The 3 Perks of a Remotely Controlled Crane System

Introduction to Radio Remote Control Systems

If you have a crane system installed in your plant, you are probably very happy with the level of efficiency that has been brought to your factory.

Overhead cranes are great for manufacturing! They are extremely reliable, fairly easy to operate, and provide moving capabilities that forklift operators could only dream of.

However, like most things in life they can always get better. This is especially true if your overhead crane doesn’t have a radio remote control system.

In this article you will learn the top three benefits of having a remote controlled crane system in your manufacturing plant, and we’re not just sticking with the obvious benefits like not having to deal with a tangled pendant cable.

These three benefits are the only benefits you should care about because they will affect your business the most.

See Also: “InMotion Radio Controls Buyer’s Guide”

Lessons from History

I’m not going to bore you with too much detail here, but I believe there is an important story you should know to understand the real power of the three benefits that follow.

This is the story of Paul O’Neill and an aluminum manufacturer named Alcoa.

In 1987, Alcoa was not doing well. Thanks to competing businesses, an oversaturated market, and government regulations, Alcoa had lost the grip on the aluminum industry that it once had.

Thankfully that same year, Paul O’Neill was hired as their CEO.

Coming into Alcoa, O’Neill had one goal in mind. That goal was to achieve zero workplace accidents.

He didn’t focus on the earnings reports or what the company’s overhead costs were. He focused on one thing only, making Alcoa the safest company in America.

Over time Alcoa incorporated several changes to increase worker safety.

They made changes in management practices, in worker training, and even in re-engineering their equipment all to increase worker safety.

You might be wondering “Okay, so why should I care”?

From 1986 to 2000 two things happened at Alcoa:

• Market value increased from $3 billion to $27.53 billion.
• Net income increased from $200 million to $1.484 billion.

Increased Worker Safety

If there is one thing to be learned from Alcoa’s story, it is the importance of worker safety.

While overhead cranes are much safer than other forms of heavy lifting equipment, they can still be dangerous.

An employee not using the proper operating procedures, or whose visibility is decreased due to the workload, can easily be putting themselves at risk of serious harm or death.

A remote control system allows for two major safety benefits.

1. The worker does not have to be close to the workload.
2. Their visibility is greatly increased.

Both of these benefits increase the worker’s personal safety, which is a great thing not only for the worker, but also for the employer.

Increased Efficiency

When I first read about Alcoa I couldn’t help but wonder, why did focusing solely on safely increase their profits so much?

Sure, increasing safety saved lives, but Alcoa was already a very safe place to work before O’Neill became the CEO. So what gives?

The reason why O’Neill was so focused on worker safety was because in order to make their work safer, they had to analyze each step of the process.

That laser focus on the way their work was done allowed them to make many changes to increase efficiency as well as safety.

That is the hidden gem of the Alcoa story. O’Neill started a campaign on worker safety in order to make the business as efficient as possible. Once the business was as efficient as it could be, the profits started rolling in.

Remote controlled crane systems are very efficient tools. They usually allow one worker to do the work of two or three, due to the increased visibility they provide.

A less obvious benefit is that by having your employee literally step further away from the process, it becomes easier to analyze.

And if it is easy to analyze, it is easy to improve upon.

Remote crane systems don’t just allow for easier moving, they allow for a better process.

Increased Business Profits

I can’t tell you that remote control systems would increase your business profits by X amount of dollars per year, because anyone who claims to do that either knows your business inside and out, or is trying to sell you something.

What I can tell you is that remote crane systems offer your business an opportunity to increase its profits.

This could be by lowering the amount of workers required to do a task, avoiding workplace injuries which slow production, or by making your production processes more efficient.

Just one of those items would increase your company’s profits or lessen its expenditures.

And who’s to say your business won’t benefit from all three of them, or even more?

Conclusion

By now, you’ve had a little history lesson and understand the key benefits of remote crane systems, and how they can make your business safer and more profitable.

You might still be left with questions like:

• How can I get a remote control crane system set up?
• How much are remote control crane systems?
• Will installation be a pain?

To answer some of the questions that specifically affect your business, you can contact a sales representative at PWI. They will be able to access your needs and offer you the best solution for your business.

Or you can directly purchase a radio remote control system from our eCommerce site Hoist Zone.