The Total Anti-Fatigue Solution for Standing Workers
SATECH, Inc. Proudly Launches SafeSpace Anti-Fatigue Social Distancing Solutions
As the world phases into a new normal after the COVID-19 Coronavirus shutdowns, it is more important than ever to maintain proper distancing protocols. Which is why SATECH, Inc. is proud to announce the all-new SmartCells SafeSpace Solutions.
Engineered to enhance workforce safety, SmartCells SafeSpace Solutions are designed following the Center for Disease Control distancing guidelines making it easier for organizations to safely navigate new work standards by providing defined and properly spaced worker stations.
“Here at SATECH, we believe that life shouldn’t hurt and we strive everyday to create products to make that sentiment a reality,” says Chad Lindstrom, Vice President of Marketing at SATECH. “Our new SafeSpace Solutions drive that belief home by not only increasing workforce safety but also reducing pain and fatigue in the process.”
SmartCells SafeSpace Solutions are available as Runners or Custom Flooring and are constructed by alternating the color of the SmartCells to create defined work areas of virtually any shape and size that are properly spaced.
Available in 2’ or 3’ wide options, SafeSpace Runners are configured to any length and are constructed of connectable sections that incorporate the desired workstation size separated by 6’ distancing buffers.
For custom modular workstations or wall-to-wall applications, SafeSpace Custom flooring is easily installed and incorporates personal workstations separated by distancing buffers.
Each of these solutions utilizes our unique SmartCells Cushioning Technology.
The optimized design of SmartCells offer a stable surface over cylindrical cells which soften under impact and resist bottoming out. This creates the perfect balance of support and cushion, for maximum fatigue relief; allowing users to stay safe and comfortable.
In addition to our unique cushioning technology, thanks to their rubber-based formulation, SafeSpace products will not absorb liquid and are easy to clean which allows for better infection control processes.
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SATECH, Inc. manufacturers specialized cushioning technology under the SmartCells® brand. Since 1988, SmartCells Cushioning technology has been instrumental in the creation of safer work and play surfaces. Over time our objectives have become more specialized as we’ve expanded into a variety of custom applications where SmartCells technology can be tailored to best meet the needs of different industries. However, our mission has remained the same: improve people’s lives by helping to reduce pain, increase performance, and prevent injuries.
The Anti-Fatigue Debate: Foam vs. Gel vs. SmartCells Cushioning Technology
In the search for an anti-fatigue flooring solution to boost employee quality of life and, by extension, your bottom line? Then there are several options out there.
Foam and gel solutions exist, and you may be familiar with their applications in other industries and products – but are they the best choice for anti-fatigue mats and flooring?
Let’s take a look at how the two stack-up to SmartCells proprietary rubber cushioning technology.
The Shortcomings of Gel and Foam
There are a variety of factors to consider when looking to purchase anti-fatigue mats and flooring solutions, including stability, cushioning, responsiveness, durability and more.
To begin, let’s explore how different materials react when compressed.
In the case of foam, the material becomes harder and doesn’t immediately rebound to its original shape – meaning that performance is lost, and a beneficial return of energy can’t be achieved. It also provides little to no support and often bottoms out, making it as if there were no cushioning at all.
Finally, because it is lightweight, mats made of foam are prone to shifting, curling, and buckling, all of which contribute to a shorter lifespan for the solution.
Gel experiences similar problems. Gel shifts out of the way when compressed, leaving no support underneath and negating any potential benefits. Like foam, it’s also slow to respond or return to its original shape, and may also experience edge curling, and surface covering delamination issues.
In short, neither of these solutions meets all the needs for which they were designed.
The SmartCells Difference
SmartCells’ unique rubber cushioning technology, however, provides real benefits by integrating a rubber surface layer with an underlying array of cylindrical rubber cells that soften in response to surface pressure.
This means that SmartCells solutions get softer when compressed, not harder, providing the perfect balance of resilience and cushioning to immediately spring back into shape.
SmartCells anti-fatigue solutions provide an energizing return in phase with body movements and resist bottoming out, maintaining performance under stress.
