Tag: Material Handling

What It Will Take to Succeed in Business in 2009

A small business owner I admired embodied three qualities that got him through many tough times in the material handling business: innovation, positive thinking and hard work. These same qualities can help us weather the current storm successfully.

Innovation. A great believer in innovation, my friend was the first in his region to buck the industry and offer new electric-powered forklift trucks and hand-operated movers when they first came on the market. Decades ago he foresaw the advantages of cleaner, more efficiently powered material handling equipment. Had he still been in business, he’d have been among the first to embrace safer, ergonomically-designed, even more energy efficient, battery-operated material handling equipment. Embracing new technology as it becomes available positions you to reap the rewards of improved energy efficiency, increased maneuverability, innovative safety features and greater flexibility of use.

Positive thinking. Even during tough times, my friend was a great believer in the power of positive thinking. He ran his business and lived his life in accordance with a quote from Henry Ford that he kept prominently displayed on his desk: “Whether you think that you can, or that you can’t, you are usually right.” My friend would have been the first to see the opportunities in a depressed market. Bargains abound for the savvy businessman. This can be a good time to expand your territorial or product base by partnering with or buying out a faltering competitor. Depression of the construction industry has led to aggressive pricing in commercial markets making this a good time to build or expand facilities. This can also be a prime time to upgrade your technology. Many firms are offering unbeatable deals or deferred payments to stimulate business. Plant and business closures are also creating great deals on used equipment.

Hard work. My friend knew that positive thinking alone never accomplished anything. No slouch when it came time to roll up his sleeves and get dirty, another favorite saying was, “God helps those who help themselves.” To survive the current recession, you’re going to have to be innovative, flexible and forward thinking; but you’re also going to have to reign in unnecessary expenses, tighten up financial practices, maximize worker and production efficiency, and work hard to stay ahead of the competition.

Moved Wheeled Equipment Safely with Powered Movers

Have wheels, will travel? This phrase may apply to people with cars but it does not necessarily apply to carts used in industrial and warehouse settings. Sometimes moving even well designed wheeled equipment and machinery is no simple task. This is where a power tugger or cart mover from DJ Products can make a big difference. Our material handling solutions make it possible for one operator to move heavy-duty wheeled equipment with a reduced risk of injury.

With carts that are heavy but don’t seem ridiculously heavy, there is the temptation to go ahead and push or pull it—just get a couple of workers and the job will be done, right? Well, maybe. The job might be done…but your employees may experience damaging muscle strain afterwards.

A DJ Products CartCaddyShorty power tugger is a motorized cart mover manufactured to help transport carts or equipment that require turning and that can typically be pushed or pulled with one or two people. Perhaps if workers pushed or pulled these loads once or twice they’d be okay. But when a few workers repeatedly strain to transport heavy loads at work, this can take its toll on their musculoskeletal system.

Our CartCaddyHD cart mover can be used to maneuver carts or equipment of up to 50,000 pounds forwards or backwards as needed. It has a mover arm that can be used for a variety of carts and equipment so your employees won’t need to spend time trying to fashion different attachments.

Call us at 1-800-686-2651 to talk to a Sales Engineer about these and other material handling solutions for your business.

Michigan Poised to Adopt Ergonomic Standard

A new initiative in Michigan could presage an expected federal push to mandate ergonomic equipment and procedures in business and industry. Last week, Michigan state regulators unanimously voted to advance a proposed state-wide ergonomic standard. Unless blocked by the state legislature, as a similar initiative was in 2006, the new standard could take effect this year.

If implemented, Michigan would follow California, becoming the second state in the U.S. to implement its own ergonomic rules. While the federal government has established ergonomic guidelines for many industries, they are currently voluntary, although that is expected to change. During his campaign, President Obama promised to enact tougher workplace safety standards early in his administration.

With the unanimous support of the state’s General Industry Safety Standards Commission and the Occupational Health Standards Commission, Michigan political analysts believe that, this time around, any efforts to block the proposed state-wide ergonomic standard will fail. Supporters of ergonomic equipment and procedures point to their proven record in reducing preventable injuries that each year cost businesses millions of dollars in medical and insurance costs, worker’s compensation claims, and lost man-hours. According to Michigan’s Worker’s Compensation Bureau, about 40% of worker’s compensation claims paid in 2006 and 2007 were related to preventable ergonomic injuries.

