Departments

Executive Viewpoint BY BRIAN REH, CEO, GORBEL INC. AND MHI VICE PRESIDENT As the second-generation leader of a business with solid values and entrepreneurial spirit, I know I’ve been blessed. Since 1977, Gorbel Inc. has been known for great culture and great products. But we also abide by a great mission: to build a business that improves people’s lives. About ...

For the first time, WERC’s annual DC Measures Study and Report surveyed the current application of Environmental, Social and Governance frameworks in warehousing. BY MICHAEL MIKITKA, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT OF MHI’S KNOWLEDGE VALUE CENTER AND WERC For 20 years, the Warehousing Education and Research Council (WERC) has conducted an annual benchmarking study of the key warehousing and distribution metrics operations professionals ...

BY DR. FABIO SGARBOSSA, PROFESSOR OF INDUSTRIAL LOGISTICS, DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL AND INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING, NORWEGIAN UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (NTNU) Efficient utilization of material handling equipment (MHE) significantly impacts the productivity, profitability and flexibility of production systems. For instance, machine performance could be impacted when a forklift driver is unavailable, or unit loads in the unloading station are still waiting ...

MHI Solutions Community BY CHRISTIAN DOW, MHI EXECUTIVE VP OF MEMBERSHIP AND INDUSTRY LEADERSHIP With the current state of the labor market—and the ever-increasing need for efficiency in operations—questions about making warehouse automation successful abound. Plenty of folks are feeling pressured, yet are still on the fence about what to do, how to do it and even when. As Matt ...

Economic Market Analysis BY JASON SCHENKER, PRESIDENT OF PRESTIGE ECONOMICS AND CHAIRMAN OF THE FUTURIST INSTITUTE® High interest rates threaten the outlook In the wake of significant interest rate increases, the economic outlook includes high uncertainty. This is true across economies globally, but it is especially true in the United States, where the Fed has worked hard raising rates to ...

Safer Handling BY TOM GRESHAM As warehouses and distribution centers increasingly aim to incorporate automation into their operations, the interest in Automatic Guided Vehicles (AGVs) and Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) has escalated, leading to robust growth in the industry. For MHI’s Mobile Automation Group (MAG), it is essential that growth is accompanied by an emphasis on safety. In fact, MAG ...

Solutions Spotlight BY KATIE KUEHNER-HEBERT Members of the Crane Manufacturers Association of America Inc.—CMAA—are at the forefront of the crane industry. “We’ve been around for a long time—we were founded in 1927 as the Electric Overhead Crane Institute to promote the standardization of cranes as well as uniform quality and performance,” said Dan Beilfuss, CMAA’s president and general manager of ...

Product Spotlight BY DONALD DUNPHY It is a modern mantra: “Technology will never be as bad as it is today.” In other words, as transformative as automation, artificial intelligence (AI) and other technologies already are to supply chain matters, they can only get faster, smarter, more efficient and more cost-effective from here. “In terms of speed of processing in the ...

Where Are They Now? Catching Up with an MHEFI Scholarship Recipient JERIMY LOGAN, SERVICE DELIVERY MANAGER, TMC The journey from a music degree to a career in supply chain management may not sound like a logical pathway, but for Jerimy Logan, it made sense. He received his undergraduate degree in music from Columbia College in Chicago, Illinois, then worked as ...

Inside MHI The people who work at MHI and its WERC division 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 ...