material handling equipment Archives - Page 8 of 12

What Supply Chain Trends are Predicted for 2018 and the Years Beyond Part Two

This post is a continuation of Part One found on our blog.

What Supply Chain Trends Will You Expect to See in 2018?

We brought in the new year with a look at supply chain trends that are expected to affect the industry in 2018 and beyond. While tugger carts and other electric material handling equipment are established parts of today’s warehouses, we continue to examine developing factors that can change your approach to workplace operations.

Emphasis on Supply Chain Externals

As environmental awareness has continued to grow, the public has become more concerned about how companies affect society in terms of carbon footprint and sustainable practices. Companies will need to increase transparency with disclosure of the end-to-end impacts of supply chains.

Serving the “Base of the Pyramid”

More than five billion people around the world make less than $2,000 per year. An influential book entitled The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid explored the market potential of this segment. As a result, current cost-plus supply chain models will transition to not-to-exceed cost models.

Global Demand for Knowledge Work and Workers

The shift to a global market has increased the need for supply chain workers who understand the local complexities of foreign communities and have an ability to communicate in multiple languages. Approximately 40 percent of this work involves analytics, planning and processing.

Identifying Micro Segments

Supply chain usually paints the model of customer service with a broad brush that addresses the basic category. Companies are now finding more success with a supply chain that effectively serves specific micro segments of customers based on what triggers their buying decisions.

Increase Safety and Productivity with Tugger Carts from DJ Products

Our electric tugger carts provide a consistent level of safety and efficiency that maximizes productivity in your workplace. Visit our website to learn more about our full line of material handling solutions.

Typical Causes of Forklift Accidents

When it comes to material handling equipment, most warehouses aren’t complete without forklifts. These compact but powerful vehicles are also involved in thousands of injury accidents each year.

Here are some of the more common causes of forklift accidents and how they can be prevented.

Lack of Training

You wouldn’t consider hiring a truck driver who didn’t have the necessary training, and forklift operation should be taken equally seriously. Provide appropriate training that must be completed by employees before using a forklift.

Mechanical Problems

Malfunctioning equipment, such as failing brakes or jammed forks, often leads to accidents. Follow the manufacturer’s recommended maintenance schedule and remove old forklifts from service.

Improper Loading

Broken pallets or poorly stacked loads can result in unstable forklift operation or hazards from cases falling off the fork. Instruct employees in the correct methods of loading forklifts so the pallets are balanced and the driver’s vision isn’t obstructed.

Operator Error

Forklift operators should follow the same safety precautions used when driving any vehicle.

– Maintain a safe speed.

– Seat belts should always be fastened when forklift is in use.

– Use caution when backing up.

– Always check for obstructions in the path of travel.

– Passengers should be sitting in seats, not on the load or on the fork itself.

Workplace Design

Keep aisles, intersections and doors free of obstructions. Set up workstations away from the aisles and lay out clearly marked walkways.

DJ Products: Your Preferred Source for Quality Material Handling Equipment

Our comprehensive line of battery-powered material handling equipment includes the best-selling CartCaddyLite, which allows a single employee to move carts weighing up to 1,500 pounds.

Call 800.686.2651 and let our sales engineers help you select the best tug, pusher or mover for your applications.

Ecommerce and the Speed of Fulfillment Drives New Robotic Technology into Warehouses

As e-commerce growth continues to surge past brick-and-mortar sales, how will online retailers keep up with order fulfillment? It may not be long before order-filling robots take their place alongside the rest of your material handling equipment.

Can E-commerce Response Keep Up with Consumer Demand?

According to Ken Goldberg, a roboticist from UC Berkeley, Amazon and other ecommerce companies are delivering orders at an astonishing rate of 500 packages per second. With online sales projected to reach $600 billion in the U.S. by 2020, that number will only increase.

While robots aren’t new to warehouses and fulfillment centers, they’ve been limited to literally doing the heavy lifting. Advancements in technology are allowing robots to pick orders and perform other nuanced tasks.

