Solutions Spotlight

Defending Against and Responding to Cyberattacks * By John Paxton, MHI COO/CEO Designate * If your company hasn’t sustained damage from a cyberattack, then you’re one of the lucky ones. According to a survey from the cybersecurity company Tenable Inc., over just the past two years, 90% of companies in the energy, health care and manufacturing sectors have suffered a ...

CSS: Combining the Knowledge and Experience of Thousands of Installations * By Stephen Murdoch *                                                                                                      In recent months, the Conveyor and Sortation Systems (CSS) Industry Group of MHI has been working diligently on publishing and promoting materials on the training, inspection, safety and maintenance of conveyors and sortation systems. The industry’s leading providers of conveyors and sortation systems have come ...

ECMA: ‘Dynamic and Growing’ Behind the Scenes * By Katie Kuehner-Hebert * Need an electrification or controlling device for your application? Consider working with the Electrification and Controls Manufacturers Association (ECMA) Industry Group of MHI. ECMA is a group of manufacturers that provides standards, safe practices and education for the use of power and control systems. “As the material handling ...

Disruption Junction All too often, if you want to make something easier or better in the future, you may have to endure some major inconveniences in the present. That’s definitely true in the ever-evolving material-handling industry, where everyone must work together to minimize the disruption to existing operations while implementing major changes. * By John Paxton * There’s a reason ...

Videos Help to Share Safety Story  Recently, the Protective Guarding Manufacturers Association (ProGMA) created two videos: “Pick Module Safety” and “Vertical Reciprocating Conveyor (VRC) Safety.” Both videos have received praise from across the industry. Aaron Conway, president of Mezzanine Safeti-Gates, Inc. and the vice chair of the ProGMA, feels industry professionals should take the time to watch the videos. * ...

New Standards Lead to Safer, More Reliable Work Platforms and Shelving Manufacturers and warehouse managers needing work platforms or multi-level shelving can now utilize two standards approved by the American National Standards Institute—thanks to MHI and its Storage Manufacturers Association (SMA) Industry Group. * By Katie Kuehner-Hebert * Manufacturers and warehouse managers needing work platforms or multi-level shelving can now ...

Several Changes Introduced in Updated Caster Standard * By Stephen Murdoch * The Institute of Caster and Wheel Manufacturers (ICWM) Industry Group of MHI announced updates to the ANSI ICWM-2018 standard in mid-July, titled “Vocabulary, Performance and Testing Requirements for Casters and Wheels.” The standard, originally released in 2004, provides manufacturers, specifiers and users with a common basis for evaluating ...

Recent Trends Lead to Creation of New MHI Industry Group: The Robotics Group * By Katie Kuehner-Hebert * MHI has a new Industry Group, The Robotics Group, focusing on broader applications of robotics—whether it’s arms or vehicles—within the fulfillment process to ease workforce availability problems. “Material handling operators across the country all see the freight train coming—a lack of labor ...

* By John Paxton * Rupesh Narkar offers a silver lining for parents who are sick of seeing their kids’ eyes glued to their smartphones, tablets and video games: That comfort with new technology will make them ideal candidates for the warehouse and distribution center jobs of the present and the future, so in a sense, some of them are ...

* By Katie Kuehner-Hebert * Innovation and evolution don’t just happen. They are a result of continually challenging the boundaries and testing the unknown. That is where MHI’s Automated Storage/Retrieval Systems (AS/RS) Industry Group comes in—as far as automated solutions are concerned. The companies in this group are repeatedly questioning and challenging the limits in order to come up with ...