Solutions Spotlight

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 ...

* By Stephen Murdoch * The Overhead Alliance—a marketing arm for the Monorail Manufacturers Association, the Hoist Manufacturers Institute and the Crane Manufacturers Association of America—has been busy. “The Overhead Alliance has concentrated on numerous initiatives since its inception a decade ago,” explained Rob Beightol, director of marketing for MHI member Gorbel. “Most recently, we have been promoting items ranging ...

* By John Paxton, COO, MHI * With e-commerce continuing to grow, customers increasingly expecting orders to be delivered yesterday and a shortage of talented labor, it’s no secret that supply chains are being pushed to the max. Adding new automation technologies to warehouses and distribution centers is essential to streamline processes and increase capacity. But it also is a ...

For MHI’s Solutions Community, there were no lazy days of summer, as the group continued its progress on several key projects. Chief among them is a partnership with the College Industry Council on Material Handling Education (CICMHE) aimed at producing a series of white papers on important topics such as cybersecurity and Big Data for MHI members and the user ...

Member companies of the Protective Guarding Manufacturers Association (ProGMA) Industry Group of MHI have been working diligently to review and revise the standards for design and performance of protective guarding products used in the material handling industry. For the last year, the group has committed themselves to the development, maintenance and publishing of industry standard specifications for these systems. * ...

*  By Stephen Murdoch * The Automatic Guided Vehicle Systems (AGVS) Industry Group of MHI has been busy. Working alongside member companies, the leadership team has been meeting regularly to review and discuss the standards for the design, performance and safe operation of automatic guided vehicle systems (AGVs). The team, made up of industry stakeholders, is making every effort to ...

The Conveyor and Sortation Systems (CSS) Industry Group of MHI has been working diligently to promote the best and largest markets for their members. The group also has been focusing their efforts on strengthening end-user focus and providing membership value. By Stephen Murdoch— Sebastian Titze, marketing manager at MHI member BEUMER Corporation and CSS co-vice chair, is proud of the ...