Robots Go to “School”

Human hands are still more suited to packing orders, the final step in order filling, but a San Francisco startup named Kindred is teaching this task to robots with a two-step method surprisingly similar to how humans learn.

– The process begins with imitation learning, in which engineers actually steer the robots to show them how to handle products from a wide range of shapes and sizes.

– During reinforcement learning, robots essentially “practice” what they’ve learned, refining their movements to increase speed and accuracy.

Will humans eventually become obsolete? Not according to David Schatsky of Deloitte, co-author of a report on robots in the workplace. Schatsky predicts that jobs will evolve, with humans shifting into creative and supervisory roles.

Boost Warehouse Efficiency with Material Handling Equipment from DJ Products

There’s still a lot of heavy lifting that needs to be done by your employees. Visit our website and use the convenient online chat feature to learn more about our full line of tugs, pushers and movers.

New Logistics Company Roadie Looks to Disrupt Transportation Models

New Ways to Look at Logistics

Logistics and warehousing companies typically focus on providing services for small, large and medium-sized businesses, but individual consumers could soon have their own version of delivery services to use. Roadie, a new delivery network, plans to focus on providing convenient and cost-effective services for individuals.

Competition for Amazon and Walmart

Amazon and Walmart are positioning themselves as innovative businesses when it comes to delivering goods to customers. Both companies are considering offering delivery services using local drivers instead of relying on major shipping companies. The idea behind this is to reduce costs to consumers while providing even faster service.

Where does Roadie fit into this? Roadie plans on using registered and rated drivers who are already going in the customer’s direction to pick up items and deliver them. This is more of a gig rather than a traditional delivery service, and it’s not just intended for consumer products.

The Roadie Community

Roadie is set up to make deliveries that fall outside the realm of delivering products and purchases to customers. Individuals who need personal belongings shipped or brought to another location and even those who need transportation for pets will be able to make delivery arrangements through Roadie.

The community includes drivers who are registered with the app and have been rated. Individuals who need pickups and deliveries can create a job, review the rated drivers who are available and choose one. While Roadie might not become immediate competition for traditional logistics and warehousing companies, it’s still a good idea to be aware of these trends.

If you need a semi truck tow dolly or other equipment to help your company save money and manpower, please visit DJ Products. We offer high-quality semi truck tow dolly options and other products.

Projected Rise in Global Ecommerce Impacts Warehouses

Turn to DJ Products for a material handling equipment supplier that can help you maximize productivity in this changing industry.

Continued growth in ecommerce around the globe is making warehouse space and transportation more sought-after than ever. Turn to DJ Products for a material handling equipment supplier that can help you maximize productivity in this changing industry.

Booming Ecommerce Raises Demand for Logistics

While the United States is still the major player, the ecommerce boom crosses all international borders. As a result, Transparency Market Research reports that the global ecommerce logistics market is projected to jump from $122.2B in 2014 to $781B in 2024 for an estimated compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20.6 percent.

With this massive increase in business comes a heightened expectation of transparency and efficiency in ecommerce logistics providers. Sellers will be looking for more customization in services, including warehousing and transportation. For their part, providers are seeking effective ways to reduce costs.

The Rise of the Asia Pacific Region

The countries in Asia Pacific are home to approximately 60% of the global population, making this region a natural target for expanded ecommerce business. Its growing middle class is another positive factor. This translates to a forecasted CAGR of of 22.4 percent between 2016 and 2024, which is even more robust than the projected global CAGR.

In contrast, the outlook for the ecommerce logistics market in Europe is relatively murky. It’s anticipated that Brexit will cause regulations to become more complex, which in turn will make compliance more difficult.

DJ Products: Your First Choice for a Material Handling Equipment Supplier

Are you looking for ways to reduce costs without sacrificing productivity? Material handling equipment like our best-selling CartCaddyLite provides greater efficiency and safety, allowing employees to get more done with less risk of workplace injuries.

Visit our website to learn more from our helpful sales engineers.

