Technology

Can you imagine a future where technology allows your employees to manipulate machines with their brain waves instead of manual controls or a keyboard? It might not be as far off as you think. By David Coburn Emerging technologies always draw their fair share of naysayers and skeptics—no doubt there were those who sniffed when the first powered forklift was ...

Companies look to innovative solutions as pressure intensifies in the last mile of deliveries. Automation and robotics are receiving heavy investment and research, and offer some of the most promising possibilities. By Tom Gresham Increasing efficiency in the final mile of delivery has become an obsession in the supply chain logistics field as companies explore an array of solutions to ...

The trends in warehousing are based on new technologies, digitalization and IoT and Industry 4.0—with a high degree of automation and robotization. By Tone Lerher The emerging trends in warehousing—and in a variety of industries—are based on the development of new technologies, digitalization, the concept of the Internet of Things and the concept of Industry 4.0 with the high degree ...

The need for social distancing inside warehouses and distribution centers to prevent COVID-19 exposure is expected to persist until after widespread vaccination. Robotics can help. Using robotic systems for heavy or repetitive manual labor, especially in small enclosed spaces, means workers are farther apart and fewer workers are needed in these tight spaces, said Volker Schmitz, Ph.D., president and CEO ...

Staffing warehouses and distribution centers has been an especially difficult task in recent years, with historically low unemployment rates and growing wages fueling stiff competition for talented workers. Now, with COVID-19 and social distancing added to the mix, that task has become more challenging and complex than ever before, forcing many companies to embrace emerging technologies sooner than they had ...

BY CHRISTIAN DOW, MHI EXECUTIVE VP OF MEMBERSHIP AND INDUSTRY LEADERSHIP It’s not flashy like the version pioneered by coach Phil Jackson and the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s, but the material handling industry has its own take on the triangle offense, and in a fully optimized warehouse, it can be just as impressive to watch. When software and control ...

BY TOM GRESHAM The turmoil of the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a kind of perfect storm in warehouse and distribution centers, skyrocketing the already growing demand for e-commerce to new heights while exacerbating the existing labor shortage and making it more difficult to meet that demand. As a result of the pressures that have accompanied the pandemic, automation is seeing ...

BY MARY LOU JAY The COVID-19 pandemic devastated the supply chains of many sectors, and many companies are still feeling the aftershocks. As they try to get back to normal operations, businesses are pondering what they need to do to build supply chains that are, if not quite invincible, at least more resilient. These six strategies could increase their chance ...

MHI releases third edition in a series of forward-looking industry Roadmaps with “Transformation Age: Shaping Your Future.”

Significant changes with technologies and trends will transform the supply chain as we know it