The proven ability of ergonomically-designed material handling equipment to prevent repetitive stress and musculoskeletal injuries and reduce concomitant production and human resources costs is well documented by the U.S. Department of Labor and the Bureau of Worker’s Compensation. While opponents have expressed concern that Michigan’s ergonomic imperative will increase the cost of doing business in a state already struggling to survive economically, statistical and experiential evidence show that return on investment in ergonomic equipment is generally realized in the first year of ownership.

Michigan’s proposed standard would “assess risk factors that may contribute to work-related musculoskeletal disorders and establish a minimal rule for training,” according to the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth. The standard will only apply to general industry businesses, not construction. Public hearings must now be held by Michigan’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MIOSHA) before the rule can be formally adopted, possibly as early as this summer.

Electric Carts Ease Strain of Push-Pull Tasks

Pushing and pulling are the two most required actions in industrial and business settings. Unfortunately, pushing and pulling can place extreme stress on a worker’s body, often resulting in back, groin and other musculoskeletal injuries. Injuries can cost an individual business thousands of dollars each year in medical, insurance, disability and lost man-hour costs. An ergonomically designed electric cart pusher and motorized cart puller eliminates the physical strain of manually pushing and pulling heavy carts and wheeled equipment. An investment in ergonomic equipment is a sound investment in the health and safety of your workforce that can save your business thousands of dollars in unnecessary medical and insurance costs.

In manufacturing and distribution settings, the most common solutions to material handling tasks are:

  • to place products, parts and equipment on pallets for handling or
  • to utilize racks, carts and casters to move materials.

Electric carts come in a variety of shapes, sizes and configurations to fit the demands of the task and the capabilities of your workforce. An ergonomically-designed cart mover reduces the amount of force that must be exerted by the operator to maneuver a load. Various cart and wheel configurations are available to meet the needs of any task.

  • Carts, racks or equipment with casters can be easily turned and maneuvered with a CartCaddy power tug that feature a 5th wheel turning method.
  • Carts, racks or equipment with 4 swiveling casters require a cart with back end control.
  • Specialized CartCaddies and an electric tug have been designed to handle carts or equipment that have straight wheels or are on a rail.

Visit the DJ Products website to view our complete line of ergonomic electric carts, trucks and lifts. We offer ergonomic solutions for material handling applications.

ProMat 2009 to Demonstrate Supply Chain Solutions

Well having spent 20 bitter, cold winters in Chicago shoveling endless mounds of snow, I have to admit that when I got my invitation to ProMat 2009, I was underwhelmed about the offer to “join us in January in Chicago.” However, you can’t fault Chicago for its exciting city life, excellent restaurants, magnificent skyline and ever-patrolling army of snowplows, so I’m game for another frosty experience in the Windy City. And who could miss the Material Handling Industry of America’s annual international exposition? ProMat 2009, Solutions that Make the Supply Chain Work, promises to provide an invigorating look at the hot new trends and innovations in material handling and logistics.

ProMat will showcase more than 800 solution-packed exhibits from top equipment and technology providers in the material handling and logistics industries. It’s your opportunity to not only talk to the pros but see their solutions to industry applications in action. Given the country’s current economic problems, I think we can all benefit from solutions that promise to streamline operations, increase productivity, reduce costs, improve customer service and improve our bottom line.

I’m particularly looking forward to Forrest Sawyer’s moderation of the keynote discussion on building the workforce of the future. We’ve discussed in this space before the workforce challenges that will face our industry in the coming years: retiring boomers, declining worker population, increased workforce diversity, life/work balance and a move toward more technical skill sets. These issues aren’t going to go away and we, as an industry, need to develop strategies for embracing the challenges of the future.

We’ve also talked in this space about the globalization of material handling, logistics and industry in general. With buyers and sellers from more than 90 countries in attendance, ProMat offers an opportunity to start making connections so you’ll be ready to flex your global wings.

