Product of the Month – Winlet ErgoMover Manipulator
There is no such thing as a perfect solution in any industry. But our Product of the Month for July, the ErgoMover Manipulator, is definitely the right product, available at the right time.
It is the Swiss Army Knife of material transport trolleys in that it delivers so many advantages at a time of significant workforce stress, not least in the construction industry.
- Improved efficiency – Get materials to where they are needed faster.
- Improved safety – Transport materials more safely, in terms of personal injury and damage to the load or surrounding structures.
- Improved productivity – Move materials with less effort and smaller teams.
All these advantages are interlinked. But it is the last one – improved productivity with reduced effort that is particularly relevant, given current workforce challenges.
Workforce challenges
The construction industry, like others, is experience significant skills and labour shortages right now, thanks to a perfect storm of factors.
- Brexit has put a dent in the ability of construction contractors to recruit overseas workers.
- The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted thousands of people to leave the labour force – and many have not returned.
- There already has been a national skills shortage, now made worse. The Construction Skills Network calculates the industry will need 217,000 new workers by 2025.
- Construction is a sector the government is backing, to support the wider economy, with infrastructure projects like HS2 moving ahead, adding to wage pressures.
Consider, also, the UK’s workforce is ageing and more women are being encouraged to work in construction, and it is clear that there is a need for new thinking when it comes to key tasks like worksite materials transportation and reducing risks associated with manual handling.
Sustainable solution
Hird’s ErgoMover Manipulator, brought to you by Winlet, the manufacturers of those equally smart and ground-breaking glazing robots, is part of that new thinking.
It is a unique self-propelled trolley that provides users with two valuable functions for controlling materials.
For example, it can pick up products, for example plasterboard and plywood sheets, from trestles, and set down the materials on trestles, as well.
It can also raise of stack of material to a near-vertical position, supporting their quick, safe and easy off-loading for use at the point of works.
The ErgoMover Manipulator has a maximum capacity of 1500kg. Its long-lasting battery allow the material trolley to be operated for a full work shift, delivering a sustainable transport solution.
It includes an onboard 110v mains charger, so during down-time, the electric material trolley can be recharging so it is always ready to go.
Using the simple-to-operate control handle, an operative can easily and smoothly move the trolley across the kind of uneven and difficult terrain often found on construction sites at a speed of up to 4 mph.
Many materials
Its chunky, foam-filled puncture-proof tyres and four-wheel steering give the materials trolley excellent traction and stability, so the operative is always confident that the load is under full control.
The Winlet ErgoMover Manipulator’s carrying deck is 700mm wide and 1645mm long. The whole trolley is just 3150mm long, including its control arm.
The transport trolley can lift loads to a height of 725mm to ease off-loading – and its weight ranges from 311kg to 425kg, depending on set-up.
It is ideal for carrying all types of materials, including plasterboard, glass-reinforced concrete, cladding panels, insulation material, brick and breeze block packs, wood, paving blocks, and stone.
Productivity gains
The ErgoMover Manipulator can also be used to move equipment across difficult ground. It has key advantages:
- It is an electric trolley, so is highly sustainable, creating no polluting emissions and is low-noise.
- It is extremely robust, so can be trusted to keep going day after day.
- It is very compact, so takes up no additional space on a construction site.
- The trolley maximises safety, allowing loads to be controlled and moved with minimum manual handling.
It is also worth considering the practical benefits set against the workforce challenges already described.
If sourcing the right number of workers, with the right capabilities, is getting harder, it makes sense to mechanise key processes on construction sites.
And material handling is clearly one of those. One operative being able to load, transport and offload 1.5 tonnes of materials, quickly, with minimal effort and enhanced safety is a huge advantage.
At a time when employers are more concerned than ever to consider the safety and wellbeing of operatives to ensure their skills are retained and regulations are adhered to, making it easier for them to do their work more productively makes the best kind of sense.
ErgoMover family
Hird’s ErgoMover Manipulator is just one of three options in the Winlet ErgoMover range.
A powerful transport trolley without hydraulic functions for applications that only require easy and safe transport of materials.
This has all the benefits of the basic ErgoMover with the addition of a hydraulic lifting system, making it possible to set off loads, for example, plasterboard or wood packs, onto trestles.
The Winlet ErgoMover Manipulator adds the ability to lift the load to a near upright position to ease the off-loading of materials.
There is also the option of a rotating trolley table, to facilitate the optimum positioning of loads before they are lifted.
All three versions are ideal for use on construction sites. But they are equally at home in other settings, for example in factories.
As Hird is the UK and Ireland distributor for all Winlet products, theErgoMover electric materials transport trolley is available for hire and for sale.
If you need to improve worksite productivity, safety and sustainability in the face of workforce challenges – such as skill and worker shortages or increased costs – take a look at the Winlet ErgoMover Manipulator to hire or buy.
Find out more
We can also provide LEEA manual handling training to support their efficient, effective and safe use. Call Hird today and talk to use about the Winlet ErgoMover electric transport trolley range.
Email: [email protected]
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