Tips to Reducing Costs and Improving Efficiency in Your Warehouse – Part One

Tips to Reducing Costs and Improving Efficiency in Your Warehouse

Managing a warehouse is a constant juggling act as you work to control labor, inventory and freight. Tugger carts from DJ Products help employees be more productive. What other methods can you use to improve efficiency and reduce costs?

How to Reduce Costs and Improve Efficiency

Here are five top tips from experts to keep all three elements of your warehouse operations running at high levels.

1. Control Freight Charges

Freight charges can eat away at profits more quickly than any other factor. Skilled consultants can help you negotiate carrier agreements at lower rates without a corresponding decrease in service.

2. Develop Incentive Pay Programs

Incentive pay for performance is actually one of the more cost-effective methods to increase productivity. Review programs carefully to make sure they’re not redundant.

3. Simplify Workflow and Processes

Less really can be more. Take a look at the warehouse layout and work processes to see if you can identify any wasted space and motions.

4. Establish a Baseline and Benchmarks

If you don’t know where you started, how can you tell when you’ve reached the finish line? Determine the measurements you want to track and provide employees with regular feedback to get them engaged.

5. Invest in Manager Development

When managers are the weak leak, it impacts every area of your business. Make sure they have proper training and other tools they need to succeed.

Streamline Warehouse Efficiency with Tugger Carts from DJ Products

Battery-powered tugger carts, such as our best-selling CartCaddyLite, promote higher levels of productivity and reduce costs through lower risk of workplace injuries.

Visit our website to learn more about our full line of material handling solutions. Use the convenient online chat feature to get real-time assistance from our sales engineers.

Tips to Reducing Costs and Improving Efficiency in Your Warehouse – Part Two

Tips to Reducing Costs and Improving Efficiency in Your Warehouse

Are you looking for ways to control labor, inventory and freight in your warehouse? In a recent blog post, we addressed the use of material handling equipment and other ways to optimize productivity. We’re continuing our look at ideas to help you improve efficiency and reduce costs.

How to Reduce Costs and Improve Efficiency

Here are five more tips from experts to streamline your warehouse operations.

1. Optimize Inbound Supply Chain Policies and Procedures

Late deliveries and vendor non-compliance on issues such as product packaging and labeling create costly delays for your employees. Develop specific policies and push value-added services up the supply chain so your employees can focus on their own jobs.

2. Implement Voice-Enabling Technology

Voice-enabling technology reduces errors and improves productivity to the extent that a system will pay for itself in as little as four to six months. Most systems are installed quickly and require little training, but do your homework and make sure you find the right program for your application.

3. Consider Third Party Fulfillment Options

Many companies prefer to keep fulfillment functions in-house, but there are times, such as when you need more warehouse space, when third party fulfillment (3PF) is a cost-effective solution.

4. Compare SaaS and Licensed Services

Enterprise and WMS systems involve substantial investments that may prohibit timely upgrades. A SaaS subscription model can be a more appropriate option.

5. Never Stop Improving

Measure the results of your plans and build on them to continue ongoing improvement.

DJ Products: Your #1 Source for Quality Material Handling Equipment

No matter what your industry is, DJ Products has a full line of material handling equipment to meet any need. Call 800.686.2651 for assistance from one of our helpful sales engineers.

Batch or Wave Picking – Which is Best for Your Order Fulfillment Warehouse?

Did you realize that pickers in your order fulfillment warehouse spend nearly two-thirds of their shift moving their tugger carts from one bin to another? Batch picking and wave picking reduce that time for improved efficiency. Which process is right for your warehouse?

Batch Picking

As implied by the name, batch picking involves sorting orders into batches that can be picked at the same time. This cuts down the number of times pickers must visit the same bin location.

Batch picking in small-order warehouses can more than double average pick rates. Since items are usually transported by cart rather than conveyor, batch picking also reduces expenses.

Experts recommend batch picking for warehouses with a higher concentration of SKUs over a large area or those with SKUs in densely populated locations. Varying the number of orders in each batch boosts productivity by limiting traffic on the warehouse floor.

Wave Picking

On the other hand, wave picking calls for pickers to work in specific zones rather than on batches. Once all the items are picked, they are collated into individual orders.

