TAWI, the inventor of the vacuum lift (also known as a vacuum tube lifter) has launched a new, portable vacuum lifter designed to be used inside of any ocean freight or box truck to reduce manual lifting of materials during the unloading process. This solution enables a more flexible workforce by reducing the need to team lift heavy objects while also minimizing the opportunity of injury. This is a faster, safer, and easier material handling method when compared to individual or team lifting of materials by hand.

Capable of lifting materials up to 110 lbs (50 kg), TAWI’s Container Unloader is comprised of a vacuum lifter integrated with an operator platform and conveyor. With its trigger style controller, the operator can lift and move product without exerting any lifting force and at a faster rate than performed manually. The Container Unloader features a patented jib arm for low overhead spaces which is capable of horizontally gripping packages or materials to remove them from the top of a container or box truck. The unit is free-standing, completely mobile, and powered by either 3-phase electrical or optional battery pack for cordless mobility. Operators can use the remote control to drive the unit as well as the controls on the control panel. This mobilization makes it so that operators can maneuver the Container Unloader in and out of docks and shipping containers as well as to move around your facility or to other facilities in your organization,.

“Many businesses are seeing workforce issues in today’s complex economy. This can include locating, training, and retaining qualified material handling employees,” states Nick Hajewski, Global Marketing Director for TAWI. “A vacuum lift reduces this issue of locating human capital by reducing the number of material handlers needed to perform an existing task – especially when team lifting is required. It also opens these heavy lifting applications up to employees not physically capable of manual handling such weights, as the lift does the lifting for the operator – all the operator needs to be able to do is squeeze the control handle. So that’s the secret –less labor required, faster performance due to a lack of physical fatigue, and at the end of the day, everyone is
safer because they are not physically lifting the materials themselves. In trials we are seeing a reduction of employees in container unloading operations by 25%, while cutting the time to unload containers in half. This doubles the capacity of existing loading docks and reduces the dependence on hard to find labor”