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MHI News The Warehousing Education and Research Council (WERC) released its 2025 DC Measures Report today at the WERC Annual Conference in New Orleans. This year’s report stresses the importance of vigilance and vision in the warehousing and distribution industry, stating, “Vision and vigilance matter, as the market can quickly change and leave the firm behind.” Benchmarking Insights from Across ...

MHI News The Warehousing Education and Research Council (WERC) is proud to announce that its e‑learning course, Distribution Logistics Fundamentals, is now available in Spanish. This new offering opens doors for Spanish‑speaking logistics professionals to grow their skills, boost their careers and thrive in the dynamic world of warehousing and distribution. Whether learners are new to the industry or looking ...

MHI News To support continued growth and innovation in the supply chain industry, MHI has released its 2025 Membership Directory and Reference Guide, now available in a digital format. This annual publication highlights MHI’s 1,000+ member companies, who are the leading suppliers of material handling and supply chain equipment and system and technology solutions. It serves as a comprehensive resource ...

MHI Board of Governors’ member Rick Fox is the founder and president of FOX IV Technologies, a company that designs and builds industrial labeling and automation systems for some of the world’s most demanding supply chains. With more than 30 years of experience in product identification, packaging and manufacturing automation, he has grown FOX IV into a trusted partner for ...

CEO Update In 2016, the MHI Annual Industry Report introduced the term “always‑on” supply chain defined as “an integrated set of supply networks characterized by a continuous, high‑velocity flow of information and analytics, creating predictive, actionable decisions that better serve the customer.” Nearly a decade later, the promise of autonomous, always‑on supply chains is quickly becoming a reality as firms ...

Executive Viewpoint BY JOHN KRUMMELL, PRESIDENT AND CEO, ADVANCE STORAGE PRODUCTS As an engineer, I like order and consistency. If you have something that is ready for change, I know that I’m pretty good at being able to see a new and improved way through it. No surprise, then, that when the opportunity presented itself to update RMI’s “R‑Mark” certification ...

MHI Solutions Community BY CHRISTIAN DOW, EVP OF INDUSTRY LEADERSHIP, MHI Maybe your manufacturing plant or warehouse was an early adopter of automation, but that original material handling equipment is now showing signs of age. Or maybe your automated systems were built for the business‑to‑business selling model, before the shift to business‑to‑consumer e‑commerce. Or maybe robust order growth and SKU ...

Economic Market Analysis   BY JASON SCHENKER, PRESIDENT OF PRESTIGE ECONOMICS®, CHAIRMAN OF THE FUTURIST INSTITUTE® Material handling businesses entered 2025 with strong tailwinds. However, risks have risen significantly in recent months, and the entire industry is being swept into an economic storm driven by escalating tariff risks. While tariffs are usually inflationary, tariff risks are recessionary and deflationary, because ...

Safer Handling   BY TOM GRESHAM Among the most prominent ways that sophisticated technology has helped make warehouses safer for workers is the emergence of Automated Storage/Retrieval Systems (ASRS). An ASRS is a combination of equipment and controls that handle, store and retrieve materials under a defined degree of automation. Systems vary from relatively simple, manually controlled order‑picking machines operating ...

Solutions Spotlight   BY KATIE KUEHNER‑HEBERT For members of MHI’s Hoist Manufacturers Institute (HMI), emphasizing safe work practices involving the use of hoists is always top‑of‑mind. “From providing materials such as fact sheets and tip cards to OSHA and continuing to strengthen our relationship with this body, to examining dos and don’ts of hoist use at the user level, HMI ...