Workplace culture expert Eric Chester shares insights in this interview with MHI’s Career and Technical Education (CTE) program addressing why companies need to be transformational to attract and retain the best employees. * By Maria Leggett * MHI’s Career and Technical Education (CTE) program is doing everything possible to raise awareness of our industry and the opportunities it offers to ...

MHI released the list of finalists for the 2019 MHI Innovation Award. After receiving 108 submissions for this year’s awards, judges comprised of professionals from the material handling and supply chain industry completed the initial vetting process. Four finalists were chosen as the most innovative products in each category – Best New Innovation; Best Innovation of an Existing Product; and ...

Find your suppy chain wow—ideas, networking, innovation, opportunity, advantages—at ProMat 2019 at the McCormick Place in Chicago, April 8-11. Read More…

Putting Economic Risks in Context * By Jason Schenker * There are more risks this year than there were at this time last year—a lot more. Trade risks, political risks, geopolitical risks and even risks to global growth have all increased. But it is important to examine these risks in context, because while there are rising risks across the global ...

How AGV Systems Improve Safety at Material Handling Facilities * By Jean Feingold * An automatic guided vehicle (AGV) system consists of one or more computer controlled wheel-based load carriers. Typically battery powered, these systems operate on plant or warehouse floors or on paved areas outdoors without onboard human operators. Navigating using pre-defined paths, AGVs provide automated material movement, which ...

Several Changes Introduced in Updated Caster Standard * By Stephen Murdoch * The Institute of Caster and Wheel Manufacturers (ICWM) Industry Group of MHI announced updates to the ANSI ICWM-2018 standard in mid-July, titled “Vocabulary, Performance and Testing Requirements for Casters and Wheels.” The standard, originally released in 2004, provides manufacturers, specifiers and users with a common basis for evaluating ...

Recent Trends Lead to Creation of New MHI Industry Group: The Robotics Group * By Katie Kuehner-Hebert * MHI has a new Industry Group, The Robotics Group, focusing on broader applications of robotics—whether it’s arms or vehicles—within the fulfillment process to ease workforce availability problems. “Material handling operators across the country all see the freight train coming—a lack of labor ...

* By John Paxton * Rupesh Narkar offers a silver lining for parents who are sick of seeing their kids’ eyes glued to their smartphones, tablets and video games: That comfort with new technology will make them ideal candidates for the warehouse and distribution center jobs of the present and the future, so in a sense, some of them are ...

Shelby Koskela: Turning Complex Challenges Into Structured Answers Shelby Koskela is the rare person who never shies away from a complex math problem. Koskela, 24, tutored students in math while earning a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering, with a minor in mathematics, at the University of Minnesota. And unlike most of us, she actually does use her math skills in ...

The people who work at MHI are the gears that keep the association rolling. They ensure MHI continues to be a valuable association and resource for people involved in the industry, and do so with wit, competence and a smile on their face. The goal of this column in MHI Solutions magazine is to give readers a glimpse into what ...