Falmouth, ME -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/18/2013 -- James Galante, Director of Business Development for Southworth Products Corp., has conducted numerous symposiums, seminars and tutorials on the practical application of material handling devices for the improvements of productivity, safety and ergonomics in industry. This expertise is brought to grocery retailers via the revolutionary ergonomic products and analysis offered by Retail Handling Solutions, a division of Southworth Products. Retail Handling Solutions (http://www.retailhandlingsolutions.com) is at the core of revolutionizing retail products handling. When retailers stock shelves, the process is time-consuming, labor intensive, and fraught with productivity road blocks and the potential for injury, product breakage, and customer inconvenience.

Galante is presenting at the 16th Annual Applied Ergonomics Conference at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, Texas, on Tuesday, March 19, 2013 from Time: 9:00 AM - 9:30 AM in the Monet Room. Galante’s presentation is titled, “How New Developments in Industrial Scissors and Positioners Improves Ergonomics and Productivity.”

Innovations in the design of industrial scissors lifts and positioners have greatly improved the interface between the worker and the manual handling tasks he must perform. Control devises that sense the load height and automatically level the load, timers and one touch controls that ensure the machine is providing maximum benefit are readily available. These innovations help solve some of the serious ergonomic problems in the industrial setting and they also provide real productivity gains. This fast moving, highly illustrated session will explore these technologies and present the many benefits by presenting simple, straight forward examples. Many work station task examples and photographs of actual equipment in use will be included in this dynamic presentation. There will be ample time for questions and answers.

Southworth International Group is the parent of a family of companies whose mission is to make work faster, safer, and easier. For much of this history, the company has been developing and supplying equipment that provides the many benefits of the practical application of ergonomics in the manufacturing and warehousing industries. Its divisions are widely recognized for their innovative approach to application engineering, extensive product offerings, and adaptability to exact customer requirements including service both before and after sales. In more recent years, it has extended its focus to include the opportunity rich repetitive handling requirements of many retail operations. Store goods are handled multiple times, often in awkward positions and almost all operations are done over and over again. Safety problems are clearly an issue and applications to improve productivity abound.

Recognizing that retail store operations are significantly different from manufacturing and somewhat different from warehousing, Retail Handling Solutions was created to concentrate the practical application of ergonomics on the specific circumstances of the retail work environment. Limited space, high volumes, thin margins, packaging necessities, as well as consideration for in-store shoppers and merchandising frequently require a unique approach to optimizing the productivity and safety of these stock handling applications.

Mr. Galante has developed his expertise in the scissors lift industry with over 45 years of experience, beginning in 1967. Scissors lifts include vertical positioning, transfer cars, turntables and industrial tilters, invertors and rotators. Galante unique perspective originates from hands-on and practical involvement with installation to after-sale customer service support and everything in between. He has worked with and visited, literally, hundreds of industrial and commercial facilities to inspect and investigate ergonomic problems and to insure end-user satisfaction with equipment selections. Galante is largely responsible for and was a principle editor of the Ergonomic Guidelines for Manual Material Handling. This major, internationally recognized publication defines the problems and presents the solutions to solve the No. 1 cause of worker injury in the workplace.

Retail Handling Solutions
http://www.RetailHandlingSolutions.com
Alison K. Shea
Market Development Manager
ashea@retailhs.com
(207) 317-4222