This customer fabricates countertops using granite and marble. In this application, workers at a new facility need to move huge slabs of granite from station to station through the various stages of the fabrication process.
The slabs of granite are huge – weighing up to 850# – and are often oddly shaped. At a similar facility, the customer had been lifting the slabs from a storage rack onto a cart, rolling the cart into the facility, and then 3 people were required to lift the slab into the machine, where it is cut and then moved to another station to be edged and finished.
The customer chose a 43′ Gorbel Work Station Crane system with 2 1-ton bridges. The crane system easily handles these huge slabs and now only one worker – not three – is needed to effortlessly move the slabs from station to station. Plus, the end effector (provided by another company) grabs the slabs in such a way that pressure is evenly distributed over the slab, reducing product damage.