Education is always a major focus of the annual MHIA show. This year’s Knowledge Center will bring 100 Educational Seminars to the show floor, all free to attendees, as is the keynote discussion. Seminars will focus on the latest material handling and logistics trends and innovations for manufacturing, distribution, and supply chain operations.

ProMat 2009 will be held from January 12-15, 2009 at McCormick Place South in Chicago, Illinois. Plan to go and learn about emerging trends and leading edge developments in the industry. See solutions in action and talk to their purveyors. Network with other professionals from across the country and around the globe. ProMat 2009 is your chance to learn, explore and rekindle your passion. For complete information and registration, visit the ProMat website.

What Is the Future of the Material Handling Industry?

The future of the material handling industry is at a crossroads in America. A declining workforce, decreased interest in blue collar jobs and negative perceptions about pay and job satisfaction threaten the future of material handling. The short-term solution for survival is to hire an increasingly immigrant workforce, mount a PR campaign to revamp our image, and automate to minimize manpower strain, says Benoit Montreuil of the College Industry Council on Material Handling Education (see our April 18 post). “I believe that each of these three solutions has merits in specific settings,” said Montreuil, “but that it will be insufficient for addressing the scale and scope of the emerging crisis.”

If we are to survive as an industry, material handling must change its basic paradigm, warns Montreuil. He believes that by automating many of the steps in warehousing and logistics, we have stripped workers of the opportunity to think, make decisions and have input into their jobs, the very things that provide job satisfaction. When workers are merely required to follow a pre-determined pattern, as in pick-to-light solutions, they become little better than robots, says Montreuil. By removing the challenge from the job, he believes, we are losing our most important resource — the intelligent, innovative worker.

The alternative paradigm that Montreuil envisions is a material handling industry that relies on highly-skilled, certified logistics professionals operating in self-sufficient teams in distribution centers, factories and logistics applications around the world. These professionals would be “trained to exploit all the physical handling and transport technologies,” says Montreuil, combining automation with manual operations to achieve maximum efficiency. In his utopia, Montreuil sees a material handling industry that offers “career paths for their talented workforce.”

Efficient Wheel Design Reduces Friction

Friction occurs when two surfaces come into contact, as when a wheel rests on a floor. Friction is the force that resists movement between the objects. Under theoretically perfect conditions, the ideal wheel environment would be a hard, smooth wheel rolling over a hard, smooth surface. In real life, perfect conditions never exist. In a typical work environment, using a hard wheel will often result in higher rolling resistance, as well as increased noise and vibration.

Both static and dynamic forces affect friction. The initial push force necessary to place an object in motion is the static force. Static force is generally greater than dynamic force which is the exertion necessary to keep the object moving. Wheel design must consider bother static and dynamic force.

In a wheel or caster system, there are three places where friction can affect force:

  • at the point where the axle and wheel interface;
  • if a swivel caster, in the swivel housing; and
  • at the ground/wheel interface, particularly at any points where the wheel will slide or pivot on a surface.

The efficiency of a wheel or caster in reducing friction is dependent not only upon the appropriate design of the wheel itself, but also on the materials used in its construction and the placement of the wheels on the equipment to be moved.

Prepare for Red Tape; Regulation Is Back in Vogue

As President-elect Obama prepares to take office, there’s a lot of talk about “accountability,” particularly in the face of the large handouts to the banking and now auto industries. It looks like Detroit’s auto makers are going to pay the price for the rather arrogant behavior of the nation’s financial institutions that were quick to take Uncle Sam’s money (actually your money and my money) but haven’t been so quick to tell us what they’ve done with it. Further handouts are coming burdened with rules, regulations and (this being the government) mountains of paperwork to ensure that the government’s money is being used the way they want it to be.

After years of deregulation, which economists say is partly to blame for our current predicament, the pendulum is starting to swing in the other direction. For at least the next decade or so, economic experts expect the U.S. to embrace increased government regulation. In fact, angry citizens, many of whom feel they’re being robbed to support bad business decisions and executive excess, are demanding greater regulation and more stringent government oversight.

