Best Handling Technology, a company manufacturing and distributing ergonomic and fast handling systems, is based in the center of Europe in Heuchelheim, a small German city near Frankfurt. Mr. Winfried Kaiser is the Executive Director of the company, and together with his team invents customized solutions to customers’ handling tasks. Focus is the support of manual operations with powered handling devices which enable employees to stay healthy and contented while working fast and efficiently.
Interview with Winfried Kaiser, Director of Best Handling Technology.
Easy Engineering: What are the main areas of activity of the company?
Winfried Kaiser: Designing, constructing, mounting, selling and distributing ergonomic and fast handling devices is the main area of Best Handling Technology. These products in the field of handling technology can be combined and adapted to the customer’s spatial and industrial environment and with regard to the specific goods which are to be handled. The distribution is like business to business (b2b): Our customers from Europe and Germany are situated in many different industrial sectors, such as the food industry, the packaging industry, the chemistry industry, the logistical industry and many other sectors. And they have got one thing in common: they are using our products within their own companies to avoid safety hazard and to make their employees stay healthy and contented. Furthermore, our handling technology increases the speed of handling procedures. Therefore, it is also very efficient.
A second area of Best Handling Technology is our service for handling devices: e.g., the maintenance or repair of old devices which were not manufactured in our company, as well as safety checks of all handling devices according to the official directives.
E.E: What’s the news about new products/services?
W.K: This year, an innovative and new crane system consisting of three components was released to the market. It is called “ezzLINKeco”. This pillar jib crane with a knuckle boom is special because its pivoting range is like 360 degrees, whereas the pivoting range of common pillar jib cranes is limited. Furthermore, the base plate onto which the pillar of the crane is mounted can be shifted and moved so easily. The crane is combined with the balancer ezzFLOWsmart. It allows to detect the weight of every load with the help of an integrated scale which runs automatically: this enables employees to move and to handle loads effortlessly with only one hand. For instance, if there is a heavy carton, it is possible to lift it by pushing it at the bottom using the palm of your hand. Dropping the carton will also be an easy task if you touch the carton gently at the upper side with the balm of your hand. Various grippers can be applied to this handling system for every good, e.g. load suspension devices regarding cartons, but also drums, bins or even highly sensitive electric devices.
The pneumatic variant of this balancer is also driven by a wire rope hoist, to which load suspension devices can be mounted at the bottom. For example, bags can be handled safely, ergonomically and very fast by using a vacuum suction cup. The proportional steering of the balancer ezzFLOWpneumatic lifts, drops, moves and shifts every load with two buttons that determine the velocity of the handling procedures. If you press one corresponding button firmly, you will reach a high speed while handling goods, whereas a gentle pressure causes a low speed. A wide range of load suspension devices can be attached also to the pneumatic balancer, such as a pneumatic inner gripper for handling cables, hoses or other goods which are wound onto a reel.
E.E: What are the ranges of products/services?
W.K: We are manufacturing and distributing our own crane systems, balancers, vacuum lifters and load suspension devices. These handling devices can be combined individually in terms of the customer’s industrial requirements regarding spatial challenges (even in small rooms). Moreover, our handling technology can be adapted to many tasks while handling goods. E.g., not only moving, lifting, dropping and shifting is possible, but also weighing, dosing, mixing, emptying, loading and unloading, palletizing, picking as well as packing.
E.E: What is the state of the market where you are currently active?
W.K: Given the variety of market segments Best Handling Technology is supporting, there is always more demand than can be served. At times of aging workforce and a lack of candidates for expansion, handling technology has become more attractive to employers. Providing the workforce with devices that protect health and value labor has become a success factor to the growing companies.
E.E: What can you tell us about market trends?
W.K: The demand for powered handling systems comes with the opportunity for integration of process control into the material flow. Increasingly pneumatic systems are replaced by electronic systems that allow for information transfer between logistic systems and operations.
E.E: What are the most innovative products/services marketed?
W.K: The ergonomic and efficient features of all of our products are a precondition for higher safety, healthy and contented employees and a higher velocity regarding production and logistics in many industrial sectors, which makes our handling systems innovative. This year (2024), a new product was released: a crane system in conjunction with a balancer (either electric or pneumatic) and various load suspension devices (see question number 3). It’s the flexibility, the ergonomics, the high speed and the adaptability which make our handling technology special. We are maintaining workstations because one operator is always required for the handling devices: progressive technology is monitored, used and controlled by mankind! Hence, technology is under human control, so to speak (😊).