Wave picking generally works best in distribution centers with large numbers of SKUs. The process can be refined further into fixed waves, in which orders aren’t packed until the entire wave is picked, and dynamic waves, where each individual order is packed as soon as it’s completed.

Streamline Your Warehouse with Tugger Carts from DJ Products

When employees struggle to transport outsized or heavy loads, it seriously impacts productivity in your order fulfillment warehouse. Our full line of electric tugger carts offers a solution for every application.

Visit our website to learn more about tugger carts such as our best-selling CartCaddyLite, which can transport carts weighing up to 1,500 pounds.

Good Warehouse Housekeeping – Improves Safety and Prevents Injury

Good housekeeping shouldn’t be confined to your place of residence. Maintaining a tidy workplace and using tugger carts reduce injury risk and promote high levels of efficiency.

Incorporate these expert tips for making cleanliness an important part of your workplace culture.

Prevent Slips-and-Falls

Slips, trips and falls are second only to musculoskeletal stress as a cause of workplace injuries.

– Keep aisles and doorways free of obstructions.

– Clean up spills and leaks as soon as they occur.

– Immediately repair or replace worn-out or damaged flooring.

– Use strategically placed floor mats to provide traction and prevent employees from tracking materials across the warehouse.

Control Dust

A layer of dust no thicker than a dime presents a serious explosion risk. Use vacuums and compressed air to keep all surfaces, materials and equipment dust-free.

Remove Clutter

Clutter forces employees to restrict their movements, which can lead to sprains, cuts and other injuries. Make it a habit to return items to their proper place after use and keep extraneous items out of the workplace.

Use Personal Protective Equipment

Personal protective equipment such as safety glasses, closed-toed shoes and face masks should be used appropriately, with no exceptions. Have supervisors conduct regular checks to make sure all PPE is in good working condition.

Create and Maintain Written Housekeeping Policies

Create a manual thoroughly detailing housekeeping policies and keep it updated. All employees should be trained on proper procedures and have convenient access to the manual.

Save Time and Money with Tugger Carts from DJ Products

Our battery-powered tugger carts pay for themselves many times over in improved productivity and reduced workplace injuries. Visit our website and get real-time assistance from our sales engineers to select the perfect tugger carts for your warehouse.

Protect Your Warehouse Workforce from Cold Stress

It’s not just warehouse equipment that suffers the ill effects of cold weather. When the temperature drops, employees are vulnerable to a number of physical conditions ranging from non-threatening to serious.

How do you protect your workforce from the effects of winter? Follow these guidelines to keep employees safe during cold weather conditions.

Understand Cold Stress

Cold stress occurs when frigid temperatures and wind combine to lower skin temperature, eventually leading to reduced internal body temperature. Dampness can accelerate the process.

Monitor the Weather

Appearances can be deceiving. It’s not enough to go by the air temperature. Wind chill allows for the factor of wind speed, which can make actual conditions even colder than what the thermometer shows.

Train Employees

Supervisors should:

– Keep a close watch on employees for signs of cold stress

– Assign workers in pairs or groups

– Allow frequent breaks in warm, dry areas

Employees should:

– Learn to recognize conditions that promote cold stress

– Learn what to do if they or co-workers begin showing signs of exposure

– Dress in appropriate clothing and accessories

Know the Signs

– Trench foot results from exposure to wet and cold for long periods of time. Symptoms include red skin, numbness, tingling and cramps.

– Frostbite begins as reddened skin and progresses to patches of gray and white.

– Hypothermia is characterized by uncontrollable shivering, while more serious cases can cause slurred speech, clumsiness and confusion.

DJ Products: Your Year-Round Source for Warehouse Equipment Moving Solutions

In any type of weather, musculoskeletal stress is the number one cause of workplace injuries. We offer a comprehensive line of electric warehouse equipment movers designed to reduce the risk of lifting and repetitive motion tasks.

Call 800.686.2651 to learn more from our helpful sales engineers.

Tag: material handling equipment