The material handling industry has been around for thousands of years, even dating back to around 15,000 B.C. when the first fossilized fragments of 7 millimeter rope were believed to have existed. The rope, found in caves in Lascaux, prove that people had used rope and other mechanisms to lift heavy materials to avoid injury and to generally make life easier. Fast forward to today, when tools like web slings, chain slings and other lifting gear helps propel merchandise around the globe.
Web slings, currently the most popular type of slings in use today in the material handling industry, are especially useful because they are both flexible and lightweight, making the cargo being carried the heaviest component of the haul and possibly even the least flexible component too. This cargo needs to get hauled somewhere, and usually a web sling will get it done accurately and in a very fast amount of time too. It is helpful as well for its ability to provide a wide bearing surface for whatever is being carried to better protect it.
Steel chains, another common product in the material handling industry, also have been used for thousands of years to help make the hardest of tasks simpler. Much like the 7 millimeter rope discovered in Lascaux, today’s wire rope slings prove the need for and the effectiveness of such a tool to carry heavier loads and avoid the risk of injury. Similarly, the double braided rope proves a worthy component of a heavy load. The double braid means there is an inner braid and an outer braid, and both components either are made of the same material or of a different one. The overall point, though, is for the inner braid to be the strong one and the outer braid to be the one to protect against abrasion. Other common components of the material handling industry include hoists, which are used both for lifting and lowering loads and which have either a lift wheel or a drum wheel that rope or chains go around.
With such a vast array of useful products, the material handling industry is poised to withstand even stronger materials and even more challenging ones too. Professionals in the material handling industry use these tools for faster work and more effective production processes, letting the work speak for itself and the material handling industry to flourish as best as it can.