Look outside – There are leaves on the trees finally, and the sun is shining! It’s summer now. Now take a moment to think about how that’s affecting your loading dock. In Michigan, we tend to spend more of our time and efforts conquering the cold than we do beating the heat. This is understandable since Michigan has such a long winter. However, for many types of businesses, especially ones that are food based, heat and humidity can also be a problem on the loading dock. Since summer is here, it’s going to get hot and humid. How will your company make sure that food moving in and out of your facility doesn’t spoil due to too much exposure to both?
Different products require specific temperatures in order to be maintained. These temperatures can be a real challenge to set in any facility that is tens of thousands of square feet and has a high volume of trucks coming and going all day long. If the indoor temperature of the building must be kept at 45°F, for example, and the exterior temperature is 85°F, slow doors or dock doors that do not seal properly will cause cool air to escape very quickly. This will both drive up energy costs and put product at risk.
Another problem is that damaged dock doors also leak cool air. It’s very hard to keep older, traditional dock doors in great shape when they are subject to constant assaults by forklifts. Once panels get bent, it’s nearly impossible to ensure a good seal on a traditional door. Are there loading dock doors that can solve for these problems? Of course! High speed doors solve the problem of air loss. They open and close at a rate of up to 100 feet per second – almost instantaneously – greatly minimizing the building’s exposure to the exterior environment.
Another solution for a loading dock that is prone to forklift collisions is TKO Knockout sectional doors. TKO doors can withstand impacts and maintain the doorway’s seal. When a forklift or any other large object hits a TKO door, the entire door breaks away at impact and is reset within seconds. This prevents both damage to the door and energy loss.
We’ve asked before: How long can apples keep in food storage? You may not know the answer to that question, but you probably know that your old loading dock doors are costing your company money.
At Beuschel Sales we are able to tell our customers just how much savings they can realize by installing new dock doors. We consult with them about their needs for their facilities and can advise them about the best products to meet those needs. Specifically, we are able to calculate the payback period of any door we offer. Typically, this payback period is between one year and 18 months with the more the door is used, the better the payback. The savings is not just in energy saved to power the door and temperature conservation, it also includes productivity savings. Because new doors operate more efficiently, the workers who use them are not waiting around for the door to open and close. Their time can be spent on other jobs.
Don’t let summer’s heat and humidity cost your business time and money. Call us at Beuschel Sales to discuss your options for loading dock doors that keep that heat and humidity out of your building and where it belongs.