Industry Trends

Industry Focus   BY TOM GRESHAM   The consumer electronics industry supply chain is highly complex, with a set of unique challenges that require particularly sophisticated solutions. Those companies that operate in the field have no choice but to prioritize innovation in order to keep up with a field that evolves at a blindingly rapid pace. “The consumer electronics supply ...

Safer Handling Off/on pedals for a central lock brake are among the safety features used for some casters and wheels.    BY TOM GRESHAM   For casters and wheels, safety starts in part with how well they can stop. When mounted to the underside of a piece of equipment, casters and wheels make it easier for personnel or machinery to ...

Product Spotlight   BY SANDY SMITH Safety is at the core of the work of the Crane Manufacturers Association of America (CMAA). However, this committee of “friendly competitors” does not merely replicate the work of federal regulators but rather sees its role as enhancing when it comes to understanding the nuances of overhead traveling cranes and gantry cranes. While OSHA ...

  Get ready for four inspiring and eye‑catching days with the people, technologies and ideas that are shaping this industry’s future. With over 1,200 exhibits, 200+ educational seminars and four keynote talks, ProMat has all the equipment, systems and software you need to make your operations more resilient, transparent and sustainable. Nowhere else can you get hands‑on with innovative solutions ...

The Material Handling Education Foundation, Inc. (MHEFI) is proud to honor Donna Varner, a cornerstone of the supply chain industry, with the 2025 MHEFI Exceptional Contribution Award. Donna, affectionately known as “the heart and soul” of MHI and MHEFI, leaves behind an extraordinary legacy of service, leadership and commitment to advancing education in the material handling and supply chain fields. ...

Feature BY MARY LOU JAY ISTOCK.COM/JAY YUNO No matter where or how you want to deploy AI in your company, there’s one element that is key to successful implementation: the quality of the data that you input into your AI models. “The path from AI’s potential to its inevitability for a company is paved with data. That’s an underlying capability ...

Feature Collaborative robots (cobots) and autonomous vehicles are increasingly finding a home in warehouses and distribution centers (DCs). The success of those deployments, however, is not assured. Industry experts shared six best practices that can help achieve an effective implementation. BY SARA PEARSON SPECTER ISTOCK.COM/ONURDONGEL Well entrenched in manufacturing processes, collaborative robots (cobots) and mobile autonomous vehicles (MAVs) have increasingly ...

Feature From charging forklift batteries and electric vehicles to running conveyors and keeping the lights on, modern, clean supply chains depend on an uninterrupted supply of power from America’s electrical grid. But demand for power and other factors are testing the grid’s reliability like never before, sending users scrambling for solutions to ensure access to the electricity they need to ...

Feature Boosting E‑Commerce Operations’ Sustainability and Efficiency BY CAROL MILLER, CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER, MHI PHOTO PROVIDED BY STAPLES Driven by continued growth in e‑commerce, U.S. parcel shipping volumes grew to 21.7 billion in 2023, according to Pitney Bowes’ most recent annual Parcel Shipping Index. The report, issued in April 2024, predicted continued growth reaching 28.3 billion by 2028. Its authors ...

Feature Humanoid robots are poised to gain traction in warehousing and manufacturing. BY NICK FORTUNA The first humanoid robots for manufacturing plants and warehouses were “expensive,” “cumbersome,” “clunky” and “slow,” but newer versions promise to be much more versatile and effective, driving stronger adoption in the coming years, according to Dwight Klappich, vice president of research at Gartner. Klappich, a ...