5 Reasons Why Your Business Needs Central locking castors？

So, the topic of “casters” probably doesn’t send a jolt of dopamine or adrenaline through most people.

Wheels and casters are often seen as nothing more than a minor part of the operations of a business. In the minds of many, “If the cart moves, the casters are working like they should.”

In reality, this couldn’t be farther from the truth. Casters are the primary piece of equipment for moving your product around.

For more information, please visit our website.

If they are high-quality ergonomic casters, then your product and the people moving it benefit tremendously.

If your casters are subpar, and we’ve seen some really bad ones, you are risking the health of your employees and are 100% losing money every single day.

At times, it may be a bit confusing as to what an “ergonomic” caster is, but this is simply a way of referring to a caster that decreases the amount of effort required to push or pull a cart.

But, make sure that when you want to measure a decrease in push/pull, you have the proper measurements, such as with the methods found within Caster Connection’s collaboration with The Ohio State University Spine Research Institute.

We’re happy to help, so if you’d like some guidance with this process, click at the bottom of the post.

Now, that we know how to establish what an ergonomic caster is, let’s look at the 6 main ways high-quality ergonomic casters benefit you.

QUIETER WORKING ENVIRONMENT

First, you get a much quieter working environment. Most ergonomic casters are made from sound-dampening materials or are designed to minimize noise.

A quieter working environment benefits your employees and business in many ways. You can read about 12 that are covered in this article. There are a few that are particularly applicable, however.

When you have a loud working environment, your employees are more stressed, tired, and possibly even injured.

Hearing loss is an incredibly serious injury and can add to the anxiety that an employee feels at work.

When employees work in a loud working environment, they have lower productivity and lack focus.

This affects your business and working conditions in many ways. These ways are similar to the additional 5 benefits below.

Bottom line is that your business and employees benefit greatly from a quiet working environment brought about by sound-dampening casters.

LESS INJURY

The most obvious benefit from ergonomic casters is that your employees, and possibly you, injure themselves much less frequently.

This is because the carts are substantially easier to push. This is important because the lower back has fewer pain receptors than other parts of the body.

That means that you often injure yourself but only later realize that you have injured yourself. The easier your cart rolls, the less likely you are to injure yourself.

Besides the many benefits this offers your company, by using ergonomic casters, you are protecting the health and well-being of a real human being. An injury to anyone can affect them and their family on a very deep level.

MORE MONEY & LOWER COSTS

Injuries, particularly to the lower back or any other MSD (musculoskeletal disorder), cause around $50 billion dollars in lost costs each year.

This is not even including lost costs from sound and other injuries found on the job. This money that can be saved is completely separate from the money that you can earn and maintain through higher productivity.

HIGHER PRODUCTIVITY

When your employees aren’t injured, they continue to work, and therefore, you don’t have to retrain other workers or redistribute other workers from different parts of your operations. When you lose an employee for any period of time, you lose this employee’s productivity.

Besides these more direct savings, you gain higher productivity and savings through the direct performance of the caster.

This allows your employees to move more product faster and with greater energy. It doesn’t take a genius to recognize that the more product is moving and the less workers are fatigued, the more revenue is coming in.

Just think of how many times employees are moving carts from point A to point B. Then, add up all of the hours these employees struggled to move a cart when they could have been moving it with ease.

The ROI on high quality ergonomic casters is virtually guaranteed.

BETTER QUALITY PRODUCT

Because you save money, have better productivity, and your employees aren’t injured, this allows you to concentrate on producing a higher quality product. Better ergonomics more directly affects the product quality, however, and this has been proven in scientific studies.

When employees must continuously strain, bend over, and push heavy carts needlessly, quality suffers.

It is much easier to forget/ignore training than follow best practices since your body eventually tries to cut corners.

High-quality ergonomic casters help your employees remain consistent in their training and allow them to concentrate on their work. This, in turn, produces a more consistent and higher quality product.

Goto defeng to know more.

HAPPIER, MORE ENGAGED EMPLOYEES

It’s not hard for us to envision the worst conditions of some sweatshop in the 19th century. We can also imagine how these workers’ morale was.

They were, in many cases, worked to death. Now, we know that most working environments are nothing like these sweatshops, but we also know that the more an employee is looked after and not forced to work in conditions that are unergonomic, the happier they are.

These employees become more loyal and engaged because they have an employer that looks after them.

They are better able to do their job and are more likely to stay with the company. And not to be overlooked, you are treating these real people how they deserve to be treated.

We wish we could have offered our casters in the 19th century. They would have put an end to a lot of misery.

Using ergonomic casters has a ripple effect on your company towards success. Every aspect of your business’s operations is affected by these casters.

Not only do they improve your business short-term, but they are inherently good for long-term initiatives to maintain better ergonomics.

If you have any questions about any of these 6 advantages or you need help getting accurate push/pull readings, feel free to contact us by clicking the button below.

Although casters are one of the smaller parts that make up a material handling cart, they play an integral role in how that cart will move efficiently and safely. Also, premature caster failure can impact the company’s bottom line.

Caster technology has come a long way in the last several decades. Yet, still companies are challenged by caster problems which occur during manual material handling tasks. Caster problems can negatively impact ROI due to the recurring cost for caster replacement. Additionally, caster replacement can mean impaired productivity due to machine downtime.

