ERGOdynamics in on the Big Catch

June 14, 2010 - PRLog -- ERGOdynamics owner, Myrlin Deveraux practically grew up on commercial fishing vessels off the Oregon Coast.  Today, free time is still spent sharing the best fishing and crabbing spots with friends, family and employees.  As a designer and manufacturer of industrial ergonomic tools, he was particularly pleased to find himself working with Warrenton Oregon based crab pot manufacturer, Airport Crabpots.  ERGOdynamics was called in to create tooling to streamline and increase safety in the manufacturing of these high quality, hand made crab fishing pots.

Airport Crabpots is the oldest crab pot manufacturer on the West Coast, and has been building their pots since 1949.  Early on fisherman use to help each other to build their own pots.  One person would make the frames then haul them over to the other fisherman's place and he would do the wrapping, then another the knitting, and so on. It was a real team effort for years.  Then in 1949 "Cornflakes" Matson decided to make a business out of it. By the 1970s he and his two sons were employing 40 people and producing over 27,000 pots a year out of a building located at the local airport, thus the name Airport Crabpots.  Vern, the current owner worked for the company for about 30 years until he and his wife Lisa purchased it from the brothers in 2008. Although they don't make as many pots as they did 30 years ago, they still maintain one of the largest shares of the crab pot market. Over the years new crabpot manufacturers have come and many have also gone.  When Airport Crabpots started they were the only large scale manufacturer of crab pots, but now several small operations share the demand.  "Cornflakes Pots" as they are often referred to are still considered some of the best in the market with some of the best catch rates.

The design of the crabpot hasn't changed much over the last 60 years.  The materials and the method are both pretty much the same, yet its a special craft to make a good crabpot, and few know how to do it. With the Deadliest Catch bringing commercial crab fishing into our living rooms, you may be picturing giant crabpots, but Airport Crabpots are quite a bit smaller than what you see on the show. "The crab that our pots catch are a lot smaller than what you see on Deadliest Catch, and therefore our pots are smaller in size" says Owner, Vern.  They are built primarily to catch the Dungeness Crabs, which are the most common crab you see in markets and restaurants. The pots weigh anywhere from 70lbs up to 120lbs and are 32"-44" in diameter, all depending on what the fishermen want. Each crab pot is custom built and goes thru no less than the hands of 6 people!  That's where ERGOdynamics comes onto the scene.

Carrying these large, heavy pots around definitely poses a safety risk to workers arms, backs and legs.  The pots not only need to be lifted and moved around the manufacturing facility, but need to be positioned for working or storage.  The frame of the crab pot is like a shortened, hollow cylinder covered with a netting of wire - which poses an additional challenge to the design of the tooling used to lift the pots without causing damage to it or the worker.  ERGOdynamics called first upon their all star, The GoLift, which can be used for nearly any lifting task.  Custom tooling was designed to grab the lip of the pots, either on one or both sides of the pot.  This allows the pot to easily be lifted, carried and stacked either in a horizontal or vertical position.

Eugene, Oregon based ERGOdynamics designs and manufactures many innovative tools as solutions to lifting heavy or awkward objects.  You can visit their website at http://www.ergodynamics.net to view some more of these lifting devices.  If you have a unique lifting need, they will find a solution for you!  Contact ERGOdynamics at (541) 683-0900 or sales@ergodynamics.net.  If you are looking for a top quality crab pot, contact Airport Crabpots (503) 861-3811‎.

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ERGOdynamics designs and manufactures ergonomic office furniture and light duty material handling equipment for office, lab and industrial use.