{"id":8321,"date":"2025-09-18T11:14:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T16:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/?p=8321"},"modified":"2025-09-18T09:46:45","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T14:46:45","slug":"historical-timeline-for-material-handling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/18\/historical-timeline-for-material-handling\/","title":{"rendered":"Historical Timeline for Material Handling"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"htmlBody article_div\">\n<figure class=\"picture\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/016_1_alt.jpg\" alt=\"historical timeline for material handling\" \/><\/figure>\n<p><strong>1850<\/strong>\u2014Sir William Fairbairn patents the Fairbairn steam crane.<\/p>\n<p><strong>1908<\/strong>\u2014Hymie Goddard patents the first roller conveyor, allowing for the smooth transport of goods by means of internal ball bearings.<\/p>\n<p><strong>1913<\/strong>\u2014Henry Ford introduces the moving assembly line.<\/p>\n<p><strong>1919<\/strong>\u2014The automotive industry begins using free and powered conveyor lines, introduced by Jervis B. Webb, to handle mass production in factories.<\/p>\n<p><strong>1920s<\/strong>\u2014Conveyors become the primary means of handling mass\u2011produced goods.<\/p>\n<p><strong>1930s<\/strong>\u2014Some of the earliest material handling associations are formed, including groups for monorail and caster manufacturers.<\/p>\n<p><strong>1940s<\/strong>\u2014Budgit Hoist introduces small portable electric hoists.<\/p>\n<p><strong>1943<\/strong>\u2014Norrman Cahners designs the first four\u2011way entry pallet.<\/p>\n<p><strong>1945<\/strong>\u2014The Material Handling Institute is formed.<\/p>\n<p><strong>1947<\/strong>\u2014The American Standards Association develops the first industry standards in conveyor safety.<\/p>\n<p><strong>1948<\/strong>\u2014The Material Handling Institute holds the first National Material Handling Show.<\/p>\n<p><strong>1949<\/strong>\u2014Non\u2011laser automatic identification starts.<\/p>\n<p><strong>1950<\/strong>\u2014Malcom McLean develops the concept of the standard steel shipping container, first implemented in 1956 at the Port of New Jersey.<\/p>\n<p><strong>1952<\/strong>\u2014U.S. Patent No. 2,612,994 is issued to Norman Woodland and Bernard Silver for a barcoding system.<\/p>\n<p><strong>1954<\/strong>\u2014Mac Barrett designs the first guided vehicle for warehouse use, powered by an electrified trolley system.<\/p>\n<p><strong>1960s<\/strong>\u2014Programmable controllers and minicomputers change the meaning of material handling.<\/p>\n<p><strong>1974<\/strong>\u2014The first implementation of the Universal Product Code (UPC) takes place at a Marsh supermarket in Troy, Ohio.<\/p>\n<p><strong>1976<\/strong>\u2014The Material Handling Education Foundation is founded with a challenge grant from Henry Harnischfeger.<\/p>\n<p><strong>1985<\/strong>\u2014The National Material Handling Show is rebranded as ProMat.<\/p>\n<p><strong>1988<\/strong>\u2014The first cross\u2011docking system is introduced. John Krafcik coins the term &#8220;lean manufacturing&#8221; in his article &#8220;Triumph of the Lean Production System&#8221; after studying the Toyota Production System.<\/p>\n<p><strong>1989<\/strong>\u2014The Material Handling Institute is renamed the Material Handling Industry of America.<\/p>\n<p><strong>1990<\/strong>\u2014The rise of personal computers and the internet accelerate digital transformation. The Gartner Group introduces enterprise resource planning (ERP), which came to represent a larger whole, reflecting the evolution of application integration beyond manufacturing.<\/p>\n<p><strong>1992<\/strong>\u2014The first North American Material Handling Show and Conference is held.<\/p>\n<p><strong>1997<\/strong>\u2014Gerard Cachon and Marshall Fisher demonstrate the concept of continuous replenishment through a case study of Campbell Soup\u2019s supply chain.<\/p>\n<div class=\"block\">\n<p><em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mhisolutions-digital.com\/mhiq\/0425_volume_13__issue_4\/MobilePagedArticle.action?articleId=2083560#articleId2083560\">Click here to read the full article.<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>1850\u2014Sir William Fairbairn patents the Fairbairn steam crane. 1908\u2014Hymie Goddard patents the first roller conveyor, allowing for the smooth transport of goods by means of internal ball bearings. 1913\u2014Henry Ford introduces the moving assembly line. 1919\u2014The automotive industry begins using free and powered conveyor lines, introduced by Jervis B. Webb, to handle mass production in &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":8322,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,5,10],"tags":[4052,4051,442,1902,1907,466],"class_list":["post-8321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-article","category-features","category-industry-trends","tag-mhi-80th-anniversary","tag-mhi-anniversary","tag-mhi-solutions","tag-mhi-solutions-magazine","tag-mhisolutionsmag","tag-supply-chain"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Historical Timeline for Material Handling - MHI Solutions<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mhisolutions-digital.com\/mhiq\/0425_volume_13__issue_4\/MobilePagedArticle.action?app=false&cmsId=4294150\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Historical Timeline for Material Handling - MHI Solutions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"1850\u2014Sir William Fairbairn patents the Fairbairn steam crane. 1908\u2014Hymie Goddard patents the first roller conveyor, allowing for the smooth transport of goods by means of internal ball bearings. 1913\u2014Henry Ford introduces the moving assembly line. 1919\u2014The automotive industry begins using free and powered conveyor lines, introduced by Jervis B. 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