5 Best Practices When Using Floor Scales in the Logistics Industry

The logistics industry is all about maintaining a smooth process for incoming and outgoing goods. Floor scales are crucial in the logistics industry, so we want to make sure you’re making the most out of your most important equipment.

What Are Floor Scales in the Logistics Industry Used For?

Order Picking

Floor scales are exceptionally helpful for order picking. Whether it’s counting parts to make sure the customer is receiving the right amount, or checkweighing boxes to guarantee they’re light enough for shipment, floor scales are crucial.

Weighing Shipments Before Loading

Overloading shipments can have serious consequences, but floor scales are able to help circumvent the issue by helping guarantee each package, pallet and crate is within standards.

1.     Ensure Your Floor Scale Meets Your Current Needs

You may have purchased your floor scale a few years ago, so before taking any of these tips into account, consider whether your current floor scale still suits your needs.

Capacity and Readability

Are many of your packages cutting it close to the capacity? In general, your heaviest packages should be about 10-15% lower than the capacity. This leaves some breathing room and helps guarantee there won’t be any unintentional overloads.

Recheck your company’s as well as general industry standards for weighing goods. Is the current readability you’re working with still compliant? Using a scale with a readability that’s not fine enough could result in lost money and time.

Size

Are products often hanging off the pan? If there’s too much overhang, it can impact the weight distribution of the load and your results may not be as accurate. You may need a floor scale with a larger pan.

Weighing Environment

Some floor scales are better for certain environments than others. IP rated floor scales, for example, can handle dusty, dirty, humid or damp environments more effectively than non-IP rated scales, which risk damage to their internal components. Does your current floor scale show signs of significant environmental wear and tear? It might be time to upgrade to one that can handle it better.

If you find that your current floor scale is not quite fulfilling the order anymore, Inscale stocks some fantastic options with a variety of capacities, readabilities, sizes and applications.

2.     Perform Regular Maintenance on Your Floor Scale in the Logistics Industry to Improve Accuracy and Longevity

To keep your scale in the best shape to provide accurate results, you should be regularly calibrating and cleaning it. It’s also helpful to avoid overloading, shock loading and leaving weight on the pan when the scale isn’t in use.

Calibration

Inscale recommends calibrating your floor scale at least once a month, and at the very very least, once a year. This helps to lend credibility to your company, as both sender and receiver are confident that the results are correct. You’re also less likely to overload your trucks and packages.

You can calibrate most floor scales using any object you have around. For example, if you have a package right next to you, you can weigh it, learn it’s 242kg, input that number into the calibration menu and use the package as your calibration weight. Others may have pre-set values, so you’ll need to invest in a specific calibration mass. You can learn which one applies to your floor scale in the calibration menu or manual.

Cleaning

If you’re in a particularly dusty, damp or dirty area, even if your scale is IP rated, make sure you’re cleaning your floor scale regularly with a damp cloth or towel. Anything on the pan, including dust particles, can add weight to your results. It can also eventually start wearing down the materials on the scale by causing rust. Look underneath to check whether the load cell is dirty or if anything is obstructing its connection with the pan as well.

Avoid Overloading and Shock Loading

Be very careful when they’re placing items on the pan that they’re not overloading or shock loading. Overloading is when weight above the floor scale’s capacity is placed on the pan. You won’t get a reading, only dashes on the display as a signal to remove the weight immediately to prevent damage. Shock loading is when weight is suddenly dropped onto the pan with force. This isn’t good for inner mechanisms either.

Keep Pan Clear After Weighing

When the weighing is done for the day, double check that the pan is clear before packing up. Keeping weight on the pan long-term can harm the load cells.

3.     Use Additional Applications to Improve Your Floor Scale in the Logistics Industry's Versatility and Efficiency

Floor scales are versatile and can often be used for more than just weighing.

Dynamic Weighing

If you frequently weigh products that contain liquids or other moving items, dynamic weighing lets you get a result without waiting for the inside to settle down or stop moving. It takes the average weight over a set span of time, improving efficiency.

Checkweighing

When loading pallets or large boxes, you’ll want to ensure that they’re within the required weight range. Setting high and low checkweighing limits can help determine whether the package is overloaded and weight needs to be removed, or underweight and more can be added.

Percentage Weighing

Percentage weighing can also help when distributing goods. If you have a pallet stacked with product and four boxes to fill, percentage weighing can help ensure that each one is filled with 25% of the total. The weight of the goods on the pallet would be your 100%, then as they’re removed and added to the second box, the percentage would go down until it hits 75%. Then you know to move on to the next box.

Parts Counting

A floor scale with a parts counting function like Adam Equipment’s AGF is an excellent tool for both order fulfillment and inventory management, helping to count thousands of parts in minutes. More orders can be fulfilled in a day, lead time is reduced and stocktaking season flies by.

Check Counting

When you fulfil multiple orders of the same amount, the check counting application is a great tool. You set a goal number of parts into the scale and it’ll let you know when you’re above, below or have met that number. That way you don’t have to count anything yourself or even must pay that much attention to the number – all you do is wait for the scale to say you’ve hit the target.

4.     Invest in Accessories

Accessories are an easy way to maximise floor scales in the logistics industry. 

Printers

If there’s no record of it, did it really happen? Attaching a printer to your floor scale can ensure that you’re getting accurate, real-time accounts of weighing results. They also help you comply with Good Manufacturing Practices because printers record the user, date and time each weight was taken.

Conveyors

Kern’s YRO-01, 02 and 03 series of conveyors fit on a variety of floor scale platforms. It makes adding and removing goods much easier on the back, as you can slide them along the pan.Once on, you can even calibrate the scale with the conveyor on, so you don’t need to worry about taring off its weight every time.

Comms Cables & USB Interfaces

Depending on the interfaces available on your floor scale, you may need to invest in communication cables to help convert from one to another. For example, if your scale only offers an RS-232 connection but your printer only has USB, you can use an RS-232 to USB adapter to bridge the communication gap.

Ramps

Ramps, like conveyors, are a method of improving the ease of which you’re moving items on and off the platform. In fact, with platform floor scales, you can even drive a hand truck up there.

5.     Train Staff for Consistent Performance

If one group weighs in kilograms and one always weighs in pounds, or one doesn’t zero the scale before they use it and other does, you’re going to have inconsistencies in your records. Small things like this can add up, so guarantee your whole team has the same weighing techniques.

Basic Troubleshooting Tips

In a similar vein, ensure your whole team knows how to recognise and troubleshoot common issues with the scale. It’ll prevent the whole team from wasting time when there may be a simple fix.

Results are Drifting or Jumping

1. Ensure the floor scale is level and on a stable surface
2. Check for environmental disturbances like vibrations or heavy wind
3. Calibrate the scale

The Scale Turns Off

1. Check the power supply
2. Learn whether there’s an auto power off feature and whether you can adjust it

Results Seem Abnormal

1. Clean the pan and load cell
2. Make sure the scale reads zero with no weight on the pan (if not, zero out)
3. Calibrate the scale

Following these tips will help guarantee you’re making the absolute most out of your logistics floor scale. For help deciding which floor scale is best for you, contact the Inscale team.