Modern Materials Handling articles from October 2007

Modern Materials Handling archives from October 2007

Your footprints--all over the grocer's shelves.(Editorial)
October 1, 2007... By Tom Andel, Editor in Chief Note: 25 grams of CO2 were expelled during the production of this editorial. I may be just a bag of gas to some readers, but at least I can determine the size of my carbon footprint. That calculation is...

Printer basics.
October 1, 2007... By Corinne Kator, Associate Editor Thermal, laser and impact printers are commonly used to print labels and documents in industrial settings. Printers are a common sight in manufacturing and distribution facilities, especially near the...

Are you ready for on-demand software?
October 1, 2007... By Bob Trebilcock, Editor at Large On-demand software gained a foothold in the transportation management market several years ago. Now, a market for on-demand is beginning to emerge in other applications. When Whitehouse Custom Colour...

Industrial Rack.(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... By Staff After the boom of the 1990s, sales of industrial rack plunged along with sales of other materials handling equipment. The rack industry quickly recovered, with U.S. consumption reaching an all-time high of $1.25 billion last year....

What's next for lift trucks?
October 1, 2007... By Tom Andel, Editor in Chief Lift truck suppliers share their opinions on China, fuel cells and other business trends. Results of the Industrial Truck Association's (ITA, www.indtrk.org ) annual business trends survey were disclosed...

Improving training for OSHA officers.(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... By Tom Andel Ken Van Hook does something many managers hate to do. He talks to OSHA compliance officers. His goal is to better educate them about when lift trucks in the field aren't safe or aren't being used safely. Van Hook is...

The future of RFID.(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... By Corinne Kator By 2027, most companies will have more RFID readers than telephones. This prediction from Odin Technologies (www.odintechnologies.com ) CEO Patrick Sweeney is one of many technology predictions made at the recent RFID...

Jungheinrich launches new products.
October 1, 2007... By Corinne Kator Lift truck maker Jungheinrich introduced three new product lines and showcased a $55 million upgrade of its production facilities at a recent press conference in Hamburg, Germany. Two of the products-an ergonomic...

A Tier III WMS from HighJump.(warehouse management system)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... By Bob Trebilcock With competition for the biggest warehouse management system (WMS) deals heating up, HighJump Software (www.highjumpsoftware.com ) is introducing a solution for Tier III companies with revenues under $250 million. ...

NACCO and Intermec collaborate on info-trucks.(NACCO Materials Handling Group)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... By Tom Andel Intermec (www.intermec.com ) has entered into an aftermarket reselling agreement with NACCO Materials Handling Group (www.nmhg.com ) to provide vehicle-mount computers, handheld bar code scanners and radio frequency...

Financing is Heli's growth strategy.(De Lage Landen Financial Services)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... By Tom Andel Heli Americas (www.heliamericas.com ), a Memphis-based distributor for Anhui Heli lift trucks, has taken another step in solidifying this Chinese supplier's U.S. market presence. De Lage Landen Financial Services (DLL,...

Tesco rolls out RFID on roll cages.(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... By Bob Trebilcock British retailer Tesco is rolling out a new RFID solution, and the modest scope of the project may be a signal that RFID's role in the supply chain is changing. Paul Cataldo, vice president of marketing for OATSystems...

People to know.(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... By Staff Door supplier Aleco named Ronnie Driggers industrial sales manager... Click Commerce assembled a team to focus on the aviation, aerospace and defense market; team members are David Barboro , Ted Anderson , David Nowicki and Judy...

Sweet savings for Hershey.
October 1, 2007... By Corinne Kator, Associate Editor A mix of traditional and robotic palletizers is saving labor, space and money for America's largest chocolate maker. If you had joined Alex Diaz and Dennis Empson last spring for a tour of the...

Small room, big operation.
October 1, 2007... By Corinne Kator, Associate Editor Automation allows Hershey's rather small palletizing room to handle really big volumes. Anyone who's eaten a classic Hershey's bar knows how much milky goodness this candy maker packs into a little...

