Which Unexpected Industries Rely on Industrial Weighing Scales?

Introduction:

While industrial weighing scales are obvious in industries such as healthcare and laboratories, did you know they’re actually commonly used in almost every sector? Industries such as eCommerce, electronics, food and beverage, agriculture, shipping, and waste management rely heavily on the use of scales to ensure accuracy, quality control, and efficiency. 

Industries such as laboratories and pharmaceutical manufacturers obviously benefit from industrial weighing scales, which ensure precision and accuracy when creating new substances. In the case of healthcare, accuracy can genuinely mean life or death. 

However, industrial weighing scales are used in more industries than you think. Just because your workplace doesn’t use them on a regular basis, it doesn’t mean a set of industrial scales wouldn’t come in useful when you least expect it. 

To help you make an informed decision about the types of equipment you and your team might require, we’ve put together a list of industries you didn’t know use industrial weighing scales. You can add industrial scales to your next wholesale shopping list. 

1. eCommerce Stores

Brick-and-mortar stores obviously benefit from industrial scales in POS systems, especially when charging customers for items that are paid per weight. But did you know industrial weighing scales can be useful for eCommerce businesses, too?

One of the biggest costs for eCommerce businesses is posting and packaging. Using an industrial scale can help you manage your profit predictions by allowing you to accurately predict the cost of postage by weighing packages in advance. 

Industrial scales can even be used by eCommerce businesses that ship from home, giving greater control over pricing. In warehouses for larger eCommerce stores, scales such as floor scales ensure quality control, weighing items before they’re shipped to consumers. 

2. Electronics

Electronics manufacturers rely on accurate industrial weighing scales in their operations. Precise scales are used to weigh minute components of products such as mobile phones to establish the weight of the end product. 

Likewise, using industrial weighing scales to get precise measurements ensures that none of the expensive materials that go into creating a phone or laptop are wasted. Industrial scales are a measure to guarantee quality control and minimise unnecessary costs. 

3. Agriculture

Industrial scales are used in the agricultural industry in a variety of ways. Farmers use industrial weighing scales to keep tabs on the quantity of important products, such as fertilizer and livestock. This helps with not only stock control, but quality control, ensuring the right amount of product is used at a time. 

Livestock may also need to be weighed to ensure the animals are eating enough feed, requiring large, specialised industrial scales. 

4. Waste Management

Private companies that deal in waste management and recycling often charge by how much waste is collected, meaning large-scale industrial scales are a must to accurately assess costs and charges.

With the rise of recycling and the job being outsourced to businesses, private companies are using industrial weighing scales not only to establish costs, but also to help with operations, since the weight of waste can help them make predictions about business in the future. 

5. Shipping and Transport

When cargo is shipped or flown, workers need to accurately assess the weight of the loads they’re taking to establish how much can go on board. In this instance, the use of industrial weighing scales is about safety – ships or planes can only carry so much weight as outlined by engineers. 

Planes and boats need to be balanced, too. If there’s too much weight on one side of a plane, a counterweight will need to be loaded to the other for safety.

Industrial scales can help the transport industry plan for large shipments. When you see a large cargo ship, all items on board will have been precisely weighed before being loaded on board. 

6. Food and Beverage Manufacturing

Just like electronic manufacturers, operations that deal with food and beverage want to minimise waste as much as possible. After all, wasted materials mean wasted money. 

As well as aiming to minimise waste, food manufacturing deals with ingredients, and as you’ll know if you’ve ever messed up a recipe, even an ingredient being a couple of milligrams off can make a big difference to the flavour. 

Likewise, with the legal requirements to print nutritional information such as calories, food manufacturers have to ensure the contents of a package are as accurately described as possible.

As a result, many food and beverage companies use industrial weighing scales as part of their operations.  

Where to Find Industrial Weighing Scales

It’s best to browse the site of a third-party supplier rather than direct brands when searching for industrial scales. That way, you’ll enjoy access to a wider range of products of various sizes, trade approvals, and brands. 

Scales and Balances offers one of the UK’s largest selections of trusted and accurate industrial scales. Whether you work in farming or eCommerce, you’re sure to find the right set of industrial scales for your needs.