Industry Trends

Feature   BY FIONA SOLTES Solo performances and smaller ensembles can highlight any orchestra’s performance. But when the entire group plays seamlessly together, the magic of the symphony can be experienced in dynamic, powerful—and sometimes even awe‑inspiring—ways. In today’s supply chain community, there’s much talk of “orchestration” and “harmonization” in warehouses and distribution centers, alongside notes of scalability and interconnectivity. ...

Feature   BY MARY LOU JAY   Wearable technologies for warehouse and distribution center operations have been around for more than a decade, but it’s only in the last five years, as the tech has matured, that their adoption has become more widespread and real‑world efficiencies are being seen. Wearables for picking and/or putting come in a variety of configurations. ...

Feature   Collaborative robots branching out from manufacturing applications   BY NICK FORTUNA   Today, you’re more likely to find collaborative robots (cobots) in manufacturing plants, but across industries, companies are increasingly turning to cobots as a solution for their warehouse and distribution center operations. Facing a stubborn labor shortage, safety issues, the need to boost throughput and SKU proliferation, ...

Industry Focus   BY TOM GRESHAM   A single automobile is the product of an intricately complicated supply chain with sometimes far‑flung sourcing and myriad suppliers. In fact, a typical car has more than 30,000 parts, underlining the complexity of the global supply chain network necessary to manufacture each vehicle, according to Nichole Allem, a customer communications manager with Maersk. ...

Feature The manufacturing and supply chain community came together for a record‑setting ProMat exhibition, according to show producer MHI. With an overall registration count of 52,223 and 1,160 exhibitors, ProMat included 659,000 net square feet of exhibit solutions and 215 educational sessions across three show halls at Chicago’s McCormick Place. This was the largest ProMat to date for MHI, with ...

October 12‑15, 2025Tucson, AZ JW Marriott Tucson Starr Pass3800 W. Starr Pass Boulevard, Tucson, Arizona LEAD CHANGE. DRIVE INNOVATION. The 2025 MHI Annual Conference is an interactive thought leadership event for manufacturing, material handling and supply chain professionals that focuses on the technology innovation taking place across the supply chain industry—and the associated workforce challenges highlighted in the 2025 MHI ...

Automation doesn’t replace jobs. Instead, it allows companies to increase job satisfaction and productivity among their existing workforces. Here, experts share how to identify the optimal tasks for automation and the ideal solutions for the job. BY CAROL MILLER, CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER, MHI As supply chain workforce shortages persist, operations are relying less on recruitment and retention incentives to cope ...

BY CHRISTIAN DOW, EVP OF INDUSTRY LEADERSHIP, MHI At manufacturing plants and warehouses plagued by high turnover, it might seem like employees don’t truly value their jobs and happily would jump ship to make a few bucks more somewhere else. That outlook tends to change, however, upon the first sign of new automated material‑handling solutions in the facility, as workers ...

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 ...