Modern Materials Handling articles from December 2005

Modern Materials Handling archives from December 2005

Supply chain software to climb 9.2% annually.(BREAKING NEWS YOU SHOULD KNOW)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... THE WORLDWIDE MARKET for supply chain execution solutions is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 9.2% over the next five years. The market was $4.2 billion in 2005 and is forecast to be almost $6.6 billion in 2010, according...

Step forward for fuel cells.(BREAKING NEWS YOU SHOULD KNOW)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... IN LIGHT OF THE RECENT OIL CRUNCHES, interest in alternative energy sources for lift trucks is gaining momentum. And while demand for electrics continues to rise, so does interest in hydrogen fuel cells, which are being tested in several...

Uhlig, St. Onge recognized.(Norman L. Cahners Award and Reed-Apple Award)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... RICHARD UHLIG, president of Spanco, Inc., and Arthur St. Onge, president, St. Onge Company, have been honored as this year's recipients of the Norman L. Cahners Award and Reed-Apple Award, respectively (www.mhia.org). [ILLUSTRATION...

Attend the global supply chain conference online.(BREAKING NEWS YOU SHOULD KNOW)
December 1, 2005... THE 2005 GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN CONFERENCE offers participants the latest look at trends and innovations in materials handling and the supply chain. Sponsored by Modern Materials Handling, Logistics Management and Supply Chain Management Review,...

Fast fact.(BREAKING NEWS YOU SHOULD KNOW)
December 1, 2005... 95% Percentage of North American 3PLs reporting moderate profitability in 2004. Source: Accenture, Northeastern University

'Tis the season.
December 1, 2005... AN ITEM RELEASED BY THE FINANIAL Group PNC Advisors caught my eye the other day. For the 21st Christmas season, the group released its Christmas Price Index. It's based on the cost of buying all the items in the song, "The Twelve Days of...

Strong growth ahead for 3PLs: survey calls for 15% annual increases in revenues for the next five years.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Chief executive officers of the nation's largest third-party logistics (3PLs) providers expect strong annual growth--over 15% annually for the next five years--according to a study conducted by Accenture (www.accenture.com) and Northeastern...

What's ahead for lift trucks.(MARKETS)
December 1, 2005... Although demand for lift trucks worldwide has been healthy throughout 2005, this has not been a record-breaking year in terms of either units sold or sales increases over last year. And early indications are that demand worldwide will be...

Provia retools its WMS.(warehouse management systems)
December 1, 2005... For years, vendors of warehouse management systems (WMS) expanded the functionality in their offerings with each new release of their solutions. While vendors will undoubtedly continue to add features to enable new business processes, the...

How red bull puts a charge in its supply chain.(MANAGEMENT)(Red Bull North America Inc.)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... "Growth is the primary supply chain challenge." So says Robert Steere, director of operations, Red Bull North America (www.redbull.com). In fact, those words define his mission: building a network architecture that can bend with customer...

Leading supply chain lessons.(STRATEGY)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Striking a "competitive balance" among operational objectives in one's supply chain is the key to establishing a distribution identity, says Larry Lapide, director of the Supply Chain 20/20, MIT (www.mit.edu). Lapide told attendees of the...

Seven steps to selecting warehouse systems.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... "Turn over every stone," advises to warehouse managers by Philip Obal, president of Industrial Data & Information, Inc. (www.idii.com) for warehouse managers when researching warehousing software solutions. Obal told attendees at the...

WMS expands visibility borders.(TECHNOLOGY)(warehouse management systems)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... With the advent of warehouse management systems (WMS) angling to provide complete end-to-end visibility in companies' supply chains, it's not surprising that some providers are attempting to integrate logistics activities with warehouse...

HP finds the ROI in RFID.(DATA MANAGEMENT)(Hewlett Packard)(return on investment)(radio frequency identification)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... With so many questions about finding the return on investment (ROI) in RFID compliance projects, it's no surprise that companies are hesitant about significant expenditures on the technology. Those that choose RFID, or are forced to embrace...

People to know.(appointments)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... SMH, Inc. hires Dirk von Holt as vice president of sales and marketing... The new directors for Material Handling Education Foundation, Inc. are Will Heddles, David Lippert, Suzanne McLaughlin and John Paxton; MHEFI's officers for 2006 include...

Company news.(NEWS & TRENDS)
December 1, 2005... I.D. Systems, Inc. a provider of RFID-based wireless asset tracking, has entered into an agreement with Wal-Mart Stores to deploy its industrial vehicle management system at a Wal-Mart distribution center in Texas... Intermec Technologies...

