sided “leaf” frame that bolted to the deck. The solution allowed the customer to use standard replacement parts for the wear items or remove the leaf frame and use the cart as a standard rotational deck unit for pallet transport.
Industrial cart with sloping tray
Example 3: Industrial Hose Manufacturer
This customer requested an industrial cart with a sloping tray so its operators wouldn’t have to walk around the cart to remove the product. K-Tec designed two sloping trays with double lanes so that it provided the required volume but allowed the materials to slide forward. The twin double lane assembly was bolted to the vertical posts on a common delivery cart frame to provide a robust towing base and standard replacement parts.
Tags: customized industrial carts, Delivery Industrial Carts, industrial carts, towable industrial carts
One of the largest mattress manufacturers and retailers in the world was seeking a better solution for moving its mattresses to and from the delivery dock. The company’s present method used very large picker carts and tugs to move the mattresses in a vertical position from the manufacturing area to an order picker for high bay rack storage. When required for shipment, the mattresses would be loaded from the racks to the picker carts and then tugged to the docks for truck loading.
A good solution to be sure but the carts themselves contributed to problems. Wheel failures due to axle wear, different wheel mounting heights (lost or no shims), rattling deck (poorly welded or broken welds) and wheel noise. In addition, the stringer block which allows the cart to be secured to the order picker was poorly mounted and too soft creating wear and the need for frequent inspection.
Material Handling Solution
K-Tec created a new cart design that corrected all of the short falls of the existing units. A roll formed 4-panel deck presented a lighter, stronger overall construction that eliminated deck noise (and reduced push pull forces at rated loads). The use of higher quality rigs and wheels with sealed bearings eliminated axle wear, wheel noise and the need for shims. The new safety stringer blocks of a harder composite material were contained in a rugged, structured framework, increasing cart/order picker safety.
Tags: customized industrial carts, industrial carts, order picker carts, towable industrial carts
A fire protection cylinder manufacturer has a variety of cylinder sizes and weights. During manufacturing, these cylinders must be moved from station to station to have various parts installed. The large cylinders can weigh up to 2000 lbs. In the past, they lifted the cylinders using a jib boom or a fork truck to bring the cylinder into the workstation. This caused safety concerns with the fork truck traffic being very close to the human workers and very tight quarters.
Material Handling Solution
As a solution to this material handling challenge, the company considered using “LoBoy” or a drop center style industrial cart which allowed the large cylinders to be kept very low (~4”) to the floor. The cylinders are loaded with a jib boom at the beginning of the process but are then manually moved from station to station on the LoBoy industrial cart. The operators are able to move the cylinder regardless of the size. The industrial carts were built with safety constraint straps to hold a variety of cylinder sizes and weights and thus conform to safety regulations.
Tags: delivery industrial cart
A manufacturer of parts for the heating and cooling industry has a very small heat exchanger that weighs about 11 lbs. The heat exchanger looks like a radiator and can be damaged easily during manufacturing. The company wanted to be able to transport these heat exchange units from sub assembly to the final assembly area without damage.
Tags: delivery industrial cart
