July 28, 2023 (press release) –
Pop-up skate rolls – they’re not the latest trend in rollerskating, but rather an important step in our improved processes at Simsboro Composites to improve safety for our team members.
Panel World Magazine, global reporting authority on facilities that manufacture panel products such as plywood, LVL, MDF, and particleboard, recently visited Roseburg’s Simsboro Composites plant to put together a featured article for their July 2023 edition. The featured photo in the article shows off a recent innovation to Simboro’s particleboard process, pop-up skate rolls. That very photo also made the cover of the magazine! Check out the article (and featured cover photo) here.
Before the installation of skate rolls, team members had to lift full-size panels of particleboard and place them off the line in order to take measurements for quality control (QC).
Wade Ratcliff, Eastern Regional Safety Manager, noticed that this manual process was a potential safety hazard that could lead to a back injury, sprain injury, or other incident. In response, he devised a plan to install the pop-up skate rolls, sunk below the line, that would pop up and protrude above the line at the touch of a button, allowing team members to easily manipulate the panel to take QC measurements — all without lifting the panel at all.
In collaboration with Roseburg’s Engineering department, they were not only able to make this project happen, but they made it a success — the system works great, and is definitely worthy of its front-cover splash.
We are proud of the innovation and drive of our teams to eliminate potential hazards and further our mission of Safe to the Core. Great work!
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