Solutions Spotlight

If you have not read the 2015 MHI Annual Industry Report, let me play the spoiler and give you the keys to where solutions reside. In the report, which is based on comprehensive surveys of more than 400 supply chain professionals ranging from engineers to CEOs, the following comment is made: “The number one barrier to investing in new technologies ...

Many of us, from early on, are captivated by the feats cranes can accomplish— from the monstrous machines towering over construction sites like modern-day sauropods to those swingy, jerky (and more than occasionally confounding) arcade claws. The earliest cranes date back to ancient Greece. Imagine what those industrious minds would make of today’s machinery, which has now evolved to the ...

Think of a monorail as a people mover, and it’s easy to imagine all sorts of people inside. In the same way, a monorail used for material handling can move a great variety of products, parts and components in the manufacturing and distribution environment. Typically mounted to an overhead structure or ceiling, monorail systems help lift and transport heavy items ...

Members of MHI’s Automatic Guided Vehicle Systems (AGVS) Product Group are the industry’s leading suppliers of automatic guided vehicle systems. Automatic guided vehicle (AGV) systems move parts and materials in many industries—automotive, chemicals, plastics, hospital, newspaper, commercial printing, food and beverage, pharmaceuticals, warehousing and distribution and manufacturing. For manufacturers, however, AGV systems can do more than carry parts and materials ...

The Storage Manufacturers Association is developing ANSI specifications. The effort has helped double its membership. With the recent addition of two new members, the Storage Manufacturers Association (SMA) Product Group of MHI has doubled its membership—from seven to 13 members—in the past six years. Among the reasons for the membership surge is SMA’s three-year-old commitment to developing American National Standards ...

It is a challenging time for manufacturers and retailers that must fulfill e-commerce orders faster and faster without compromising accuracy or economy. Members of the Order Fulfillment Solutions (OFS) Industry Group of MHI provide order fulfillment solutions to these challenges by helping to manage rising transportation costs, improve channel strategies, create deeper visibility into the supply chain and develop automated ...

The Rack Manufacturers Institute (RMI) celebrated its 50th anniversary back in 2008, but the organization has not been content to rest upon five decades of achievement. RMI’s 22 members—the companies that produce most of industrial storage racks installed in the U.S.—continue to work hard to improve their industry through research, consensus building and education. RMI is an affiliated trade association ...

By Michael Fickes Do the demands of the manual material handling tasks you assign fit the capabilities of your workers? Have you studied the experience of your workers, watched them on the job looking for awkward postures, repetitive motions, fatigue and other indicators of a poor fit? According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), ergonomics is ...