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 ...
Read More »Solutions Spotlight
Sensors, Data Up Efficiency at Loading Docks
The pandemic has shed light on the importance of cutting-edge technologies and products among members of MHI’s Loading Dock Equipment Manufacturers. LODEM members are aiding warehouse managers, grocers and other customers with a number of innovations, from IIoT technology to optimize operation.
Read More »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 ...
Read More »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 ...
Read More »Crane, Hoist and Monorail CHM Alliance (CMAA, HMI and MMA) Achieves OSHA Ambassador Status
Continued outreach and education on the topics of worker safety during overhead lifting are the focus of the Alliance between the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Crane, Hoist and Monorail (CHM) members.
Read More »Tech Convergence Leading to Transformations in Controls
If supply chains are what make the world work, then electrification and control devices are what make supply chains function.
Read More »A ‘Landmark Event’ Marks Growing Industry Interest in Improved Ergonomics
BY TOM GRESHAM Link to digital version of article in MHI Solutions. Twenty years ago, ergonomics “was kind of a nice thing to do,” said Jim Galante, chair of MHI’s Ergonomic Assist Systems & Equipment (EASE) Industry Group, but it was not an area that attracted close attention in material handling. In the decades since then, however, he said an ...
Read More »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 ...
Read More »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 ...
Read More »SMA Prepares Standards for IBC Adoption
As the ANSI-accredited developer of shelving systems and work platforms, the Storage Manufacturers Association (SMA) promotes the safe design and use of these crucial infrastructure components across the material handling industry. To that end, the SMA, led by Chairman Kevin O’Neill of MHI member Steele Solutions and Engineering Committee Chairman Arlin Keck of MHI member Steel King Industries, will complete ...
Read More »