How AJ Manufacturing safeguards products after they leave the shop

From the time a product – any product – leaves the factory floor on the way to its end user, there are any number of chances for it to become damaged or mishandled.

Products are ratcheted and anchored to trailers, and rumbled across miles of roads and conditions. They are picked up, moved, and put down by personnel that might not be aware of the sensitive areas on the product, and unpacked and installed by a team that might be racing against weather, deadlines, or both.

The result? Avoidable production delays, cost overruns, and poor product performance.

AJ Manufacturing (AJ) is committed to both high quality products and their intact delivery to the jobsite.

To ensure that delivery, AJ has built a series of protective measures into the packaging and shipping of its products, anticipating the realities of shipping, handling, and installation by personnel that may not have a first-hand relationship with the products. Here are a few examples:

SHIPPING CLIPS    Doors and frames can fall out of alignment during transportation to a jobsite. Constant movement, jarring, and uneven installation surfaces can compromise opening and closing, and cause a potential door panel gasket failure.   AJ’s 2” X 2” shipping clip not only allows an installer to accurately square each door before fastening it into the air handling unit, but it also protects the door’s gasket during shipping.

ZIP TIES  During shipping, doors can accidentally swing open, causing damage to the doors, hinges, and whatever they might come into contact with. AJ zip-ties every door closed to keep them secure and the units undamaged.

CUSTOM PACKAGING  AJ caters its panel packaging to what the customer requests; that could mean whether a panel is shipped upright or horizontal, whether full crates are built around the doors or OSB is used to protect the shipments, or whether each door is individually wrapped, AJ modifies the packaging depending on the volume of the order, and the distance it has to travel.

ISOLATION OF HARDWARE Sometimes when a door is shipped with the hardware in place, that hardware can come in contact with opposing doors and damage the door and the hardware. AJ packages and ships all hardware separately to prevent that damage

“There can be damage at any point in the journey,” says Todd Carlson, AJ’s president. “It can add expense and time to the end project. And when a product’s performance is as mission critical as the door or wall panel on an air handler, secure transportation and installation is just about as important as a high-quality product.”

For more information about AJ’s efforts to “control the uncontrollable,” contact an AJ rep at (800) 328-9448