Color me charged up.(painted batteries)
October 1, 2007... By Ramon Reynolds When you have a fleet of 10 electric lift trucks that can run two to three shifts a day, battery cool-down periods shouldn't be overlooked. Of course what should happen and what does happen don't always match when...

Nissan acquires Atlet.
October 1, 2007... By Staff Nissan Motor Co. (www.nissan-global.com ) has agreed to acquire Swedish lift truck manufacturer Atlet (www.atlet.com). Nissan says it intends to operate its Nissan and Atlet lift truck brands and sales networks separately. ...

Do AS/RS meet expectations?(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... By Staff A recent study commissioned by the Material Handling Industry of America (www.mhia.org ) shows automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS) consistently meet expectations for uptime, return on investment (ROI) and space...

More WMS consolidation.(Catalyst International Inc. acquires CDC Software Holdings Inc.)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... By Staff Catalyst International (www.catalystwms.com ), a best-of-breed warehouse management system (WMS) supplier, has been acquired by CDC Software (www.cdcsoftware.com ). The acquisition completes a consolidation trend in the WMS...

Kion hints at U.S expansion plans.(The Kion Group )(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... By Staff The Kion Group (www.kiongroup.com )-owner of the Linde, Still and OM lift truck brands-seems to be making plans to increase its U.S. market share. In a routine earnings statement issued from German headquarters last week,...

Get more: Fleet management.
October 1, 2007... By Bob Trebilcock, Editor at Large These programs lower acquisition, maintenance and operating costs by streamlining repairs and billing, and managing day-to-day lift truck operations. Lift trucks are the Clydesdales of the materials...

Focus on conveyors.
October 1, 2007... By Staff Reduce side-by-sides Staff To minimize side-by-side cartons on a typical package handling conveyor system, the Unscrambler is a low-cost, small footprint unscrambling unit that creates additional space between products....

Dock levelers, restraints, seals minimize risk.(BEK Beverage )
October 2, 2007... By Staff For a beverage distributor, a short trip from the warehouse to the truck bed can be hazardous. For Ben E. Keith (BEK) Beverage, the largest privately owned Budweiser distributor, safety is a constant concern. The Dallas...

Fan keeps dock workers comfortable.(Johnson Level & Tool Manufacturing Company )(Brief article)
October 2, 2007... By Staff Tool manufacturer uses fan system to even out the extremes. For Johnson Level & Tool Manufacturing Company in Mequon, Wis., just north of Milwaukee, battling the elements was a challenge. Wisconsin weather can be wicked....

Keeping smut out of TVs.
October 2, 2007... By Staff Sony uses curtain walls to create a cleanroom. Liquid crystal display (LCD) televisions and plasma-based direct view televisions can amplify the slightest spec of dirt that finds its way into the micro-display assembly. At the...

Wireless network improves productivity.(Welch Packaging Inc.)(Brief article)
October 2, 2007... By Staff High speed and reliability save packaging manufacturer time and money. Packaging manufacturers like the Welch Packaging Group, Elkhart, Ind., can't afford to be boxed in by unreliable equipment and unacceptably slow computer...

Drug company finds remedy in voice technology.(Harvard Drug Group )(Brief article)
October 2, 2007... By Staff Facility upgrade ensures compliance with state and federal safety mandates. To protect against the growing problem of counterfeit drugs, state and federal regulations require distributors to provide electronic 'track and...

Honda revs up Italian facility with RFID.(Honda Italia Industriale S.p.A.)(Brief article)
October 2, 2007... By Staff Pilot design will accelerate production, drive growth and enhance performance. Honda Italia Industriale, the Italian subsidiary of Honda Motor Company, upgraded its manufacturing facility in Atessa, Italy, with specially...

Bar code readers improve distribution for national bookseller.(Brief article)
October 2, 2007... By Staff Upgrades help move products faster from their shelves to yours. For American book retailers, added extras make the difference when it comes to competing in today's marketplace. Consumers will go to the source that provides the...

