Improving Efficiencies With Plant Mechanization

With a premium always being placed on productivity, companies are constantly looking for ways to get more done in less time. At RMA, we’re no different. That’s why we recently mechanized our Salt Lake City High Pressure Plant. We knew there were opportunities to improve in several areas, so we partnered with Cryovations to design and implement a state-of-the-art automated system. As you’ll see, the results of our initiative speak for themselves.

Before we mechanized, we faced some pretty consistent barriers when it came to maintaining productivity. We especially noticed inefficiencies in the loading process for our medical, liquid and industrial gases. Initially, our processes required everything be done by one worker, by hand. So, we had one employee moving liquid cylinders two at a time, filling a rack 24 at a time, and taking them away two at a time. In all, filling a rack would take roughly 90 minutes, and unloading a rack would take around 20 minutes.

With our newly mechanized systems, we have experienced a substantial decrease in operational costs with a reduction in fill time. For example, it now takes five minutes to prepare a rack and only 45 minutes to fill. Plus, we’re now capable of loading multiple racks at once, instead of just one at a time. One of the reasons we achieved these massively improved efficiencies was due to our trading out traditional pallet jacks for electronic pallet jacks. With electronic pallet jacks, we went from loading two at a time to loading 16 at a time.

With one filler able to monitor multiple racks via computerized filling, we’ve achieved consistently high quality while virtually eliminating human error. By decreasing the number of loads our employees must handle, we’ve increased the safety of our work environment while increasing productivity with less physical exertion. This aids both the company and the plant team in reducing on-the-job injuries. Overall, our improved efficiency has resulted in a quick return on investment for the improvements made. 

For RMA, the decision to invest in mechanizing our Salt Lake City plant has been one of the smartest business moves we’ve ever made. Our quality of work delivering cryogenics and medical, liquid and industrial gases continues to improve because of the trained team we have and the equipment we use. It’s one more step in our commitment to delivering flawless dependability to our customers every day. If you’d like to hear more about the process we went through, please contact us at www.rockymountainair.com. We are happy to share our experience.