How good are you at interleaving operations? Do it right, and there's plenty of potential for scoring efficiency gains.
December 1, 2005... I WAS SITTING IN THE DENTIST'S CHAIR not long ago. It leaves one with a lot of time to think--because it's really hard to talk with all of that stuff in your mouth. Although my appointment was for an hour and a half, I was getting attention...

Supercharged parts delivery: at DaimlerChrysler's Brampton, Ontario assembly plant, 61 guided vehicles have doubled parts throughput.
December 1, 2005... There's no doubt about it. DaimlerChrysler has three hot cars on its hands with the Chrysler 300, Dodge Magnum and Dodge Charger. In fact, the company built nearly 260,000 of the cars in the first 10 months of this year. Fortunately, such...

A tale of two ERP systems: integrating manufacturing and distribution with an ERP system was key to supply chain makeovers at C.R. bard and NCR.(enterprise resource planning)
December 1, 2005... At first glance, catheters and ATM machines may not seem to have much in common. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] But C.R. Bard, a manufacturer of catheters and heart stents, and NCR, best known for ATM's, point of sale systems and data...

Bringing home the bacon: a re-designed warehouse and a new WMS have delivered big results at Kunzler and company's Lancaster distribution center.(warehousing/distribution)
December 1, 2005... For Kunzler and Co., being good enough was no longer good enough. "We were and are a manufacturer of quality meats," says Steve Lewis, director of logistics for Kunzler with facilities in Lancaster and Tyrone, Pa. "But not much attention was...

Update on trends in manufacturing, warehousing & distribution: Modern's second annual survey of trends and practices across industry shows that as we approach the peak of the economic cycle there is considerable pressure to balance the need to contain costs with continuous improvement in materials handling operations.
December 1, 2005... Nobody ever said it was going to be easy. And the results of Modern's latest survey of manufacturing, warehousing and distribution show that despite a strong economy, managers have it anything but easy these days. In fact, some might even say...

Automated storage makes a comeback: new flexibility has made automated storage/retrieval systems, carousels and vertical lift modules more valuable.
December 1, 2005... It wasn't too long ago, 2002 to be precise, that you could say automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS) bottomed out. Only 25 new systems were booked for the entire year, according to the AS/RS Product Section of Material Handling...

Hot off the press: reusable containers replaced pallets to move unfinished printed materials through final production steps at Cox NC Publications.(productivity solution)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... HANDLING WORK-IN-PROCESS is often a tough job. But at Cox NC Publication's printing facility in Greenville, N.C., stacking unbound printed materials on pallets and moving them to binding operations had become downright unacceptable. To...

The brave new world of materials handling controls: greater order customization, more rapid order turnaround and increasingly complex customer service requirements are putting a new spin on materials handling controls and control systems.
December 1, 2005... WAREHOUSE CONTROLS AND CONTROL SYSTEMS WERE ONCE FAIRLY SIMPLE. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Down on the floor, programmable controllers (PLCs) and software controls managed the operations of individual machines or a system of machines....

WMS runs on .net.(FOCUSON supply chain execution software)
December 1, 2005... Operating in the familiar Windows environment, IRMS .Net modernizes warehouse operations, providing up-to-the minute visibility into the status of highly complex, demand-driven operations. The system taps thin-client technology to significantly...

Software for complex, high-volume operations.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Warehouse Management 2000 5.5 and SSA Warehouse Management 4000 3.10 both provide enhanced user interface, compliance and warehouse operational capabilities. In addition, Transportation Management 6.2 provides increased functionality for...

Coordinate picking, shipping.(FOCUSON supply chain execution software)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Providing a user-friendly environment for truckload and wave planning, Advantage Fulfillment Optimizer integrates seamlessly with the supplier's Warehouse Advantage software. The Optimizer presents a user-configured view of available orders for...

Maximize cost savings, productivity.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... DLx Warehouse drives maximum productivity, cost savings and throughput with comprehensive task interleaving and optimization functionality. Task optimization is integral to all distribution processing, creating a unique approach that derives...

WMS adapts to change.(FOCUSON supply chain execution software)
December 1, 2005... Improved inventory and order accuracy, optimization of distribution by maximizing space utilization and increasing labor productivity are the primary benefits of Viaware WMS. The scalable, rule-driven architecture of the software is platform...

Manage distribution to the smallest detail.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... A warehouse management system decreases inventory, improves order fulfillment, reduces order cycle time and eliminates chargebacks to optimize execution of distribution operations. Streamlined receiving and shipping facilitates cross-docking...

