Solutions Spotlight

SLAM Solutions Optimize the Last 100 Feet of Fulfillment

Product Spotlight— Until SLAM got underway at the beginning of 2022, no MHI industry group specifically sought to optimize what practitioners sometimes call the “last 100 feet” in warehousing, distribution and fulfillment applications. SLAM—an acronym for Scan, Label, Apply and Manifest—now targets expertise regarding this critical supply chain component. It’s important because as e-commerce distribution systems increase in importance, especially ...

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Overhead Lifting Crane Safety Evolves with New Technology, Heightened Awareness

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.

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ASRS Helps Companies Achieve Sustainability Goals

Product Spotlight BY MICHAEL SENECAL The key to understanding sustainability in any industry is understanding the direct relationship between efficiency and the environment—improvements in one also mean improvements in the other. As enterprises with material handling needs strive to become more productive and efficient, they turn to members of MHI’s Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (ASRS) Industry Group for tools ...

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Integration Makes Industrial Lifts ‘A Piece of the Overall Machine’

Safer Handling BY TOM GRESHAM Operators of factories and warehouses increasingly are seeking to integrate industrial lift devices with other components of their spaces. No longer do lifts operate in relative isolation. In that way, lifts are “a piece of the overall machine now,” said James Johnston, director of engineering at MHI member Autoquip and chair of Lift Manufacturers Product ...

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Rethinking Retail Stores’ Footprint in the Age of Curbside Pickup

By Christian Dow The wall separating the front of a retail store from the back of the building is the line of scrimmage, and due to the pandemic, the back of the store is marching downfield with momentum while the front of the store gives up ground. That’s the message from supply chain experts who are helping retailers adjust to ...

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Safer Handling: Ensuring Safety Is Not Sacrificed for Speed

Speed is the name of the game these days in conveyor and sortation systems. As the pressure to ship material faster grows with the rise of e-commerce and building customer expectations for rapid delivery, the systems that move and sort orders are accelerating. With that speed comes more potential for risks. “Sortation equipment was sorting 50 feet per minute a ...

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