Day: July 15, 2018

New Modular Robots Target Warehouse Logistics Operations

The Future of the Warehouse - Mobile Robotic Order Pickers
New Modular Robots Target Warehouse Logistics Operations

Are robots on your list of must-have warehouse equipment? They might be soon, thanks to an innovative California robotics start-up that’s targeting the warehouse logistics industry.

Fetch: The Evolution of a Robotics Company

Fetch, located in a modest office park in San Jose, rose from the ashes of Willow Garage, a robotics hardware company known for its PR2 platform. The PR2 was a Jetsons-like robot designed for both home and business use.

When Willow Garage folded in 2014, some of its staff members joined forces to found Fetch that same year. Fetch built capital from sales of its Mobile Manipulator and Freight Mobile Robots, which were patterned after the PR2 and sold largely to universities.

According to CEO Melonee Wise, the company decided to move beyond the scope of Willow Garage and focus on manufacturing and warehouse applications. Wise explains that they studied the market and discovered that the industry “looked like a pretty tractable problem” that could benefit from a robotics solution.

The Future of Robotics in Warehouses and Logistics

The team at Fetch is addressing this need with a round, modular hardware platform on wheels that’s been compared to an “oversized Roomba.” On-board intelligence systems guide the robots through a “semi-structured environment” while avoiding co-workers, both human and mechanical.

Other features include a proprietary cloud control platform and a graphical interface that make operations easy for non-roboticists. Wise says future plans include development of a system that can actually pick up and place objects, a skill long considered the “Holy Grail of robotics.”

State-of-the-Art Warehouse Equipment from DJ Products

Maximize manpower with our battery-powered tugs, movers and pushers that allow a single employee to move loads weighing thousands of pounds. Contact us for more information.

Tips on Hiring Temporary Warehouse Staff from a Temp Agency

Tips on Hiring Temporary Warehouse Staff from a Temp Agency
Tips on Hiring Temporary Warehouse Staff from a Temp Agency

In a survey sponsored by warehousing and transportation company KANE, a flexible workforce was the second-most sought-after feature in a third-party logistics (3PL) provider. If you use temporary labor as a way to manage demand spikes, there’s more to it than making sure they can operate your warehouse equipment.

Managing temporary workers is not the same as managing your permanent workforce. Here are some valuable tips to optimize productivity and minimize problems with temporary labor.

1. Work with the Same People Whenever Possible

Maintain a log of temps you have employed along with a brief evaluation of their work. When you’re ramping up your staff, specifically request the associates who have done the best job for you.

2. Establish a Standard Training Protocol

No matter how experienced temps may be, you can’t afford to “wing it” with a few minutes of on-the-spot training. Create a program that outlines everything a temp needs to know to be a productive team member and build presentation time into that day’s schedule. Don’t forget to include information about the company’s culture and general policies.

3. Allocate Workloads Strategically

Leave the essential and more complicated tasks to your full-time staff. Assign temps to easier, less critical jobs.

4. Make Safety a Priority

Don’t assume that temps are familiar with basic health and safety practices, even if the procedures are industry-standard. Provide temps with written guidelines to safe working practices and emergency policies.

Maximize Safety and Efficiency with Warehouse Equipment from DJ Products

Our battery-powered tugs, movers and pushers are safe and easy to operate for both full-time and temporary workers. Visit our website and use the convenient online chat feature to learn more from our cheerful sales engineers.

Will Your Drivers’ Workdays Be Extended to 17 Hours by the Feds?

Will Your Drivers' Workdays Be Extended to 17 Hours by the Feds?
Will Your Drivers’ Workdays Be Extended to 17 Hours by the Feds?

For decades, hard-working drivers have called for changes to be made to the hours involved in their workdays. Now a proposal to extend 14-hour days to 17-hour days in a workday has been brought to the table. Because of this newest development, valid concerns have emerged. What do longer hours mean for the overall health of drivers? Or for those who rely on the safe transport of goods?

What can be done to reduce possible accidents? Employing fail-safe technology like battery operated semi trailer movers provides simple solutions to address dangerous exhaustion that arises as a result.

You Are Not a Machine

One recent article questions if extending the hours in a workday are worth the risk. Do drivers recognize their need for rest? Will they adhere to the strict safety policies and revere the constraints placed for their safety and to ensure a higher quality of service?

More than three-fourths of truck drivers are clocked in at over 50 hours a week. Sadly, some of them are even encouraged to falsify their work diary. Close to half say they follow that implied mandate for fear of losing their job. Those hard-working drivers need someone in their corner to help them complete work safely and take their load when others won’t.

We Do When Others Don’t

At DJ Products, we quit the guesswork, and rely on premiere equipment to ease the issues that can result via overworked employees. Our quality semi trailer movers utilize precise speed control and require no special licensing to operate. We let busy drivers rest so our machinery can do the heavy moving. Safety is important on the job. Our products not only safeguard quality products but improve a diligent employee’s quality of life.

Fuel Haulers Embrace 30-Minute Break Exemption

Fuel Haulers Embrace 30-Minute Break Exemption
Fuel Haulers Embrace 30-Minute Break Exemption

What does a 30-minute break exemption mean for the fuel haulers who work more than 12 hours each day? Quite a lot actually. For short haul runs that are under 100-miles, fuel haulers can now avoid taking the federally required 30-minute breaks. The more time they have alotted to haul and unload with no lag between jobs the better it is for their bottom line.

Similarly, a terminal tractor that helps move trailers into position without hard labor–the more cost-efficient it is for time-conscious drivers.

Watching the Clock

Close to 40,000 truck drivers now can benefit from the 30-minute break exemption. Those thousands of haulers will bring more business to other industries as well. This newest exemption could mean more hauling/unloading and a busier schedule for fuel haulers. While this can be a positive change, more hauls also could increase labor.

Don’t worry! Technology advances can help address any issues that present themselves. Precision machinery can drive those in the trucking industry to better profit margins.

Investing In Solutions

The best machinery ensures deadlines are met, safety guidelines are followed, and labor is lowered. A premium trailer tractor can do the difficult work so a driver on a time clock doesn’t have to. As the old adage says “work smarter not harder.”

DJ Products is a company that ensures time management and safety precautions are equal in priority. The products we offer our clients, like our terminal tractor, keep the most important things in focus. Your safety, your bottom line, and your efficiency are important to you. Visit DJ Products and find out why what matters to you matters to us as well!