Further, SmartCells solutions are industrial quality and are built to resist curling and buckling, coming with an eight-year warranty that guarantees the solution provides the longevity it’s designed for.
SmartCells has achieved the perfect combination of cushioning, stability, and responsiveness, leading the way in anti-fatigue solutions that simply get results.
To learn more, contact SmartCells today at info@smartcellsusa.com or 360-748-8711.
Podcast: Softer Is Not Always Better In Solving Workplace Fatigue
Whether a cashier, a pharmacy technician or a fulfillment center worker, many jobs require employees to spend long hours on foot. That can lead to significant pain and, beyond the human costs, decreased production.
The solution for many employers has been to stick a foam or gel mat under their employees and call it a day. However, according to SmartCells President Bob Bishop, those mats often aren’t made with the best material.
“Anti-fatigue is a balance between cushioning and support. We know, [when] standing on concrete all day, people get injured or have foot pain or get tired because of that rigid, hard surface. And if we think softer is better, you know, why don’t we just bring our mattresses in?” he said. “There is a psychological effect of, ‘Oh, I’m stepping on this, and it feels soft, so it must be good for me.’ Part of our mission is trying to educate our customers that softer is not better.”
Too often, the mats also are the wrong size. While SmartCells has mats in traditional sizes, it also works with businesses to do total installs on entire workspaces rather than simply trying to put two or three mats together, which can create a situation that can look aesthetically unpleasant, cause mats to move around or, worse, create a tripping hazard.
“We developed the concept of wall-to-wall flooring. We have a 3×3 tile product that we can assemble into virtually any configuration,” Bishop said.
“We can do a custom area with transitions that eliminate trip hazards and slip hazards, and the edges of SmartCells do not curl up. We’ll come in, look where your workers are at [and] what they’re doing during their normal day and make suggestions to you as to where you really need the anti-fatigue materials.”
Podcast: SmartCells’ Solutions Are Making Seniors Safer
Bryce Betteridge, CEO of SmartCells, was recently featured on a Podcast all about senior care to highlight how his company is helping prevent fall-related injuries in seniors.
SmartCells is a unique cushioning technology that was essential in the legislation on playground safety for children, and that is now also widely utilized by fortune 500 companies as their anti-fatigue solution for standing workers.
However, when Bryce’s aging mother-in-law took a fall, a lightbulb went off in his head.
“We realized that, here, we had this company that I’m running that could provide some protection for her if she should fall again,” Betteridge said.
She did suffer another fall but had her injuries mitigated by the SmartCells technology, later passing of unrelated causes.
Sadly, the story of overcoming a fall is not what many senior adults in the United States experience.
“Falls are the leading cause of death from injuries amongst seniors over the age of 65. Accidental happenings, falls and injuries, are the leading cause of accidental death for those over 65,” Betteridge said. “That’s a huge statistic. If you do fall, 20% of those who do fall and break a hip or suffer a traumatic brain injury pass away within six months.”
With SmartCells cushioning technology, however, the falls are less likely to result in an injury that could lead to other complications or something more serious. The cushioning can be placed under several types of flooring to help protect seniors from injuries resulting from a fall.
Today, many care centers are installing SmartCells in Resident’s rooms, or families with loved ones are opting to do their own installation at home to help protect mom or dad as they age in place.
SmartCells Fall Protection: Falls happen, but Injuries Don’t Have To.
SmartCells Training Solutions: An All New Way to Help Reduce Overuse Injuries
As the year 2020 stretches on a pattern starts to form through all of the chaos. When one part of a system is weakened or damaged that injury affects everything else. We are forced to shift and adjust to try and make improvements on something that is already in pain.
However, if the area where the structure is weakest receives the support that it needs early on then the whole system can be saved. The same happens when an athlete suffers an injury that could have been prevented.
According to the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) there are 8.6 million injuries a year for athletes with the majority of them being lower extremity injuries. When athletes come back after being on a break their bodies take time to get re-conditioned to the peak of their athletic performance. One way for athletes to limit the risk is to have the best equipment that supports their active lifestyle.
