GED recommends that you use seven people to operate an Intercept® Spacer Fabrication System in order that you get maximum productivity out of the system.
Labor
The Intercept system can achieve up to 2880 IGUs per 8-hour shift with seven people. These people are stationed at: spacer folding (1), the washer (1), IG assembly (2), the oven (1), gas filling (1), and a supervisor / floater (1) that helps keep the pace flowing. When fully staffed and operating at peak efficiency, you can achieve over 50 IGUs per person per hour; with some configurations you can get up to 60 IGUs per person per hour.
Maximizing Capacity
We realize that labor is sometimes difficult to find, but when you are producing at the capacity of the Intercept, you are saving over a million dollars a year compared to competitive vertical lines (vertical line companies include: Erdman, Forel, Lisec, Bystronic / Glaston). These IGU lines advertise less labor but, in the end, you are paying more. These vertical lines required significantly more capital expense and labor expense, estimated at 3x the machines and 3x the workers, to keep pace with one Intercept line. Additionally with the Intercept, material options are greater and material costs are less. You have multiple domestic suppliers of spacer materials and sealants. You are not locked into one supplier that has extreme lead-times for their material. The Intercept model promotes greater availability and competitive pricing. Please see ‘The Answer is Intercept.’
If seven people are still too many for your operations due to capacity, GED has lower labor options. Because of the modularity of the Intercept system, we can configure the layout of the Intercept in a way to reduce labor. By adding other options, like GED’s RoboSeal™ robotic gas fill system, we can eliminate additional labor and still achieve higher output than most vertical lines.
Here is a video of the RoboSeal system with TurboCool.
Written By: Ashraf Hussein
Ash has 10 years of experience working in the North American fenestration industry. As the Product Marketing Manger – IG, Ash manages all commercial activities for GED IG products. These products include glass cutting systems, Intercept® spacer fabrication systems, glass washers, ovens, assembly systems, gas filling systems and other associated products. His expertise lies in product development and sales and customer support programs as well understanding IG manufacturing use among customers.