Material Handling Management articles from June 2005

Material Handling Management archives from June 2005

That winning magic: Material Handling Management magazine wants our readers to excel. We want factory, warehouse and distribution center managers and employees to be at the top of their game.(Light Lifting)(Editorial)
June 1, 2005... When I was 11 years old, my Little League baseball team lost every game. We lacked discipline, made fielding errors and generally failed to get on base. But we still managed to enjoy ourselves. Unless the coach has aspirations to be the next...

On the job.(News)(Cartoon)
June 1, 2005... "The boss wants us to test the latest alternative fuel" [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

ROI for RFID remains elusive.(News)(return on investment)(radio frequency identification)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Where's the ROI? That's the question on everyone's mind when it comes to the implementation of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. It's one of the questions the Warehouse Education and Research Council posed to its members in a...

UK union blasts modern warehouse technology.(News)(General, Municipal, Boilermakers and Allied Trades Union)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... GMB (London), a U.K. trade union with more than 600,000 members, recently demanded an end to the "electronic tagging" of workers. Specifically, the group decried the use of handheld computers linked to local area networks to tell employees...

Timberland DC to install solar power system.(News)(Northern Power Systems Inc.)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Northern Power Systems (Waitsfield, Vt.), a subsidiary of Distributed Energy Systems Corp., will build a 400-kW power system at Timberland's 429,000 sq.-ft. distribution center in Ontario, California. The photovoltaic system will be installed...

Final regs on emissions due.(News)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is nearing finalization of its regulation for emissions from large spark-ignition (LSI) engines, including lift truck engines. The regulation is expected to be adopted by the CARB Board at its June...

Benchmark now: 2005 Census of Distribution.
June 1, 2005... MHM invites all warehouse and DC managers to participate in the inaugural Census of Distribution. Fill out the form on the opposite page or answer the survey questions online (www.2005COD.com). All participants will receive an executive summary...

Ace Hardware Corp.(News Briefs)(new distribution center planned)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Ace Hardware Corp. announced plans to build a new 788,000 sq.-ft. distribution in Moxee, Wash. The new facility replaces an existing operation 10 miles away in Yakima, Wash. It will serve 400 retailers in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and...

Helen of Troy.(News Briefs)(building a new distribution center )(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Helen of Troy (El Paso, Texas), a marketer of brand-name personal care and consumer products, is building a new distribution center in South Haven, Miss. The 1.2 million sq.-ft. facility will replace an existing 619,000 sq.-ft. building and...

Dell Inc.(News Briefs)(production at new plant starts)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Dell Inc.'s (Round Rock, Texas) new plant in Winston-Salem, N.C., will begin manufacturing desktop computers in September. The company awarded the operation of its North Carolina Logistics Center to APL Logistics (Oakland, Calif.). APL is...

Costco Wholesale Corp.(News Briefs)(new distribution center planned)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Costco Wholesale Corp. (Issaquah, Wash.) will build a new 300,000 sq.-ft, $40 million distribution center in Salt Lake City. The facility will serve stores in Utah, Colorado, Idaho and Montana. Peter Kahn, the company's director of real estate...

Blockbuster Online.(News Briefs)(30th distribution center opened)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Blockbuster Online crossed a milestone, opening its 30th distribution center near Pittsburgh. The video rental chain now has the capacity to stock 40,000 movies at sites across the country.

Renault-Nissan.(News Briefs)(European distribution center opened)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Renault-Nissan opened a European distribution center in the western Hungarian city of Gyor. The $16 million facility will provide Renault, Nissan and Dacia spare parts to five central European countries. With annual sales of 125,000 vehicles in...

CorStone Industries.(News Briefs)(expansion plans)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... CorStone Industries (North Attleboro, Mass.), which makes 450,000 acrylic sinks per year for retailers such as Home Depot and Lowe's, announced expansion plans for its Greenville, Ala. plant. The addition of a new 31,500 sq.-ft. warehouse will...

Lauyans & Company, Inc.(News Briefs)(acquires complete line of automated storage and retrieval carousel systems from Richards-Wilcox Manufacturing Co.)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Lauyans & Company, Inc. (Louisville, Ky.) purchased the complete line of automated storage and retrieval carousel systems from Richards-Wilcox, Inc. The vertical and horizontal carousel units and high-cube vertical lift modules reportedly...

On The Road.(News Briefs)
June 1, 2005... You never know what you'll find hiding in inventory. Going through old files in a New Jersey warehouse, the long-time literary agent of Jack Kerouac discovered a previously unknown play written the same year (1957) that his classic book On The...

Crown Equipment Corp.(News Briefs)(plans to build a manufacturing plant in China)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Crown Equipment Corp. (New Bremen, Ohio) signed a memorandum of understanding to build a new manufacturing plant in Suzhou, China. When the construction of the new facility is completed, the company plans to close its plant in Galway, Ireland.

United States Chamber of Commerce.(News Briefs)(Leon Trammell of Tug River Armature and Machine Co. recognized for his efforts)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... The United States Chamber of Commerce recognized regional vice chair and Tramco CEO Leon Trammell for the company's success at exporting its products. The Wichita-based company makes chain conveyors, enclosed-belt conveyors and specially...