Here at SmartCells we have a new way to save an athlete’s body from overuse injuries throughout the course of a season.
Zelus Insoles take SmartCells Cushioning Technology and strategically place it under the foot, where high impact takes place. They were designed at Fastech Labs who have worked with athletes, Physical Therapists, and Athletic Trainers for over 30 years. The combination of Zelus’ molded arch and SmartCells cushioning provides the perfect blend of support and cushion athletes need to stay healthy and active.
Our best high performance insole, the Olympus Pro, now has it’s sidekick that is nearly half the weight, with focused cushioning support for all athletes looking to prevent injuries this upcoming season.
Introducing… The Olympus LITE!
The Olympus PRO and LITE are here to prevent injuries in the athletic community with their complete support and cushioning winning combination. Try your first pair of the Olympus LITE by clicking below, and start protecting your most important asset: your body!
#FeelTheZeal
SmartCells: Your Secret to Self Care and Personal Wellness
The COVID-19 pandemic has taught us many new things as well as reminded us of lessons learned in the past. One particular lesson is the importance of self care and personal wellness.
If you spent your time in shutdown rediscovering the importance of both, you’re not alone. After all, when you have nothing else to do, prioritizing wellness is easy.
But, as the world begins to phase back into a “new normal”, we are reminded that between work, family, and a socially-distant social life, it is easy to let personal wellness slide to the backburner.
The good news is that even when you are busy with life and work, there are little things you can do for yourself that make a big difference. Such as investing in ergonomically engineered anti-fatigue cushioning.
That’s where SmartCells comes in.
At SmartCells, we believe that “Life Shouldn’t Hurt”™. This belief guided us to engineer our unique SmartCells™ Cushioning Technology.
The optimized design of SmartCells offer a stable surface over cylindrical cells which soften under impact and resist bottoming out. This creates the perfect balance of support and cushion, for maximum fatigue relief while minimizing the risk of musculoskeletal injuries; promoting personal wellness by allowing users to stay safe and comfortable.
SmartCells Anti-fatigue solutions are available in pre-sized mats or as custom flooring for unique areas and are specifically designed to relieve fatigue in standing activities, no matter what you’re doing.
For activities where a SmartCells mat or floor isn’t a good option, we’re proud to offer our SmartCells Anti-fatigue Industrial Insole.
Available with or without arch support, this insole is the perfect solution for on-the-go fatigue relief. Featuring our unique SmartCells® Cushioning, these insoles significantly reduce impact forces and also return the energy back to your body.
Ready to feel the SmartCells difference? Click the button below to order your SmartCells Anti-Fatigue Solution today.
SmartCells: Solutions for Life’s Painful Problems.
The Delivery Dilemma: How SmartCells Helps Mobile Workers Stay Safe and Comfortable
“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds. “ – United States Postal Service Motto
These aren’t just words to the USPS, they live them everyday. In fact, on any given day, the USPS delivers an average of 390.7 million pieces of mail!
While most mail is delivered by vehicle these days, more than 75,000 letter carriers drive to neighborhoods then deliver mail on foot, and nearly 7,000 carriers deliver mail entirely on foot each day.
Beyond the letter carriers on the front line, there are thousands of postal service workers behind the scenes who sort the mail; standing in long assembly lines in USPS sorting centers all across the country.
These long hours spent delivering mail are not only exhausting, they are painful and can lead to musculoskeletal injuries as well as a significant loss of productive time.
Considering the potential loss of productivity and the fact that people rely on the postal service for timely delivery, the USPS reached out to our ergonomic experts here at SATECH, Inc. for help implementing a SmartCells Anti-Fatigue Solution.
Keep reading to learn how these ergonomically designed rubber mats helped the USPS, and how they can help your workforce and bottom line as well.
Designed with the belief that Life Shouldn’t Hurt™, our suite of Anti-Fatigue solutions all utilize the unique SmartCells Cushioning Technology.
