LAUREL, Mont., June 15, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wood's Powr-Grip has been a leading manufacturer of vacuum lifting equipment for materials handling since 1964. The company's accomplishments include a number of industry firsts, including the original pump-action vacuum cups with a red-line vacuum indicator and the first self-contained, battery powered vacuum lifters for use with cranes and hoists.
Powr-Grip's unabashed vision is to be "the undisputed experts, most recognized and trusted provider of materials handling equipment for professionals worldwide." With increasing competition in global markets, Powr-Grip recently made large, long-term investments in new technology, in an effort to assert their leadership in the vacuum handling industry.
According to CEO Bryan Wood, Powr-Grip engineers re-evaluated fundamental industry assumptions about vacuum lifter technology. Their goals were to make vacuum lifters significantly safer, more user-friendly and easier to maintain. At the same time, they needed to keep their lifters affordable: "Safety features that make a product economically impractical really don't do the users any good," Wood explains.
The result is what Wood's Powr-Grip calls "Intelli-Grip™ technology," which uses proprietary algorithms and a color LED display to monitor lifter functions, supply real-time feedback to operators and automatically intervene in dangerous situations. As explained by Bryan Strobel, Lead Engineer for New Product Development, "Intelli-Grip™ technology efficiently manages the internal functions of the lifter and provides relevant information to operators when they need to know it. This allows operators to focus on the material handling task at hand, making them more productive."
Among its many capabilities, Intelli-Grip™ technology displays the current mode of operation and supplies operator prompts when appropriate. It also actively prevents dangerous operator actions, such as trying to power down during a lift or using the lifter with a hazardously low battery. Intelli-Grip™ continually monitors the vacuum system and can identify performance issues, including a slow rate of attaining vacuum, leakage that signals a need for maintenance, dangerously low vacuum during a lift, and incomplete release of a load. In addition, it uses diagnostic codes to identify maintenance issues, so that service personnel can keep the lifter in good working order.
If Intelli-Grip™ detects any problem, it uses a combination of on-screen messages, warning buzzer patterns and strobe light activity to identify the issue and level of risk to the operator, when relevant. "In addition to being more intelligent about how and when to activate warnings," Strobel continues, "Intelli-Grip™ quickly and automatically performs tasks that previously took time and attention from the operator. For example, the vacuum circuits are evaluated on every lift to ensure that the conditions of the vacuum system and the load result in a secure seal. Intelli-Grip™ also evaluates the changing condition and capability of the battery as it ages, and notifies the operator if it needs to be replaced."
According to CEO Wood, this new technology represents a "quantum leap" forward for vacuum lifter design: "Intelli-Grip™ is a monumental example of how we never stop improving and providing innovations that are raising the bar for the industry. We are proud to say we are providing our customers with the best value on the market."