Once his team settles in, industry experts expect to see the government sticking an ore in wherever and whenever the President thinks the economy or a particular industry needs a shove. And because of the government’s tremendous investment in the country’s banks and businesses, the President will consider it his right, perhaps even his duty, explained economic analyst Chris Kuehl in a recent Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, International newsletter. “The Fed is already more engaged in the U.S. banking system than ever before, and that involvement will likely expand,” warns Kuehl. “The Treasury Department is already a part owner of most of the major banks in the country, a leading insurance company, and perhaps, in time, the Big Three auto companies. That gives the U.S. government a major stake in the performance of its largest companies, which will mean direction and advice.”

So sharpen your pencils, add an extra box or two of paper to your office supply order this month and prepare to add a chair in the boardroom for Uncle Sam. It looks like the red tape is going to be flowing again!

Why Attend Trade Shows and Conferences?

Why should you attend trade shows and industry conferences? When the economy is tight and sales are down, how do you justify the expense of attending a trade show or conference, particularly when gas, airline and hotel expenses are climbing? My dad would tell you what every smart businessman knows: keeping up with industry developments and trends isn’t a perk, it’s a necessity.

I can remember when my dad attended MHEDA trade shows in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s. For a man who worked 15-hour days 6 1/2 days a week, the annual trade show was his idea of a vacation. He always took Mom along to share the fun. She’d pall around with the other wives on day tours then meet Dad for dinner with other business friends. Dad spent his days boning up on new developments and new products, jawing with suppliers and  distributors, and picking the brains of other business owners — the 1960s version of networking. He always tried to work in an educational conference or two each year, and became a MHEDA presenter later in his career.

Dad placed a high value on education and keeping abreast of current developments and future trends. He preached planning for the future as the best way to grow your business. He believed in the power of networking, both as a resource for solving business problems and as a tool for growing your business. Industry trade shows and conferences give you the opportunity to stay current in your business, learn about future trends and network with industry peers. There couldn’t be better reasons to attend.

MHEDA is offering two fall events geared to revitalize your material handling career and make your business more productive:

The Young Distribution Professionals Conference August 3-6 at the Eaglewood Resort & Spa in Itasca, Illinois targets material handling professionals with less than 10 years in the distribution industry. The conference is designed to help rising managers increase their knowledge of distribution and expand their distribution career skills. There will be ample networking opportunities to interact with peers in the distribution and other material handling industries. A host of engaging speakers will focus on the development of leadership and management skills.

Parts & Service Management Conference September 11-12 at the Crown Plaza Chicago O’Hare in Rosemont, Illinois targets parts and service managers, branch managers and operations managers. The conference will focus on daily issues that arise in material handling parts and service departments. Sessions will teach attendees how to identify key performance indicators in their departments with an emphasis on profitability and customer service.

Ergonomic Wheel Design Improves Productivity

In our last post we talked about the importance of wheel design in reducing friction. But why is that important? The answer is that any design element that decreases the force that must be exerted by the operator to manipulate a piece of equipment increases efficiency and decreases the risk of potential injury. The result is greater productivity. This is the goal of ergonomic design both in the design of equipment and the environment in which it will be used.

When a wheeled piece of equipment is used, the operator must first overcome inertia and friction. The initial force necessary to start an object in motion is far greater than the sustained force necessary to keep it moving. Once in motion, optimum sustained, or rolling, force is achieved when a steady, constant velocity is achieved. Any need to decrease or increase velocity requires increased force to combat inertia. This is particularly noticeable during turning and maneuvering when significant force must be applied to change direction. Stopping a piece of wheeled equipment requires the same high level of force as starting it. As when accelerating, the operator must overcome high levels of inertia and friction to decelerate.

The four physical elements required to move a piece of wheeled equipment — starting, rolling, turning and stopping — can place tremendous stress on the operator’s musculoskeletal system. If performing these tasks manually, workers frequently overexert and strain muscles while applying the necessary force to start or stop a piece of equipment. Turning and positioning equipment can cause operators to assume asymmetric body postures during exertion which can cause musculoskeletal injury.

Ergonomically designed carts and tugs seek to achieve the optimal wheel size, type, placement and composition to decrease the force an operator must exert to move a piece of equipment.