Control automated operations.(FOCUSON supply chain execution software)
December 1, 2005... Able to run on either Windows-based PCs or UNIX systems capable of fault-tolerant operations, the MHC warehouse management system monitors and controls automated warehouse operations. The WMS system user interface is adaptable to either ASCII...

Software for medium-sized DCS.(FOCUSON supply chain execution software)
December 1, 2005... A full-function warehouse management system, Geode GX meets the needs of mid-sized companies with large transaction volumes and sophisticated warehouse practices. The system complements and extends an X3 ERP implementation or functions as a...

Read small bar codes at high speed.(PRODUCTSHOWCASE)
December 1, 2005... The AccuVision AV4000 2.0 reads smaller bar codes at higher speeds. The enhancements come less than a year after the supplier launched the initial system that combines the company's newest long-range camera, illumination and decoder into a...

Store most anything.(PRODUCTSHOWCASE)
December 1, 2005... Versatile overhead cabinets are designed to complement modular workbenches and drawer storage cabinets. The cabinets provide a storage solution for items of unique size or shape that cannot be stored in modular drawers. Suitable for numerous...

Printing made easy.
December 1, 2005... An XML-enabled printing system combines thermal label printing and RFID encoding capability that simplifies the integration of label printing with enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. By providing a direct connection to ERP, warehouse...

Make a connection.(PRODUCTSHOWCASE)
December 1, 2005... Connecting Legacy Modbus serial devices to Ethernet networks is simplified with the introduction of the FactoryCast gateway. The configurable Telemecanique Web-enabled gateway does not require any infrastructure modifications to connect Legacy...

Cabinets with 100 drawer sizes.(PRODUCTSHOWCASE)
December 1, 2005... For improved space management, a multi-drawer cabinet offers a full-width ergonomic handle design. Options include: one hundred drawer sizes, different drawer bank sizes, and variety of drawer accessories, such as partitions, dividers and...

Versatile, accurate conveyor.(PRODUCTSHOWCASE)
December 1, 2005... An indexing conveyor combines single-track positioning accuracy with dual-track versatility. The open-center design permits a variety of in-line operations. Dual tracks allow processing of smaller parts on each belt or large parts up to 10...

Energy-efficient cooler/freezer doors.(PRODUCTSHOWCASE)
December 1, 2005... The Barrier Fold bi-folding cooler/freezer door offers an energy-efficient sealing system for cold storage operations. The rugged, high-speed door uses a patent-pending thermal air sealing system that creates a tight seal at the top of the door...

Automated label application.(PRODUCTSHOWCASE)
December 1, 2005... A low-cost, fully automatic label applicator, ALS 104, applies preprinted product ID labels (including bar-coded labels) to boxes, cartons and other items, at speeds up to 25 meters per minute. The system features a rugged, all-steel housing...

Easily meet RFID mandates.(PRODUCTSHOWCASE)
December 1, 2005... A practical, scalable RFID compliance solution enables users to meet retailer mandates. The package includes installation services and ComplianceNow software that works with leading hardware, hand-held devices and platforms and includes...

Sort 30 items a minute.(PRODUCTSHOWCASE)
December 1, 2005... The LogiSort belted vertical sort unit offers a small footprint and sortation of 30 items per minute. Its design takes advantage of unused vertical space by enabling item diverges and merges to and from vertically stacked conveyors. The system...

Get a grip on mobile computing.(PRODUCTSHOWCASE)
December 1, 2005... The MC3000 family of mobile computers now features a new pistol grip form factor. The MC3090G mobile computer offers end users increased flexibility and versatility allowing them to choose the form factor most appropriate to their business. The...

Efficient, comfortable orderpickers.(PRODUCTSHOWCASE)
December 1, 2005... The 5000 series of orderpickers boosts productivity, enhances operator comfort and confidence, and delivers top performance at the lowest cost of ownership. The ACR System comes standard, delivering more uptime, fewer battery changes and lower...

Stable lift truck.(PRODUCTSHOWCASE)
December 1, 2005... The 7-Series cushion tire truck offers a gasoline engine for enhanced fuel economy with minimum maintenance and low noise levels. Its tight-turning radius increases maneuverability in small areas. The fingertip-controlled electronic shift or...

60 seconds with ... Santa Claus on getting it right Christmas Eve.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Over the years, there's been lots of talk about how all those gifts get delivered in just one night. I'd say there are two distinct schools of thought. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] There's one group that I'll call the believers. They are...