The optimized design of SmartCells offer a stable surface over cylindrical cells which soften under impact and resist bottoming out. This creates the perfect balance of support and cushion, for maximum fatigue relief; effectively reducing the risk of musculoskeletal injuries while helping improve employee productivity.
SmartCells Cushioning is available in a variety of anti-fatigue solutions ranging in size from individual employee mats to extended workstation runners, and custom flooring applications. We even offer different colors, rubber formulations, and surface options to best meet your organization’s unique needs. All we need are your dimensions and we can build it for you.
For mobile workforces where a SmartCells mat or floor isn’t a good option, we’re proud to offer our SmartCells Anti-fatigue Industrial Insole.
This insole is the perfect solution for on-the-go fatigue relief. Featuring SmartCells® Cushioning in the heel and forefoot, these insoles significantly reduce impact forces and also return the energy back to your body. The additional layers provide a cushioned arch support and add a soft yet sturdy top cover to keep every employee comfortable throughout the day.
Ready to see the SmartCells difference? Click the button below to request a quote.
SmartCells: Solutions for Life’s Painful Problems.
Video Podcast: The Cost of Pain and Lost Productivity in the Workplace
Though, as a nation, our labor productivity has been on a consistent rise over the last several decades, we still face issues in our day-to-day productivity that have yet to be addressed, especially when it comes to workplace-related fatigue and pain.
The Journal of American Medical Association reported that nearly 13% of workers are experiencing pain that impacts their productivity, and the majority of the lost productive time, around 77%, was explained by reduced performance while at work, not work absence.
How do we address those issues with not just the numbers and bottom line in mind, but workers? What do solutions look like that address workplace productivity, regardless of workflow?
On this video episode of MarketScale’s Building Management Podcast, Bryce Betteridge, CEO of SATECH, Inc., joined host Daniel Litwin to discuss how SmartCells Cushioning Technology can help relieve fatigue and pain.
Betteridge pulls from timely and storied examples of this technology at work to break down…
- What the ergonomic trends in the workplace have been over the last several decades
- What these trends and productivity studies say about the current workplace and workplace needs
- How pain at work impacts quality of work, quality of life, and businesses’ bottom lines
- Why Betteridge and his team landed on the firm-but-flexible design for SmartCells technology
- How SmartCells technology is being rolled out during the COVID-19 pandemic
Podcast: The Benefits of SmartCells Solutions for Physical Therapy, Athletic Training, and Rehabilitation
Physical therapists searching for new ways to reduce the impact on athletes’ joints during rehabilitation workouts may have a new tool in their arsenal with SmartCells Cushioning Technology.
SATECH designed SmartCells’ training and therapy solutions with high-impact activities and intense training sessions in mind, from mats and customizable flooring options to therapeutic insoles.
Chad Lindstrom, VP Marketing for SATECH, Inc, stopped by the Sports and Entertainment podcast to talk about the benefits of SmartCells. And coming directly from a training session with Seattle Seahawks’ quarterback, Russell Wilson, PT and founder of Motus Specialists Physical Therapy Drew Morcos joined Lindstrom to discuss SmartCells’ benefits for his PT practice.
The original concept for the design of SmartCells was to find a way to make professional basketball safer through a flooring design under the court that would reduce the impact on players while maintaining the same surface feel and performance.
While the technology didn’t immediately head to the basketball court, it has made its way into the PT room and work areas where standing for long hours take a toll on the body.
“We do a lot with physical therapy, and we do a lot in the volleyball space, because the athletes jump and fall so much,” Lindstrom said. “The SmartCells surface takes away 90% of the impact on athletes when they land on it.”
As for Morcos, he first encountered SmartCells during a physical therapist’s conference.
“I have my own practice, Motus, so I’m always looking for new and upcoming pieces of equipment,” Morcos said. “Walking the exhibition hall, I came across this flooring mat, and it was cool. What was interesting about it is they can put any design on it that you want in terms of layout. You can do an agility ladder; you can do a Y-balance – whatever you can think of.”