Air bag protects shelf life
April 1st 2009 Helping to keep the cold chain intact, Crawford says its inflatable dock shelters far exceed
the standard usually required by operators
The handling of cooled or frozen food
puts high demands on the
temperature chain. Inflatable dock
shelters provide the optimal sealing of
temperature controlled premises during the
loading and unloading process. Contrary to
other types of dock shelters, the vehicle
does not push towards the shelter. Instead,
the shelter is inflated around the docked
vehicle, providing complete sealing. The
Crawford inflatable shelters are suitable for
all vehicle sizes and their sealing capacity
exceeds by far the standard normally
required by operators.
The food industry in particular puts high
demands on loading bay sealing in order to
keep the cold chain as intact as possible.
The dock shelter must provide continuous
weather protection throughout the entire
loading and unloading operation. Like a
glove, the Crawford inflatable dock shelters
tighten around the vehicle, preventing air
inlet.
A recent example of this is Dovecote
Park, a dedicated supplier of Premium
Aberdeen Angus, Hereford and Organic
Beef products based in Stapleton near
Pontefract. The firm's requirement was for
an upgrade to an existing loading bay to
meet current hygiene standards.
Crawford was involved early on site to
ensure full understanding of all
requirements. First off, Crawford checked
Dovecote Park's existing on site loading
operation and vehicle sizes and an agreed
loading bay design was achieved to meet
the operational requirements.
As this was a chilled loading bay it was
important to maintain the bay's internal
temperature. The existing door was
retained and a Crawford Teledock leveler
installed – which included insulation to the
underside of the platform and added
platform perimeter rubber seals to reduce
temperature loss.
When a vehicle is docked onto a chilled
loading bay with the door open for loading,
it is important to maintain the chilled
loading bay temperature around the
vehicle. The best solution for this is an 'air
bag shelter'. The air bag shelter inflates and
wraps around the rear of the vehicle, it is
continuously inflated by a motor to create a
tight seal that maximises the prevention of
temperature loss. The air bag shelter must
be interlocked to the door and leveler.
When the vehicle docks and the user
opens the door, Crawford's integrated
control panel also inflates the dock shelter,
so when the door is fully open the air bag
is fully inflated. When loading or unloading
by the end user is completed the dock
leveler is parked and the door starts to
close, the air bag starts to deflate. On
closure of the door the air bag is fully
deflated and the driver is safe to leave
without damaging the shelter.
"Having the correct loading bay
equipment designed for our business and
transport vehicles ensures smooth loading
and unloading to maximise the efficiency
of our loading bays," says Tony Lawson,
project manager for Dovecote Park. "Tight
fitting air bag shelters also reduces the
ingress of air borne particles such as flies,
bugs, dust etc., thus improving hygiene
around the loading bay and ensuring we
meet our clients' expectations."
Another system which can improve
delivery times and delivery accuracy,
increase inventory turns and reduce
operating costs which are daily challenges
for supply chain professionals is the
Crawford 101 Dock Management System.
Today, dock areas are often bottlenecks in
the supply chain process. Trucks can spend
more than 25 per cent of their time waiting
for available doors at which to dock. Yet,
increasing efficiency by monitoring the
activity on the docking bays is an area that
is overlooked by many logistics companies.
Now this area no longer needs to remain a
blind spot. Crawford has developed a
system for efficient coordination of truck
traffic and warehouse operations. More articles from Crawford UK Ltd: | 
