Overhead crane safety tops the agenda as CMAA hosts its first safety conference at MODEX. By Brian Reaves— MODEX Welcomes The Crane Manufacturers Association of America (CMAA), an independent trade association affiliated with the Material Handling Industry (MHI), will host a one-day overhead crane safety-themed conference at next year’s MODEX show, which takes place 9-12 April 2018 at the Georgia ...

Photo collage of sessions, awards/recognition and networking events At the 2017 MHI Executive Summit and Annual Conference last October, attendees heard from industry visionaries including Jon Gordon (author of “The Energy Bus”), Randy Lewis (former SVP supply chain, Walgreens), David Roberts (GSP director, Singularity University), Susan O’Malley, former president of the Washington Wizards), and technology entrepreneur Josh Linkner. MHI Industry ...

2018 Economic Outlook: Growth Expectations and Policy Risks By Jason Schenker, CMT®, CFP®, ERP®, CVA®, Prestige Economics, LLC— There are many reasons to be optimistic about growth in the year ahead. Data in the latter half of 2017 were generally positive, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) raised its global growth forecasts, and leading indicators—like global purchasing manager indices—were indicative of ...

Electric Chain Hoists Are a Safe, Ergonomic Solutions for Load Movement in Industrial Facilities By Jean Feingold— Electric chain hoists have been mass produced since the early 1900s to lift and lower items in industrial facilities. Even for a relatively low-weight item, say 10 pounds, it is beneficial to use a hoist to prevent operator fatigue if the lifting process ...

Distribution Centers “Popping-Up” Closer to the Customer to Meet eCommerce Demand By Katie Kuehner-Hebert— When it comes to ecommerce fulfillment, it’s all about location, location, location. And that location must deliver speed and agility. That’s why more and more retailers with ecommerce operations are augmenting their traditional larger distribution centers with “pop-up locations”—which can be temporary to handle orders during ...

RMI Launches New Blog By Stephen Murdoch— For 60 years, the Rack Manufacturers Institute (RMI) has been the leading voice for the industry’s suppliers of industrial steel storage racks and related structural systems. As the national voice for those who supply industrial rack solutions in the United States, the group works tirelessly to share relevant industry related information with its ...

MHI Solutions Community Sponsoring MODEX Seminar on the Top 10 Tips for Implementing a Fulfillment Warehouse By Brian Reaves, MHI Executive Vice President— The top 10 list I’m about to tell you about won’t make you laugh like the ones that were read each night for decades by David Letterman, but for executives and operations managers at order fulfillment warehouses, ...

Catching up with an MHEFI Scholarship Recipient: Using Analytics to Determine Walmart’s Future DC Operations Esmaeel Moradi brings a lot of academic firepower to his role as logistics planning manager for Walmart, and that’s a good thing because it’s a pretty demanding job. Since November 2015, Moradi has worked at the company’s headquarters in Bentonville, AR, focusing on distribution network ...

CEO UPDATE: Sustainable Supply Chains Are Driving Competitive Advantage — by George W. Prest. As more and more customers, investors and employees demand them, sustainable business practices are becoming an integral part of what makes a company and their products unique and valuable. Today, best-in-class supply chains are collaborating to use sustainability as a strategic weapon for gaining competitive advantage by reducing ...

These Integrated, Smart Transportation Systems Use Data, Applications and Technology to Help Move Goods More Quickly, Cheaply and Efficiently — By Mary Lou Jay — Last-mile deliveries to consumers and merchants in urban areas pose a variety of challenges for logistics companies. Today’s consumers have very high expectations when it comes to product deliveries. “There are a lot of customers ...