Tag: supply chain

Manufacturing Industry Shifting Gears Amid Supply Chain Disruptions

One memorable example of a widespread product shortage began in 2020 in the middle of the pandemic. Toilet paper was out of stock everywhere – from local grocery stores to online retailer giants like Amazon. While supply chain has always been an integral aspect of businesses, the pandemic-fueled toilet paper shortage and resulting hysteria it caused, sparked a magnified focus on product inventory for companies worldwide. Supply chain breakdown has impacted nearly every industry; especially manufacturing. Companies have been forced adapt to these shifts and look at changing production process to ensure they’re able to deliver their product in a timely manner. According to Industry Today, here are three principles that supply chain-focused employees can implement to adapt to supply-related woes:

Examine Your Process and Deliver

Taking a step back, many leaders in manufacturing have begun to pinpoint weak areas in their own supply chain (including distance and inventory waste) and implement new solutions. Recent research has found that 91% of Chief Supply Chain Officers agree that fixing supply chain issues is important to their business’s success.

Stay Prepared

Change is the only constant. Planning for the future by monitoring data, shipping analytics and economic trends is key to staying ahead of the game and continuing to deliver according to customer expectations.

Customers Dictate Agenda

Meeting customer needs is more than simply delivering a good or service on time. Finding ways to ensure customers’ many needs are met is paramount. Setting expectations on expected delivery timeframe ensures the customer is in the know. Customer expectations ultimately shape the supply chain agenda. We are happy to report that DJ Products has continued to operate with no disruption to service amid the global pandemic. Please reach out to a sales engineer (phone: 1-800-686-2651, email: info@djproducts.com) if you’re interested in a material handling solution for your business!

DoD Helps Contractors Steer Clear of Counterfeit Parts

Internet Website Search 3D Ball
Discerning Whats Real From Fake

When it comes to systems administered and operated by the DoD, integrity is crucial. A malfunction can cost lives, both civilian and military, as well as threaten our country’s security. The DoD recently issued a new rule aimed at preventing the acquisition of counterfeit equipment for DoD contractors.

Maintaining a Trusted Supply Chain

This past August, the Final Rule was announced as an amendment to the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement. The rule mandates a “strong preference” for the use of electronic components obtained from original or authorized manufacturers and their resellers.

The Federal Register states that the Final Rule was created for the benefit of both the Government and its contractors. Ensuring the integrity of electronic parts greatly reduces the risk of system failure on aircraft, ships and other military equipment.

What Happens with Non-Authorized Sources?

The Final Rule also contains a contingency clause addressing situations where a contractor has no trusted source for specific electronic parts.

• The contractor must give written notice to the contracting officer regarding proposed use of items from non-trusted sources.

• Upon request, the contractor must offer detailed documentation for their inspection and testing process.

• Contractors must be able to either trace the parts back to the original manufacturer or assume responsibility for authentication.

• These conditions also apply to subcontractors who are unwilling to accept a flow-down of the clause.

Military Material Handling Solutions from DJ Products

Make it easier for your employees to move vehicles, machinery and other heavy-duty equipment for DoD contractors. Visit our website and chat with our sales engineers about our assortment of tugs and pushers for military and DoD applications.

Ergonomic Material Handling Equipment Meets Needs of Multi-Generational Workforce

Finding, training and keeping qualified workers is slated for discussion at the Material Handling Industry of America (MHIA) annual conference NA 2010 scheduled for April 26-29 (see our January 4 post). The conference will devote two educational sessions to managing the supply chain workforce:

  • How Industry is Changing Material Handling Training and Education will focus on the demanding skill sets now necessary to perform even entry-level jobs in highly sophisticated, automated warehouses, distribution centers and fulfillment houses.
  • Building the Workforce of Tomorrow will focus on the challenge of integrating multi-generational workforces successfully as baby boomers and the knowledge they harbor leave the industry.

The move toward more automated supply chain operations and the increasing sophistication of the technology that drives them presents a considerable workforce challenge for supply chain managers. Technology is necessitating a more highly skilled supply chain worker making it difficult to find suitable workforce candidates among the industry’s traditional unskilled labor pool. Exacerbating the problem is the coming retirement of skilled baby boomers who have been the backbone of the supply chain industry for decades. Supply chain managers worry that there simply won’t be enough new workers coming into the system to replace those who are leaving it. The poor economic climate has actually alleviated that part of the problem somewhat. Lost savings and pinched budgets have forced many baby boomers to return to the workforce or push retirement back a few more years.

While their expertise is welcome, the distinct physical needs of an aging workforce have thrown another wrench into the supply chain machinery. Ergonomic material handling equipment that removes the physical burden from the worker could be the key to accommodating senior workers. Adjustability allows ergonomically designed carts and tugs to accommodate workers of every shape, size, sex and physical ability, providing supply chain managers with maximum use of their workforce.

Supply Chain Digest Announces Fall Workshops

Supply Chain Digest is pulling out a heavy-hitter to headline its annual fall workshop on improving distribution center and warehouse management and performance. Ken Miesemer, Senior Consultant at St. Onge and former Director of Distribution and International Logistics for Hershey Foods, will lead two fall workshops being sponsored by the industry magazine. “Best Practices in Distribution Center Design, Operations and Management” will be presented in Philadelphia on October 21-22 and in Atlanta on October 28-29.