Carpet giant automates yard management with new software.(Shaw Industries Inc. (Dalton, Georgia))(Brief article)
October 2, 2007... By Staff YMS puts distribution center on auto pilot. Shaw Industries didn't become the world's largest carpet manufacturer, with more than $5 billion in annual sales, by letting the competition walk all over it. Shaw has deployed...

New strategy takes a bite out of cost.(Brief article)
October 2, 2007... By Staff While maintaining the direct mail and telephone sales operations, RJM Dental Advantage added e-commerce and tied into the completely overhauled enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. The company also moved from its location in...

Put-to-light plays starring role in e-commerce distribution.(Trans World Entertainment Corp.)(Brief article)
October 2, 2007... By Staff Making it big requires excellent behind-the-scenes support, especially in the realm of e-commerce. Trans World Entertainment, a leading specialty retailer of entertainment software, operates nearly 1,000 stores throughout the...

Manual palletizer reduces injuries.(Mission Foods Corp.)(Brief article)
October 2, 2007... By Staff Tortilla maker's safety mission is a flat out success. A bag of tortilla chips isn't very heavy. But pack a tote with tortillas, and it could tip scales at about 40 pounds. That's heavy, especially if you're in a warehouse...

Bundled solution improves production.(Klippenstein Corporation)(Brief article)
October 2, 2007... By Staff Customizing can be expensive. That's why the Klippenstein Corporation, located in Fresno, Calif., is always looking for ways to keep costs down and productivity up. Klippenstein, which manufactures and services custom packaging...

Packing pattern assistant helps palletizer.(Beumer Corp. )(Brief article)
October 2, 2007... By Staff Mortar manufacturer uses one solution for many patterns. A dry mix mortar manufacturer needed to be quicker about providing mixed pallet loads to customers, so it brought in an expert on automated packing patterns. By...

Horizontal carousel gives boost to order picking.(Slakey Brothers Inc.)
October 2, 2007... By Staff A West Coast distributor handles 25% growth without adding labor. The best way to increase business without increasing overhead is to work smarter. By using a simple approach to automated storage and retrieval operations,...

Retrofitted DC gives UK retailer an edge.(Dematic Corp.)
October 2, 2007... By Staff Faster, better, cheaper ensures continued prominence in worldwide marketplace. All distribution centers are a composite of hundreds of devices working together. Redcats UK, the world's third-largest player in home shopping,...

High-speed sortation triples handling capacity.(Andlauer Transportation Services )(Brief article)
October 2, 2007... By Staff Andlauer Transportation Services (ATS) moves about 675,250,000 tons of freight every year from its 21 depots stretching across Canada from Montreal to Vancouver. That breaks down to 3.7 million pounds every day. Achieving...

AGVs help supplier perform just in time.(Brief article)
October 2, 2007... By Staff An engineer's dream: Create a manufacturing facility from the ground up. The team at a major automotive supplier was able to do just that when they cherry-picked the elements for an advanced lean manufacturing facility. They chose...

Laser-guided AGVs hit the spot for Kellogg's.
October 2, 2007... By Staff Kellogg's, Battle Creek, Mich., is the world's leading producer of cereal. Kellogg's had a big decision-repair an aging wire-guided automatic guided vehicle (AGV) system or purchase a new laser-guided one. Ten years ago,...

Meat and cheese keep cool in AS/RS.(Westfalia Technologies Inc.)(Sigma Alimentos)(Brief article)
October 2, 2007... By Staff Automated warehouse system was made to order for a Mexican food giant. Handling perishable food items requires a special menu of materials handling and storage solutions. That's why Sigma Alimentos, Mexico's top producer and...

Wire containers aid the aging process.(Brief article)
October 2, 2007... By Staff Vineyard uses durable, stackable storage solution to safely store wine and champagne. Aging is a valuable part of the wine making process. L. Mawby Vineyards of Suttons Bay, Mich., has been producing estate-grown and bottled...

Carousels provide continuous uptime.
October 2, 2007... By Staff Metal manufacturer uses pick and pass system to save space and increase capacity. Iscar Metals manufactures metal cutting tools: 9,000 stock keeping units (SKUs) worth of metal cutting tools. Orders come in from 11 regional...

