Order picking is how warehouse and distribution center workers fulfill orders. “Order picking systems help reduce errors in picking by telling the worker what to pick and then confirming what was picked,” noted Brian C. Neuwirth of MHI member UNEX Manufacturing, Inc. “As order picking is the most labor intensive process in a warehouse, whatever can be done to speed ...

MHI’s Order Fulfillment Solutions (OFS) Industry Group is presenting two must-see sessions this year at ProMat 2017 in Chicago: a review of the “latest and greatest” solutions on the show floor and practical ways to approach omnichannel distribution centers. On Monday, April 3, Ed Romaine, vice president, sales and marketing at MHI Member SI Systems, will be presenting the session, ...

In the beginning of the 1900s, the first ergonomic concepts to help workers operate more productively were introduced. At the time, industry demanded a great deal of physical exertion from workers. Today, caster manufacturers continue to study human abilities, limitations and other characteristics relevant to product design in hopes of reducing workplace stress and injury. Recently, the Institute of Caster ...

Just a scant three years after the debut of the original U.S. Roadmap for Material Handling & Logistics, Version 2.0 of the report and action plan will be released at ProMat 2017. As an update of the preceding document, U.S. Roadmap for Material Handling & Logistics 2.0 (Roadmap 2.0) is intended to help the supply chain industry determine how it ...

Blockchain, the technology that enabled the creation of bitcoins and shook up global financial systems, may one day be disrupting supply chain operations as well. Ginny Rommety, CEO and chairwoman of IBM, has predicted that blockchain has the potential to transform transactions in the way that the Internet transformed communications. That could include all transactions and movements along the supply ...

Heard the term “Smart City” yet? In researching the 2017 MHI Annual Industry Report, to be released on April 5 at ProMat 2017, Deloitte Consulting’s Patrick Salemme was surprised to discover that 47 percent of the more than 1,100 survey respondents (all manufacturing and supply chain professionals) were aware of the concept. “Further, of that 47 percent, 24 percent reported ...

The struggle to fill supply chain job openings with qualified candidates at every level has been widely documented and reported over the last few years. Supply chain management level positions—from operations management to data analytics to planning and procurement—are among the fastest growing areas for new jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And the challenge is not limited ...

In December 21, 2016, the New York Times ran an article titled, “The Long-Term Jobs Killer Is Not China. It’s Automation.” It repeated across its 1,250 words the assertion that automation is bad news for the worker. This is demonstrably wrong, and, in fact, the opposite is true. Automation increases human productivity, lowers costs, increases wages and creates good jobs. ...

Escalating on-demand customer requirements and industry consolidation impacts food and beverage supply chains. Food and beverage has undergone a transformation in recent years. More flavors of the same product. Different sizes and promotional packaging. Changing ingredients to meet consumers’ preferences. While these trends have been changing what consumers see on the store shelves, another trend has been quietly transforming the ...

Measures achieved through technology and robotics are helping make the manufacturing workplace safer When Bob Hoffman began working with integrated robotic welding systems in the early 1980s, there were limited safety precautions. “The robot cell safety equipment would be a waist-high railing with a sign on a gate warning of the dangers, no safety interlocks. I could stand right next ...