Thoughts.....WDH, YELLOWHAMMER, CUSTOM SAWYER AND OTHERS

YellowHammer · April 25, 2018, 12:52:25 AM

Certainly from an engineering standpoint, it's not a big feat. It just depends on how complex and complicated Zack wants it. Overhead, multiplexing tracks are not uncommon. A simple but effective form is used in the beef industry, where a slab of beef would weigh about as much as a slab of wood. I've considered using these myself. I got the idea from our butcher who processes our meat and who has a system very similar to this linked between freezers, scales, and butchering counters and equipment. Total flexibility. However, I can't get past some of the safety and liabilty issues associated with higher than "head high" lifts with heavy wooden slabs coming loose and faling on somebody. I got a personal dose of this when I was helping him push a bunch of heavy, half frozen carcasses around, and mine came loose, fell on my shoulder and hurt my knee for a couple days.

These are very manual, and very parallel processing capable. Multiple customers could view multiple slabs at once, in a parrallel and low marketing pressure manner. An automatic system seems to be self limiting, unless it gets very complicated real fast.

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Very doable. But optimal? Automatic system, probably not worth the expense, in my opinion. A manual system, sure, could be. With our retail customers, they generally buy more than one slab at a time, most want 2 or 3 to make up a table top. So they need to see all at once and generally sort through dozens, literally, to find the ones which match and catch their eye. As part of this process they like to lay them out on the floor or against a wall and mock them up. Turn them over, side to side, adjust the order, or flip them end for end. Then they want to put some back and pull others out. Then mock them up again. So there is a lot of touching and handling by the customer. I do believe a manual trolley and rack system could accommodate some of this, not sure an automatic system would. However, all it takes is one slab to fall on someone and its ball game.

thecfarm · April 25, 2018, 06:37:13 AM

The KISS factor too.
YellowHammer has a nice KISS setup. No motors to maintain.no tracks,just racks. ;D

WDH · April 25, 2018, 06:44:51 AM

Quote from: YellowHammer on April 24, 2018, 02:16:01 PMSecond, from a marketing strategy, the idea of the movable rack with a single viewing spot seems self limiting as it would only serves one customer at a time. It's not unusual to have two, three, or more groups of customers looking at different slabs at the same time. Is there a provision in the system for multiple customers looking at multiple slabs?

You could get one of those thingys like they use at Sears where you pull off a little paper tab with a number on it and wait till they call your number and it is your turn to view slabs :D.

Hilltop366 · April 25, 2018, 12:19:50 PM

Just display them at the airport baggage pickup!

petefrom bearswamp · April 25, 2018, 04:26:44 PM

They would get lost.

Hilltop366 · April 25, 2018, 04:32:11 PM

:D :D

WV Sawmiller · April 26, 2018, 03:17:55 PM

I think you would have to be in/near a high construction area where there is a lot of demand for such specialty items.

I wonder if a modified system of the beef trolley using soft chokers to suspend the slabs vertically would work? Would the choker damage the corners? Would they bang together damaging the suspended slabs?

I have worked several places where they had the big vertical rotating file systems with chains on each end that rotate to display the row of files you want which would be similar in weight to your description. One place I worked had a controlled climate warehouse for medicine that were just big shelf units on tracks with one aisle. You manually pushed the shelves in the tracks to adjust where the aisle was located so in a 50' room 47' of it was actual shelving/storage. (Kind of like the old puzzles where you moved tiles around with one empty spot).

I think it would take a very long time for any of these systems to pay for themselves.

Brian_Weekley · April 26, 2018, 06:19:37 PM

If you're going to do it, might not need to be this heavy duty, but an overhead crane seems to be the way to go...

Moving Granite/Increasing Productivity-Gorbel Work Station Cranes - YouTube

Bruno of NH · May 03, 2018, 06:18:20 PM

What happens if the slab market falls out ?
That's a lot of money invested.
Good idea though but a lot of money.

scsmith42 · May 04, 2018, 05:23:44 PM

Quote from: Bruno of NH on May 03, 2018, 06:18:20 PM
What happens if when the slab market falls out ?
That's a lot of money invested.
Good idea though but a lot of money.

Fixed it for you.... :D

Bruno of NH · May 04, 2018, 05:58:51 PM

I'm riding the wave on the slabs

Mr scsmith42
I'm working on other markets for when it does.
I'm my area I sell a certain way and this last month I have many copie cats.
I will beat them on quality and service

Folks think things are easy.

smoked · May 15, 2018, 10:20:33 PM

This makes me think of shopping for granite. I can see how it is cool idea but the infrastructure to make it work seems extreme. Set up your barn/warehouse to be a space efficient as possible and just let people wander around. That is part of the experience.

Lawg Dawg · June 21, 2018, 04:59:08 PM

I just cut em, stack em up beside the barn and sell em.

They usually don't sit here long enough to dry out! Saws em, and sells em! Ride the wave! Woo hoo! :D

Carson-saws · June 24, 2018, 11:53:05 AM

That is what is so cool about this Forum....You "plant a seed" for an idea and get lots of good ideas where somewhere done the line , the input will arrive at a conclusion...