Two tips for those who are about to have weighbridges fitted in their manufacturing facility
If you are about to have a weighbridge fitted on the premises where you run your manufacturing enterprise, you may want to follow the advice described below.
Install the weighbridge close to the area where your finished products are stored
If possible, you should have the weighbridge fitted quite close to the area where your manufactured products are stored. The reason for this is that after your delivery vehicles are filled with your products and driven onto the weighbridge, this equipment might indicate that the vehicle is dangerously overloaded. If this happens, the driver will need to remove some of the products from the vehicle's container and take them back into the facility so that another driver can put them into their vehicle and deliver them.
If the weighbridge is located a long distance away from this storage area and the driver needs to get on the road to deliver your products immediately in order to meet their deadlines, then the lengthy process of going back to the storage area to drop off the products that they cannot transport could result in them falling behind schedule before they have even begun their road journey. This, in turn, could lead to your clients not receiving their products at the time you promised they would.
Conversely, if the weighbridge is within easy reach of the storage area, the delivery driver should be able to return any excess products that are weighing their vehicle down too much back to this area in just a minute or two, without having to delay their journey.
Put a strong barrier at the weighbridge's exit
You should have a sturdy barrier mounted at the weighbridge's exit that only allows drivers to leave after their vehicle has been shown to be the correct weight. The reason for this is as follows: whilst most delivery truck drivers who overload their vehicles do so accidentally, there are some untrustworthy people whose vehicles end up overloaded because they have stolen some extra goods from the manufacturing facility, in addition to taking the products they were asked to deliver.
If there is no barrier at the weighbridge on your premises, any driver that does this can simply continue with their journey, even after the weighbridge scales indicated that their vehicle was suspiciously overloaded. Putting a barrier in place on your own weighbridge should ensure that if any unscrupulous drivers do end up stealing some items and this equipment reveals the theft (by showing that their vehicle is overloaded), they will be physically prevented from exiting.
