Airfloat designed and built the project for
General Electric's Erie, Pennsylvania, locomotive manufacturing
plant. General
Electric profiled the air bearing airskid system in its 2006
annual report to shareholders. The Airfloat material-handling
innovation was also featured on the History Channel.
Air caster technology in
heavy industrial settings removes the material movement restrictions
and maintenance costs of overhead cranes, enabling better
utilization of costly factory floor space in the achievement
of lean manufacturing cost-effectiveness.
Airfloat's innovation for General Electric,
the first moving assembly line for diesel locomotive manufacturing
in the history of that industry, increased manufacturing
output 30% due to better positioning of manufacturing workstations
in the existing assembly bay. The Airfloat air bearing system allows daily movement of
300,000-pound locomotives from workstation to workstation. Additional
air transporter stations were installed to accommodate additional workstations
along the assembly line if needed.
Exceeding manufacturing and reliability expectations, this Airfloat project
has been called "the world's largest air hockey table." Shortly after
this project was completed, GE engineers partnered with Airfloat to design
and implement a similar system for moving 30,000-pound cab sections down an
11-station manufacturing line.
Read the entire Fortune Magazine article about Airfloat's airbearing technology
here.
When you want to move heavy loads easier to increase production with lean manufacturing
material-handling equipment,
Contact Airfloat at 1-800-888-0018.
Read more Airfloat news articles in the
Airfloat
News Archive; it's news
you can use.
Fortune
Magazine profiled a diesel locomotive assembly line in the
June, 2008, edition. 