Solutions Spotlight

Solutions Spotlight BY KATIE KUEHNER-HEBERT Autonomous mobile robots in distribution facilities are “the future”—and members of MHI’s Storage Manufacturers Association (SMA) are working to make their products compatible with this emerging technology. SMA members are the industry’s leading suppliers of industrial storage equipment. They supply storage solutions worldwide and in virtually every major manufacturing and distribution sector. Industrial storage equipment ...

BY KATIE KUEHNER-HEBERT The members of MHI’s Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems industry group, or ASRS, can help warehouses and distribution centers become more efficient, improve safety and better manage their workforces. To meet the ever-increasing demands of consumers and businesses, warehouses and distribution centers must constantly evolve their operations to accomplish these endeavors, said Mark Hasler, business development manager at ...

Solutions Spotlight BY KATIE KUEHNER-HEBERT Everyone is focusing on sustainability these days, including the manufacturers of conveyor and sortation systems. Members of MHI’s Conveyor and Sortation Systems (CSS) industry group are making their products—and operations—more sustainable. It’s good for all stakeholders, including their customers and end-users—as well as for the good of the planet overall. MHI member Hytrol Conveyor Co. ...

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 ...

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 ...

Robots can be equipped with a variety of interchangeable end effectors tailored to handling specific kinds of products, which is making them invaluable on the warehouse floor and in other material handling environments.

Safety is paramount for the operation of any equipment in a warehouse space, but it takes on particular gravity in the field of underhung cranes and monorail systems, which are installed in facilities for overhead material handling and load movement.

MHI announced the addition of new charter members to the recently formed MHI Industry Group: Scan, Label, Apply, and Manifest (SLAM).

As high labor turnover continues to create an array of stiff challenges, the importance of devoting resources to safety in the field of overhead lifting cranes and hoists has never been more in focus. MHI’s Overhead Alliance, which includes the Crane Manufacturers Association of America (CMAA), the Hoist Manufacturers Institute (HMI) and the Monorail Manufacturers Association (MMA), is leading the way in providing safety education and resources.

At warehouses and distribution centers, the migration toward automation is taking on greater urgency in 2022, and late adopters are realizing they can’t afford to sit on the sidelines any longer.