If the materials that are used to produce products in an industrial facility regularly sustain damage that renders them unusable, it may take longer and cost a lot more for that facility to manufacturer its finished products.

As such, it's important for those who run industrial facilities to invest in equipment that will help to keep their raw materials in good condition. Here are two such types of equipment.

Flow aids

When raw materials are being moved around an industrial facility via a conveyor system, they can sometimes stick together and create an obstruction in a section of the system.

Obstructions like this not only disrupt the flow of materials through the conveyor chute, but also drastically increase the risk of the materials inside the system at the time sustaining damage.

This is because the obstruction will create a situation that is similar to that of a road-traffic pile-up; the materials behind the blockage-causing materials will pile up and press against the items in front of them.

This pressure may lead to these materials breaking, or worse still, may result in the affected section of the conveyor chute bursting open, in which case the materials could fall out and hit the ground. The impact of this fall could cause irreparable damage to these goods.

Fortunately, these issues can easily be avoided if the owner of the facility installs flow aids (such as pneumatic rotary vibrators and air cannons) in their conveyor systems.

This type of equipment is designed to quickly dislodge the blockages that occur in a facility's conveyor systems. As such, if a flow aid is fitted in a conveyor system, there is much less chance of the above-mentioned 'pile-up' situation occurring and causing serious damage to the materials inside the chute.

Forklifts

A forklift is a fairly expensive piece of equipment. However, machinery of this kind can provide owners of industrial facilities with long-term savings by drastically reducing the frequency with which expensive materials are damaged.

The reason for this is as follows; a forklift serves as the ideal piece of equipment to transport fragile or heavy materials safely from A to B.

The forks on which the materials are placed are low and wide; this creates a low centre of gravity which helps to minimise the risk of the equipment itself and any materials it transports tipping over and sustaining damage.

Additionally, the forks are usually made from an extremely robust material (such as steel or iron). As such, even if the materials that are stacked on top of them are very heavy, the forks will be able to withstand their weight. This, in turn, means that there is virtually no chance of the forks buckling and the materials subsequently toppling off the equipment onto the ground.