Author of the book Start-Up of a World Class DC, Miesemer said, “These workshops use outstanding materials that have been extremely well received by logistic professionals, and deliver concepts and insight that aren’t just theory but which have been proven in real-world distribution environments.”

Billed as “hands-on, practical training sessions,” Supply Chain Digest’s popular Professional Education Series workshops encourage interaction between instructors and distribution, warehousing and logistics professionals. In addition to Miesemer, Supply Chain Digest editor Dan Gilmore will review supply chain execution software systems. Course materials include distribution analysis and decision-making tools and templates that attendees will be able to implement in their own operations. The discussion and provision of practical action plans is a hallmark of Supply Chain Digest workshops.

The workshops will focus on the implementation of best practices to improve labor productivity, operations efficiency and inventory accuracy using proven techniques and technology. Course highlights include: building and material handling equipment design, testing design through automation, organizing to minimize bottlenecks, workforce performance management, fostering a culture of continuous development and improvement, differentiating solutions, redefining bid specifications, controlling risk driven margin expectations, and much more.

“Best Practices in Distribution Center Design, Operations and Management” workshop details:

  • October 21-22 at Penn State Great Valley Conference Center in Malvern, PA just outside of Philadelphia 
  • October 28-29 at Georgia Tech Conference Center in Atlanta, GA

Click here for a complete course outline and hotel and registration information.

The ABCs of Supply Chain Logistics

Acronyms are widely used by all types of businesses and organizations. They simplify communications by providing a quick shorthand for long, sometimes cumbersome terms.

Supply chain logistics has its own dictionary of terms. Here’s a guide to some major ones and how DJ Products and their line of material handling tugs can positively impact them.

  • WIP Work in process (or progress) indicates raw materials that have begun the manufacturing process but are not yet complete. A high WIP can be a sign of bottlenecks somewhere along the line. Our tugs reduce the amount of time needed to move materials from place to place, helping to streamline the work process.
     
  • FIFO First-in-first-out is a means of managing inventory where the first items to arrive in a warehouse are the first ones to be moved out. This is particularly important for perishables or products with a limited shelf life. Tugs are compact and easy to maneuver, so they make it easier to store and access inventory as needed.
     
  • ECR Efficient customer response is imperative for a company’s success. Having an efficient way to quickly and easily transfer inventory means orders get fulfilled more promptly.
     
  • OSHA The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is the Federal governing body that enforces industrial safety regulations. Using material handler tugs requires less effort and minimizes physical stress, thereby greatly reducing the number of job-related injuries and accidents.

Whatever your needs, DJ Products has material handling tugs to provide a solution. Contact our Sales Engineers ASAP at 800.686.2651 to get your questions answered PDQ!

What Is a Sustainable Business?

The Earth’s natural resources are not infinite. As the world’s burgeoning population places increasing strain on those resources, sustainability has grown in importance. From maintaining environmental ecosystems to manufacturing goods from recycled materials to developing renewable energy sources, sustainability has become the modern watchword for efforts to meet mankind’s present needs without jeopardizing the survival of future generations. Perhaps because of the relative newness of sustainability in the social consciousness, defining sustainability in a business sense is still a bit of an abstract art.

Consensus is only just beginning to gel about what it means to operate a sustainable business. While some companies continue to define sustainability in terms of resources used and recycled, more businesses are taking a broader view. According to a 2008 report by the Institute for Supply Management, “The largest percentage of respondents (37%) indicated that their companies define sustainability as ‘the triple bottom line’ — the integration of social, environmental and economic objectives.”

The survey polled a broad section of U.S. supply professionals including manufacturers, government, transportation, finance, healthcare, utilities, service providers and other players in traditional U.S. supply chains. However, manufacturers made up the bulk (45%) of the respondents. Here’s the breakdown on how survey participants said their companies defined sustainability:

  • 37% social, environmental and economic issues 
  • 9% social and environmental issues only
  • 11% environmental issues only
  • 11% unsure of company’s definition
  • 14% company had no definition
  • 11% in process of developing definition 

While the ISM report indicates that considerable differences in individual perception remain regarding various components of sustainability, the ISM survey indicates that U.S. industry is moving closer to adopting Carter and Rogers’ 2008 definition of sustainability:

“… the strategic, transparent integration and achievement of an organization’s social, environmental and economic goals in the systemic coordination of key interorganizational business processes for improving the long-term economic performance of the individual company and its supply chains …”

While consensus is growing for the broader definition, the survey found that companies defined different elements of sustainability quite differently. For example, when asked to provide examples of how their company related “community” to sustainability, respondents replied their efforts were directed as follows:

  • 17% volunteerism
  • 17% supporting community through use of local suppliers
  • 25% financial value of sourcing through local suppliers

While the ISM report focused on sustainability in the U.S. supply chain, DJ Products would be interested to know how material handling firms and their customers define and utilize sustainability. Click “comment” to share your views.

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.