Informed conveyor decisions start with pallets.(Shipping Management)
June 1, 2005... A story in Hytrol Conveyor's (Jonesboro, Ark.) newsletter this month caught my eye. Under the title of Pallet Handling Load Application... Part 1 was advice for making the right conveyor decisions. It boiled down to asking two key questions:...

World-class distribution starts at the dock: a medical products manufacturer efficiently moves product, people and equipment through the material transfer zone of it's new distribution center.(C.R. Bard Company )
June 1, 2005... Global distribution was a way of life for C.R. Bard Company (Murray Hill, N.J.). Doing it from more than a half dozen locations, however, was a challenge. Logistics managers knew the answer: a single, ideally located distribution center. That...

The Container Store: thinking outside of the box; Amy Carovillano, vice president logistics and distribution for The Container Store, talks aboutDC operations at one of America's "Best Companies to Work For.".(Executive Insight)(Interview)
June 1, 2005... In 1978 Garrett Boone (chairman) and Kip Tindell (CEO and president), opened a small store that sold storage and organization products to help people streamline and simplify their lives. In so doing they created a new retail category and a...

Frontiers of fleet management: partnerships between fleet operators and service providers are deepening, smaller companies with fewer lift trucks are reaping benefits once reserved for only the largest corporations, and wireless technology is taking performance tracking to a whole new level.(Lift Trucks)(automotive services)
June 1, 2005... Business leaders often talk about the need for partnerships and collaboration with customers and suppliers. Most of it is just talk. Blanket price concessions, sales quotas and quarterly earnings objectives can quickly undermine any long-term...

RFID on the go: few real-world applications for RFID show more promise than installing tag readers on lift trucks.(Lift Trucks)(radio frequency identification)
June 1, 2005... Radio frequency identification (RFID) is a natural fit with lift trucks. RFID's ability to gather data from moving objects, or while readers are moving, can give managers a continuous flow of real-time information. This increased visibility and...

New and improved: today's lift trucks; Although the basic task of moving pallets of goods and other materials remains the same, lift truck manufacturers are constantly developing new technology to make equipment safer and more efficient to operate.(Lift Trucks)
June 1, 2005... Marketing folks like to talk about "features and benefits." The best marketing efforts, they say, start with the customer, emphasizing the economic, social and emotional benefits over product features. Technical specifications still matter of...

Moving on up: selecting the right site is the first step that Diebold, Inc. took to create a modern lean warehouse.(New Facility)
June 1, 2005... Managers at Diebold, Inc. knew that having order pickers on foot and lift trucks scurrying around a dimly lit wide-aisle, manual 93,000 sq-ft. warehouse was not the way to move its business forward. It will enter the world of 21st century lean...

Goofy or good business?(Manufacturing Management)
June 1, 2005... Imagine. No more environmental regulations. No more pollution control costs. No more pollution! What are we talking about here? Back to nature? No more industry? Will I have to learn subsistence farming? Roots and berries for dinner again dear?...

Narrow-Aisle forklift: LP gas lift truck works in 7 ft. aisles.(New Products, Equipment & Services Showcase)(Buyers Guide)
June 1, 2005... The Aisle-Master articulated forklift is designed to maximize storage space by reducing operating aisle widths. The truck can work both indoors and outside like a regular counterbalance truck. The Aisle-Master has 4400 lb. lift capacity, with...

Battery: the Legacy Low Maintenance Battery delivers power.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... The Legacy Low Maintenance Battery has a new internal design that takes advantage of optimized grid metallurgy and new technology to give true Low Maintenance performance and unquestionable quality. Our new separators and internal construction...

Conveyor systems: modular conveyor systems offer versatility.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Dynamic Conveyor's light- to medium-duty DynaCon[R] modular conveyor systems offer true versatility. DynaCon's modular conveyor systems can be recon-figured in less time, in ever-changing manufacturing or workflow environments. Made from...

Timers for logistics applications: how long does it take to load or unload trucks at your docks? Are your employees as efficient as they can be?(Electronic Displays Inc)
June 1, 2005... Answers to those questions can be found using our large digit timers. Ideal to measure both time, productivity and efficiency in your company's logistics department. Using large LED timers can be seen from almost anywhere on the dock. ...

Lifting device: precision lifting.(New Products, Equipment & Services Showcase)(Buyers Guide)
June 1, 2005... More precise than a hoist, more efficient than an air balancer. Gorbel's new Easy Arm[TM] lifting device gives you the speeds you need to increase productivity, the precision you need to decrease product damage, and the strength to protect your...

MHMonline.com: material handling website has a new look.(New Products, Equipment & Services Showcase)(Buyers Guide)
June 1, 2005... Great news, a fresh new www.MHMonline.com website is live and ready to serve your information needs far better than ever before! The new site expands the magazine's abilities to provide readers with the latest material handling news. ...

Storage cabinets: heavy-duty floor cabinet is strong and functional.(New Products, Equipment & Services Showcase)(Buyers Guide)
June 1, 2005... Strong Hold floor model cabinet has drawers that hold up to 225 pounds and adjustable shelves. The wrap-around design from 12-gauge steel and one-piece all-welded construction makes it the strongest storage cabinet available today. The...

Beware the blog.(Data Intelligence)
June 1, 2005... Like many of the "B" science fiction movies from the '50s, this column features a scary, blob-like creature that shatters the tranquility of a peaceful community and threatens to rampage out of control. Unlike the plots of those movies,...