Sustainability in Manufacturing Sector Archives - Liftomatic™ Material Handling Inc.

Back in February, we discussed “Green Initiatives” and what companies big and small can do to provide greater sustainability. Our focus on the topic developed through many discussions internally, with vendors, customers and strategic partners, spearheaded by mostly younger managers here. Sometimes those discussions became heated as “Traditionalists” battled the “Firebrands” for the “moral and practical” high ground. Now, with April being Earth Month, we felt it was time to revisit this topic to better explain how we do things on a personal level, and why.

On a basic level, we realize that every choice we make will impact other businesses in some way. Take hand-washing, for example: In public facilities, we’re often given the choice of using paper towels or an electric hand dryer to dry off. Many people will head straight for the electric dryer in an effort to save paper, but many industrial leaders won’t. Aside from the argument for overall cleanliness (hand blowers spread thousands of germs during use), there’s also the argument for our customers. Paper companies buy our products for their production, warehousing and transportation requirements. We are a traditional supplier to traditional industries, and while the mold must be recast and re-designed from time to time as demands and perceptions change, the smashing of the mold altogether all at once will severely impact our business and our industry.

However, this isn’t to say that we’re against change altogether. As the next generation begins to take over the shop floor, we as leaders need to provide some support and guidance to keep things running and attract new talent. Shutting down new ideas doesn’t encourage growth, so it’s all about finding a balance between sustainable environmental practices and building a sustainable business model.

QR Codes for Material Handling Equipment

As such, Liftomatic is proud to announce to our customers, present and future- that we’ve adopted several new protocols to decrease our footprint, while emphasizing cost control for our customers and stability for our organization. Beginning in the second quarter of 2016, we’re including all new QR code labels on every Liftomatic product. Doing so will allow a tremendous reduction in paper between us and our customers; it will allow you to access needed information, technical specs, bulletins and parts and maintenance requirements directly from our website using any hand held mobile device. Further, we’ve contracted for state-of-the-art LED lighting throughout our production facility here in Illinois. It’s a significant investment, but the appropriate managers proved their case with ROI and the spirit of the initiative and we’ve agreed to proceed.

We’re also looking at changes in packaging, communications and production, and we’ll continue to provide updates as they come. As we near our 70^th anniversary, Liftomatic will continue to work diligently to challenge convention, ask the un-asked questions and look at all of the angles to continue bringing the highest quality, most durable, and safest drum handling devices that are available anywhere in the world. We continue to keep that focus first and foremost.

There’s a common misconception that the industrial sector is inherently dirty and wasteful. Many campaigns are in the works to dispel this myth among young people in the hopes they’ll be more apt to enter into manufacturing careers later in life. Here at Liftomatic, we’ve taken it upon ourselves to become more sustainable. Many of our employees are avid outdoorsmen, so it makes sense to follow green practices within the company to preserve more forest area outside. What’s good for the world, is good for us, too.

Liftomatic Goes Green

To reduce our environmental footprint, we’ve begun to convert some of our manuals into electronic files to save paper. While at first glance this might not seem like a big deal, it becomes one when you realize just how much paper is saved. Every time a power unit is updated on one of our products, the user manual must be changed accordingly. These manuals are massive, and require a lot of paper and ink to print. By creating electronic files instead, we’re saving innumerable reams of paper that would end up in the waste stream once a newer modification came on the market. Now, we are able to use QR codes that direct to editable files to simplify the process.

This is a big change for many of our customers, so we’ve begun a limited roll out on a few products, with plans to roll out the rest of our product line over the next year or so. Eventually, we expect everyone to become acclimated to the new process, and we look forward to reducing our environmental impact in this way.