BorgWarner Turbo System Assembly

Safety and efficiency

BorgWarner came to the decision that they really needed to reduce their forklift traffic because it was becoming both a serious safety issue as well as an efficiency problem. But in order for them to go forklift-free a tugger train system needed to be tested, evaluated and tested.

Before a decision was made to go for the FlexQube® concept alongside the LiftRunner frames five different cart brands/companies were evaluated.

In the end, FlexQube® was selected as the provider of the carts for a number of reasons. Our carts were almost half the weight of similar carts that had been welded. This made the carts much more ergonomic and safer for the operators to use. We had also shown ourselves to have superior customer service and response time throughout the project compared a number of other providers.

This proved critical throughout the evaluation process, as BorgWarner was in constant communication with our sales team with different questions and requests. Our carts were also competitively priced when being compared to the other providers. But on top of this, the scalability of our concept and how easy it was to adapt and make changes for future needs made a big impact on the final decision.

Three carts at a time

In the end, the tugger cart system was designed to transport 3 carts at a time. The carts were carrying large crate (gaylord bins) from the warehouse staging area to the different work cells. The carts were equipped with an ergonomic handlebar and a flat steel deck and fixed casters on the operator side. These carts were used in combination with the LiftRunner E-Frames which provided lower wear and tear on the material handling carts.

This project resulted in many benefits for BorgWarner.

First of all, the ergonomic situation for all employees was dramatically improved. Three forklifts were removed because of the implementation of this system. This resulted in the frequency of traffic falling considerably which then boosted the safety of the facility. The payback time for BorgWarner on this project was markedly fast, at only six months.

Thanks to the modular concept the carts have been continuously improved since the start of the project. The total number of carts within this project was 75.