See Differently:

See Differently is a not-for-profit organisation with the Royal Society for the Blind. A key part of the organisation’s charter is to provide work and employment services for the partially sighted. This takes many forms, with the Manufacturing and Packaging Services division forming a crucial and long-standing pillar of the charity. For nearly 140 years, the industrial site in South Australia has been contributing to employment the visually impaired. It produces market-competitive solutions for many industries, including retail, manufacturing and distribution.

The challenge:

As See Differently employs partially sighted workers, it is essential to ensure that all machinery is fitted and tested with the strictest safety standards. Fencing and gates surrounding pallet wrappers to shield moving parts and safety features such as auto stop and delays for exit needed to be added to their pallet wrapping arrangements. The external control panel also needed to be programmed for additional measures including override functions.

The problem:

The See Differently team needed to be able to set up and operate their pallet wrapping, without needing to use additional machinery such as forklifts, which are driven. They also required safety measures such as fences and gates to ensure they could fully operate, minimising risks associated with operating heavy machinery.

The solution:
See Differently had already done extensive homework and assessments around what they required for safety and efficiency. Prior to briefing Omni Group on their needs, they had self-selected Omni Group’s Motus Fix SP automatic pallet wrapping machine as their best choice. These machines have the functionality to manage film tails – auto attach, cut off and sealing, removing the need for additional manual handling. Omni Group supplied two of the Motus Fix SP pallet wrappers to See Differently and worked with the organisation and their appointed safety team to adjust and refine the machines to align with their unique requirements.

The result:

Now, hand trucks can be manually employed to move pallets into place. Operators can control the process from start to finish by moving pallets, setting up the pallet wrapping machines and then later moving the wrapped pallets to dispatch and delivery. Enabling staff to take ownership of the process has empowered staff to deliver solutions to their customers and take pride in their work.

See Differently’s testimonial:
“The team at Omni Group has been extremely approachable and amenable to us and our additional requirements. Working together to implement our risk assessment procedures to ensure the safety of the pallet wrapping machines has made the process very much a collaborative one, and we are very pleased with the emerging results.” Peter Ware, Factory Operations Manager, See Differently