From Hatchery to Henhouse
Our Ergo-Innovation ProgramMD in Action Like most other vital sectors of the economy, the agribusiness faces its fair share of challenges when it comes to employee security, productivity and profitability. Organizations that transport baby chicks between hatcheries and hen houses are no exception to the rule. Here’s how one of our clients in this business segment benefited from the way we do business. Challenges From the very outset, we focused on real customer needs and challenges: - Simplify the transfer process between delivery trucks and hen houses, especially those built two and even three stories high.
- Reduce the amount of stress chicks are subjected to and minimize the risk of contamination
- Create a more secure work environment for truck drivers and hen house employees
- Improve delivery personnel and receiving personnel productivity
- Improve the profitability of baby chick transporters and their hen house clients
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A Simple yet Highly Effective Solution By putting our engineering skills and our commitment to innovation and ergonomics, we created the Plafolift Baby Chick Elevator. It is an ingenious materials lifting system that is both compact and very easy to use. It is contained in a stainless steel case that can be installed on either side at the rear of most six and ten wheel trucks. The Plafolift operation manual is as short as counting from 1 to 5: - The baby chick elevator is pulled out of its protective case
- It is deployed
- It is secured
- The transport shelf is installed
- The elevator reaches for the sky
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Operational Efficiencies Time from truck arrival to physically off-loading baby chicks to the third floor of a hen house: less than 3 minutes!
The Plafolift Baby Chick Elevator allows the stacking of baby chick boxes that are to be lifted as high as 23 feet above ground with a capacity of 300 pounds. It also facilitates the process of bringing down empty baby chick boxes for quick loading back onto the delivery truck. The Plafolift Baby Chick Elevator makes speed of execution a priority and this has multiple secondary benefits: it reduces the need to manipulate baby chick boxes thereby minimizing the risk of contamination for the chicks. It reduces the stress chicks are subjected to and it protects them from exposure to adverse temperature changes. An added benefit to the engineering built into The Plafolift Baby Chick Elevator is that the delivery truck can be moved from one hen house access point to another without having to put the elevator away. This allows for substantial time savings. Additional Benefits - A delivery truck with one driver/off-loader managed to move 69,000 baby chicks in 65 minutes. That’s better than 1,000 chicks per minute! In short, the work gets done in half the time and requires half the people to get it done.
- With the Plafolift Baby Chick Elevator installed on its delivery trucks, the transportation company can now get the job done with a single driver/off-loader in action and only one helper on the client side. The carrier and the receiver both benefit from lower salary and benefit costs.
- The transportation company has reduced its damaged goods claims.
- The carrier has better satisfied customers that experience improved speed of execution, higher levels of productivity, better margins…and, need we add, happier baby chicks!
- Best of all, both parties are making more money.
This real-life case history is proof positive that the Plafolift Ergo-Innovation ProgramMD really works. It facilitates the development of client centric lifting solutions. It puts our capacity to innovate, our commitment to sound ergonomics and our in-house engineering skills to work on solutions that allow our clients to prosper. For All Kinds of Other Applications This solution makes sense for all kinds of businesses that have to deliver goods to the upper floors of two or three story buildings. Beer, soft drinks, small size boxes, etc. |