Modern Materials Handling articles from April 2007

Modern Materials Handling archives from April 2007

60 seconds with...(reverse logistics operation)
April 1, 2007... By Staff Chip Edgington on what makes a reverse logistics operation successful. For us, reverse logistics begins when the customer makes the decision to return a product. Essentially, this means our success in reverse logistics is not...

Controls basics.
April 1, 2007... By Bob Trebilcock, Editor at Large Programmable logic controls, PC-based controls and embedded controls are the building blocks that make your automated materials handling systems run. Anyone who's ever walked through a highly...

Quick flow of fast food.(distribution)
April 1, 2007... By Corinne Kator, Associate Editor Third-party distributor Golden State Foods services nearly 800 McDonald's restaurants quickly and accurately from its well-organized distribution center in City of Industry, Calif. Truckloads of...

Productivity, one bite at a time.(food distributors)
April 1, 2007... By Corinne Kator, Associate Editor By gradually introducing labor standards and paperless technologies, Golden State Foods is improving distribution to McDonald's and its other quick service restaurant customers. When you pull into the...

Be more productive with labor management.
April 1, 2007... By Bob Trebilcock, Editor at Large Long popular with labor-intensive industries like wholesale grocery, labor management systems are being discovered by the rest of the distribution world. If someone told you there was a magic bullet...

Getting a handle on costs.
April 1, 2007... Gary Forger, Editorial Director No matter who you ask, costs are top of mind across industry these days. As we have already reported, cost containment is the No. 1 issue for all of distribution, warehousing and manufacturing as well as...

RFID industry shifts focus.(Radio Frequency Identification)
April 1, 2007... By Corinne Kator, Associate Editor RFID hardware has matured, allowing the industry to focus on developing better software and services, according to speakers at this year's RFID World conference. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)...

Manufacturing productivity remains strong.(Materials Handling Industry of America )(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... By Staff The final economic numbers for 2006 are in, and they reveal continued strength in U.S. manufacturing and in the market for materials handling equipment. While overall worker productivity grew just 1.6% last year, productivity...

Dock equipment and safety go on the road.(4Front Engineered Solutions )(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... By Staff In an industry first, 4Front Engineered Solutions (www.4FrontES.com ) is taking its dock equipment on the road. Literally. The company has outfitted a 53-foot trailer with its full line of dock levelers, vehicle restraints,...

Third-party logistics providers thriving.(International Warehouse Logistics Association)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... By Staff Business in the third-party logistics (3PL) industry is booming. According to the International Warehouse Logistics Association (IWLA, www.iwla.com ), more than half of U.S. and Canadian 3PL providers enjoyed double-digit sales...

Conveyor implementations in the works.(Survey)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... By Staff Many Modern readers will soon install new conveyor systems or expand current installations, according to a recent reader survey. Of the approximately 300 readers who responded to the e-mail survey, 10% said that they plan to...

California set to release new emissions standards for diesel lift trucks.(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... Staff Extending its drive to improve air quality, the California Air Resources Board (CARB, www.arb.ca.gov ) is planning to adopt new fleet average emission targets for diesel-powered vehicles, including lift trucks, in early May. The...

People to know.(Jungheinrich AG appoints Hans-Georg Frey)(Catalyst International Inc. appoints Brian Thorn)(KUKA Robotics Corp. appoints Stuart Shepherd )(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... By Staff Supply chain software provider Catalyst International appointed Brian Thorn vice president of sales for its SAP services business worldwide--After 42 years of federal service, Phyllis Campbell retired as deputy commander for the...

Focus on dock equipment.
April 1, 2007... By Staff Stop accidents at dock edge Staff Built to stop a 10,000-pound load moving at 4 miles per hour, a dock impact barrier reduces accidents resulting from lift trucks, pallet jacks and pedestrians falling off the dock when...

Cradles secure rolls.(Green Bay Packaging Inc. uses roll cradle from Rollguard Products Inc.)
April 1, 2007... By Noel P. Bodenburg, Managing Editor Green Bay Packaging replaced packaging that consistently damaged 2 ton rolls of pressure-sensitive label material during rail shipment. Green Bay Packaging knew it needed something special. The...

MHIA updates planning tool for carousels and VLMs.(Material Handling Institute of America)(vertical lift modules)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... By Staff Justifying the cost of a carousel system or a vertical lift module (VLM) just got easier. The Material Handling Institute of America (MHIA) recently released Version 4.0 of its "Carousel & VLM Planning Package." The tool,...

PSC no more.(Datalogic Corp. rebrands PowerScan scanners as Datalogic Falcon and Datalogic PowerScan products)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... By Staff PSC brand bar code scanners are now a thing of the past. Datalogic (www.datalogic.us ), which acquired PSC in 2005, announced it is retiring the PSC brand and logo this month. PSC's Falcon wireless terminals and PowerScan...

Fuel cell makers merge.(Cellex Power Products Inc. is acquired by Plug Power Inc.)
April 1, 2007... By Staff Cellex Power Products (www.cellexpower.com ), one of a handful of companies producing hydrogen fuel cells for lift trucks, is being acquired by Plug Power (www.plugpower.com ) for $45 million. Plug Power makes stationary...

Identifying leaders in Auto ID.(Robert Hussey gets the Richard R. Dilling Award)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... By Staff AIM Global (www.aimglobal.org ), the association for automatic identification and mobility, recently honored four members of the auto ID industry at its annual awards gala. Robert Hussey (pictured), director of imaging...