Prevention of workplace injuries is one of the most important priorities in any responsible workplace. Preventing workplace injuries saves time and money for employers and results in happier and more productive workers.
Among the leading causes of workplace injuries are musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) – those affecting the muscles, nerves, and tendons. Accounting for almost 30% of all workers’ compensation costs in the United States (BLS), MSDs like sprained muscles, ligament sprains, carpal tunnel syndrome, herniated discs, and others are a particularly common in industries relying on manual tasks like bending and lifting. The material handling industry is no exception to this rule, contributing “to a large percentage of the overhalf a million cases of musculoskeletal disorders reported annually in the United States” (CDC).
Fortunately, musculoskeletal workplace injuries are largely preventable through worker training and ergonomic improvements. mk North America offers several products that can be used to improve workplace ergonomics and other safety concerns.
Conveyors used to transfer product around a corner while maintaining their leading edge are a staple in the material handling industry. Often times, the factory already has conveyors and processes in place when it is determined that a change is needed. This often results in limited space available for the “corner conveyor”.
Many curved conveyors in the industry feature a wide sweeping inner radii (greater than 24-inches), large cumbersome infeed and outfeed pulleys (greater than 2-inches), or require some sort of straight infeed or outfeed section (making the conveyor not a true corner piece).
This is not the case with the KGF-P 2040 curved belt conveyor from mk North America.
Industries like automotive, food and beverage, manufacturing, and others are on the ascent in an economy finally recovering after the financial crisis of 2008-2009, leading to an increased demand for efficient conveyor technologies and conveyor manufacturers. Let’s take a look at some key findings of these reports.
mk North America Releases Stainless Steel Conveyor Line
CleanMove Line is Designed to Offer Superior Sanitation and Versatility to Customers Worldwide
April 17, 2015 - mk North America, an industry leading provider in conveyor solutions and North American partner of the German based mk Technology Group, is pleased to announce the release of its new CleanMove line of products. Acting as the latest in a long line of innovations from mk, CleanMove is a full sanitary stainless steel conveyor product line designed for the food and pharmaceutical industries.
Born out of both necessity and request from mk's customer base, the stainless steel CleanMove line of conveyors both complete, and compliment, current conveyor offerings from mk. After careful development, mk released its first food grade conveyor into the marketplace in late 2012. Thanks to the presence of a senior engineer on staff with years of extensive food handling experience, the company was able to naturally transition into stainless steel conveyors for general use.
Plastic Modular Belt Conveyors from mk: MBF-P 2040 Conveyors
The MBF-P 2040 conveyor is a plastic modular belt conveyor. The belt is constructed out of plastic bricks that are hinged together with plastic rods. But what are the advantages to this belt style?
Flat belts rely on the friction between the underside of the belt and the conveyor rollers in order to drive the system, whereas plastic modular belt (MBF) conveyors are positively driven. These drives are similar to a chain conveyor drive; the drive rolls on the MBF are a series of sprockets that interlock with the underside of the belt. This positive drive results in less belt maintenance (reduced time tracking and tensioning) and increased load carrying capacity. Furthermore, the standard flat belting size restrictions are eliminated. Gone is the need for the conveyor length to be 2 times the width. In fact, these conveyors can be sized square and wider than the length. Conveyor widths up to 10 feet are available, and virtually any width is possible – no standard widths to select from either.
