Have you ever needed to measure something that moved, but the sensors just wouldn’t work? We run across that every day at Jobe and have a fantastic solution: An Encoder! Encoders are sensing devices that provide feedback. There is an Encoder ready for any application from medical facilities to extremely harsh environments.
Our engineer’s Matt Lonsdale and John Newton have run into situations where an Encoder is the perfect solution to very different problems. Matt needed to measure the linear feet of wood being cut with a ripsaw in a lumber mill and John needed to help increase productivity in a national commercial laundromat.
Matt was called out to a lumber mill to engineer a solution which will allow the operator to see how many linear feet of wood had been cut by a rip saw. Matt created an ingenious tension system using a tapered rod which held the encoder to the rip saw’s table and connected it to a Red Lion display thus allowing the operator to determine the exact number of linear feet cut. Matt’s solution significantly reduced operator error and the mill was so happy, they ordered two! Even better, three years later and no problems have been reported.
John used the encoder in a commercial laundry to help increase productivity. John did this by measuring the number of times the iron depressed and set up the encoder to measure the conveyor belt speed which was projected onto a display large enough for the entire facility to view. Behavioral Science tells us the public display provides incentive to do better, and the result: increased production by 35%. What is 35%? Enough to expand the operation to measure the speed of the conveyor belts and roll out this solution nationwide.
Are you interested in measuring linear feet, increasing productivity, or are you looking to take it a step further and want to visualize your data on and show KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) throughout your facility? Give Jobe a call and let us custom engineer a solution to fit your needs.