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 Philadelphia Scientific products are employed by Material Handling Professionals all over the world. Here are just two of the many examples...
Case study 1: Atlas Cold Storage
This cold storage company made cool savings with the Water Injector System
When Atlas Cold Storage, one of the mid-Atlantic region’s largest cold storage facilities, discovered Water Injectors, it completely changed the way they handled one of their basic maintenance tasks.
Atlas Cold Storage is a two-warehouse facility incorporating 402,350 square feet of storage space in Hatfield, Pa., a town about 30 miles north of Philadelphia. Nationally branded makers of ice cream and other frozen desserts, frozen appetizers and frozen entrees warehouse their foods at Atlas until they are ready for shipment to super markets, convenience stores and restaurants across the region.
The freezers are maintained at a constant temperature of around minus 18 (-18) degrees Fahrenheit. Even the loading docks where truck after truck delivers the foods to the warehouse from manufacturers are cold – about 35 degrees Fahrenheit. In the spring and summer months when the consumption of ice cream and other cold foods begins to rise, the two warehouses load and unload up to 100 trucks or more per day. The company operates 38 Crown forklift trucks, 36 pallet trucks and 9 RC lifts 24 hours per day in three eight-hour shifts.
With millions of dollars worth of frozen foods depending on it daily, the task of keeping forklift trucks operating at full capacity - and keeping their batteries watered - was at one time a concern to Paul Worman, maintenance supervisor at Atlas.
“Our system for watering batteries was very slow,” said Worman. “Like most battery maintenance crews, we were filling our 36 volt batteries one cell at a time. And to avoid having battery acid spill over, we tried to be careful not to overfill. That slowed us down even further – but you want to keep a safe workspace.
“It used to take us five minutes or more to fill each battery once every other week,” Worman said. That may not sound like much, but when you’re filling 76 batteries (two per fork lift truck), one cell at a time – more than 1,200 cells in all – that can take most of a day.”
To ensure the purity of the water used in the batteries, Worman filled the batteries with expensive distilled water. “Between the expense of the water we used, the time it took to water the batteries and the care we had to take in order not to experience boil overs, I just didn’t think our system made much sense.”
Several years ago, Worman tried a single point watering system from Philadelphia Scientific, Water Injectors. Within 15 seconds, an operator can fill an entire battery.
Peering into the cells to judge whether the level is correct is no longer necessary; the Water Injectors fill each cell to the required level so there is no more overfilling and no more electrolyte boiling over during a battery charge. And the operator no longer has to remove and replace individual vent plugs.
Each Injector has its own level-sensing valve enclosed in a protective housing. There are no floats or delicate exposed parts to stick or to break, so the Injectors are unaffected by oil and tar in the cells and can function in extreme cold or hot, dry and abusive conditions.
To ensure water purity, Sheena Pierce, the battery technician, now uses tap water that is purified with the Philadelphia Scientific Deionizer. Unlike filters, which only remove particles, the deionizer is a ion-exchange medium that electrostatically removes dissolved impurities. The purity is comparable to distilled water. Each disposable deionizer cartridge purifies about 600 gallons of water.
“The Philadelphia Scientific battery watering system saves us several hours of time every two weeks,” Worman says. “Sheena has never used anything but this system, so she really can’t appreciate how much easier and safer this method of battery watering is versus the old, cell-by-cell watering method. She just knows the system works and works well.”
Labor savings alone will pay for the system in twelve months or less - see the Water Injector ROI calculator to figure your own savings.
The Water Injector ROI calculator is the first tool of its kinds to help our customers consider the top three costs associated with battery watering as part of a good battery maintenance program, taking into account not only labor savings, but also the often overlooked hidden costs associated with over and under watering. Reduced battery life and reduced battery run time leads to more battery changes per shift and more battery purchases in general. The ROI calculator is easy to use and understand; its tables and graphs make the savings impact of using Water
Injectors very clear.
While cost savings are important, Worman focuses most readily on the time savings of a system that is 20 times faster than the old cell-by-cell watering system. “It’s hard to imagine going back to the old way of watering,” Worman said.
case study 2: Dillard Plywood
This forest products company allayed OSHA concerns, saved time and money with the Water Injector system.
Dillard Plywood of Dillard, Oregan is a division of one of the Northwest’s largest forest products companies. Dillard manufactures pre-finished hardwood plywood, medium density overlay, sanded wood, industrial grade paneling, real wood siding and concrete forming panels.
As logs come into the Dillard mills, they go through an array of lathes, chippers, stackers, dryers, spreaders, presses, skinners, sanders and banders before the finished product is ready to be shipped to customers. Between many steps in the process, a fleet of 18-20 forklift trucks takes the wood on to the next piece of equipment. A total of 45 drivers operate the trucks in three eight-hour shifts, 24 hours a day except Sunday.
Twelve electricians maintain the fleet of forklift trucks, including keeping their batteries watered. This is a task that is performed approximately every week and which was creating a serious problem for workplace safety and the potential for costly OSHA fines.
“Over watering batteries caused electrolyte spills, and the acid was eating away the wooden slats supporting the batteries in our battery room as well as the concrete floor. When acid spilled on the floor, we’d have to sprinkle soda ash on it to neutralize it. Of course, the acid poses a risk to our crew, too. So safety and environmental impact were big issues using the traditional method of watering.”
“We watered our batteries pretty much like everybody else – cell by cell, battery by battery,” said Rick Pruitt, lead electrician for Dillard. “Each truck runs on a 24-cell battery. With a total of 50 batteries (including reserves) to water every week or so, that’s time-consuming work.”
Pruitt had tried an automatic battery watering system, but wasn’t pleased with its performance. “The floats – the components designed to keep acid from spilling out of the battery – malfunctioned.” Pruitt said.
In early 2004, Pruitt heard about a single point watering system from Philadelphia Scientific: the Water Injector system.
“It’s incredible how fast the watering system works,” said Pruitt. “When we saw how well it works, we put one on every battery in each plant.”
Pruitt is impressed by another Philadelphia Scientific product – the remote Blinky battery watering monitor. The LED indicator light can be mounted on the outer edge of a battery. A flashing green light indicates the battery is working correctly and the electrolyte level is okay. When the light stops flashing, it’s time to add water. The monitor is easily visible from a distance, so technicians don’t have to check water levels up close.
“It’s such a common sense idea, you wonder, ‘Why didn’t I think of that?’”
When asked to compare the single point watering system with the traditional method of hand watering, Pruitt demurs. “You’re not comparing apples to apples. It’s the difference between maintaining the batteries properly vs. maintaining them improperly.”
Pruitt says that maintenance time has been cut “dramatically.” Most customers find that they are able to fill their batteries 15 to 20 times faster with the single point system. More importantly, Dillard has alleviated the acid spillage that was the basis of OSHA concerns.
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