There are many reasons a caster can fail but the one that comes up most often is: choosing the wrong caster in the first place. Many times, casters are selected based on upfront cost. What is not taken into account is that an inexpensive caster purchase can cost you much more in the long run if it is not the right caster for the application.

Multiply the caster replacement cost by the number of that specific caster you own and add in the loss of productivity when those carts or equipment are down… you may find that you had wished you had done more research to choose the correct caster at the beginning.

10 Reasons Casters Fail and How to Avoid Them

Generally speaking, caster failure is not due to the design or defect in the caster itself. It is generally because some key characteristics were not considered when the caster was purchased and/or installed. Here are the top 10 reasons casters fail:

1. Caster Capacity Overload

The main reason that casters fail in the field is the load capacity applied to the caster exceeds its rated capacity. To avoid this pitfall, consider the heaviest load that will be used in the application. Due to situations arising from uneven floors or bumps etc. it is possible that a four wheeled cart may have only three wheels actually absorbing the full load. A safety factor based on the use of three casters is therefore used to address this which means that if the load capacity is 2,000 lbs., a caster with a load rating of at least 667 lbs. is recommended.

2. Impact Loading

Impact loading occurs when a caster hits a large obstacle or bump and experiences the resulting g-forces. This means that if a caster with a load capacity of 100 lbs. hits a bump and experiences 5 g, it’s as if the caster is carrying 500 lbs. at that moment.

This impact load can cause a catastrophic failure of the caster due to the peak g-forces which cause the caster to bear a higher load than its rated load capacity.

3. Brinelling

Brinelling is the dent or “wear” that is pressed into a hard surface. Brinelling occurs in a caster when the ball bearings in the swivel head begin to develop grooves in the hard cap. Brinelling affects the performance of the swivel of the caster by increasing the swivel force. Swivelling forces are typically the largest mobility force that a material handling cart will experience.

4. Excess Swivel Offset

Excess swivel offset in a caster is generally due to a design flaw. It refers to the distance between the center of the axle and the center of the king pin or main rivet being too great. Having an excessive swivel offset creates a situation that when a load is applied, the legs of the yoke may break away from the swivel. There is a fine balance between a large enough offset that ensures ergonomic efficiency while short enough to ensure joint strength is not compromised. Working with a competent design and engineering team can assist in ensuring optimal offset is achieved.

5. Wrong Bearing Type

Bearings are the part of the caster that limits movement to preferred motion and reduces friction between the moving parts within the caster. Using the wrong bearing type for a specific application can also be a cause of failure. For example, an application experiencing high side thrust. A tapered bearing would best be utilized. Improper bearing selection will cause premature failure of the caster. Various considerations should be made such as; bearing material, race construction and accessibility for maintenance if required.

6. Environmental Conditions

Environmental conditions can cause a caster to fail. In wet environments, using casters that don’t have stainless steel or chrome finishes, which are well-suited to these environments can lead to to corrosion. With corrosion comes the weakening of the caster components and increased risk of caster failure. Other environmental considerations include: surface characteristics (rough, uneven, slope etc.) and debris or other contaminants. Our Workplace Ergonomics Guide sheds light on more environmental conditions that could impact your choice of caster.

7. High speeds

High speeds can cause many issues with casters that weren’t designed for that specific application. Catastrophic failures can occur due to caster overheating, damage to the caster wheel hub, or damage to the bearings. Understanding the speed at which the caster will be used in its intended application will help you choose the right caster. For instance, you would need a much different caster for a manual material handling cart vs. a towable cart which can experience speeds in excess of 5 miles per hour.

8. Soft Top Plates

The function of the top plate of a caster is to provide secure attachment to the structure, protect the wheel and ensure the wheel direction is maintained. Having a thin top plate or one that isn’t hardened steel can make it very easy for it to bend out of shape potentially compromising both the load capacity and the directional intent of the caster. This condition mainly occurs when a caster goes over an obstacle and is damaged by the resultant impact. More robust and hardened top plates eliminate this issue.

9. King Bolt/Rivet Failure

Many casters are designed with the use of a rivet or kingpin bolt. These components generally have much of the stress concentrated on them when a high load is applied. Because of this, they are prone to failure when used in the wrong application. The solution to this potential issue is to use a Kingpinless caster that distributes the stress over a larger area on the caster.

10. Extreme Temperatures

Extreme temperatures can greatly affect the mobility performance of a caster. Many caster wheels are made from a variety of polymers and rubbers, which tend to lose their material properties when introduced to extreme temperature changes. Choosing the right wheel material to correspond with the temperature of the operating environment is the key when deciding on the right caster to use. A great example is caster use in food and freezer environments, which require dependable performance in extreme temperature conditions.

Choose the Right Caster the First Time to Reduce Caster Changeover and Costs

Caster changeover can be costly and can impact your business operations. Your business needs to cut costs and keep downtime low in order to improve. Choosing the right caster may seem like a minor decision, but by doing it right the first time, you can avoid costly caster maintenance and replacement down the road.

By considering the 10 caster pitfalls, you can avoid them in order to choose the right caster for your specific application.

To get some guidance on how to choose the right caster for your particular application, check out caster solutions by industry to help you understand how different industry applications require different caster solutions.

Don’t forget to download the The Economics of Ergonomics in the Manual Material Handling Industry Guide to get started!

This blog was originally published in April .

The company is the world’s best Central locking castors supplier. We are your one-stop shop for all needs. Our staff are highly-specialized and will help you find the product you need.