Big fans beat the heat in large spaces.
October 2, 2007... By Staff New fans help OfficeMax employees keep their cool. Alabama summers are H-O-T. The 320 employees at the OfficeMax distribution center in McCalla, Ala., can vouch for that because when the mercury climbed outside, it also...

Integrated systems help auto supplier keep pace.
October 2, 2007... By Staff Revved up DC operation saves auto parts provider time and money. Since 1972, Woodbury Automotive Warehouse Enterprises has provided aftermarket automotive parts to independent jobbers in the tri-state area of New York, New...

The right containers make carousels better.
October 2, 2007... By Staff Solution is tailored to suit Johnson & Johnson's surgical product line. The Johnson & Johnson operation in Raynham, Mass., which manufactures medical devices for surgery, has containers on its carousels that help maximize the...

Stop the presses-and put them in one facility.
October 2, 2007... By Staff Smart materials handling delivered the necessary savings and efficiency to give a Denver newspaper publisher a scoop on the bottom line. The Denver Newspaper Agency (DNA), which publishes The Denver Post and Rocky Mountain...

AS/RS helps cut airline delays.
October 2, 2007... By Staff Major airline uses AS/RS at new facility to expedite spare parts distribution. The friendly skies have gotten very competitive. When a major passenger airline opened a support operations facility for spare parts distribution...

Onion grower smells success with plastic bins.(Bland Farms Inc.)(Brief article)
October 2, 2007... By Staff From field to factory, simple solution yields great improvements. There are exciting changes at Bland Farms. Bland Farms, headquartered in Glenville, Ga., is the world's largest grower and shipper of sweet Vidalia onions....

Pallet rack system meets DC challenge.
October 2, 2007... By Staff Like any good warehouse equipment, a pallet rack system must accommodate growth. Unfortunately for Boar's Head Provisions, provider of deli meats and cheeses, theirs fell short. Replacing it with a new pick module and flow storage...

Battery-powered carts improve efficiency.
October 2, 2007... By Staff New equipment leaves walking to the dogs. Care-A-Lot Pet Supply has been providing pet supplies since 1989, through their catalog, on-line and retail stores in Virginia. The 50,000-square-foot distribution center in Virginia...

Wire-guided VNA reduces product damage.
October 2, 2007... By Staff Furniture manufacturer gets wired, protects merchandise and enhances performance. Stickley, a furniture manufacturer based in Manlius, N.Y., has been creating heirloom-quality pieces for more than a century. Pride of...

Food wholesaler likes its handling tender.(Chicago International Produce Market )
October 2, 2007... By Staff Fleet of lift trucks serves up performance, while keeping cost down. No matter how you slice it, produce is precious cargo-banged up bananas or squashed squash are a tough sell. That's why handlers at Chicago's largest fresh...

Electric lift trucks are clean alternative.(Alpine Pacific Nut Company)(Jungheinrich Lift Truck Corp.)(Brief article)
October 2, 2007... By Staff California is nuts-walnuts, that is. The state produces about 99% of the nation's commercial supply of English walnuts. The Alpine Pacific Nut Company, located in Hughson, Calif., is a key part of that supply chain. They process,...

AC lift trucks serve up reliability for Texas brewery.(Saint Arnold Brewing Co.)
October 2, 2007... By Staff New fleet ensures profitability for the future. Operating the oldest and largest craft brewery in Texas is a pretty big deal. The St. Arnold Brewery in Houston, which employs 18 people and produces more than 14,000 barrels of...

Lift truck helps shutter company put house in order.(Category 5 Shutters Company)(Combilift USA)
October 2, 2007... By Staff Improved materials handling offers savings to users and peace of mind to customers. Larry Flaster and Michael Chicelli Jr. started the Category 5 Shutters Company in South Florida to help businesses and residents protect...

Lift truck fleet supports percolating growth.
October 2, 2007... By Staff Coffee company moves 100 million pounds of product annually with a well-blended fleet. Aaaaaaaah. That first cup of coffee helps millions of us get going in the morning. But before it reaches our mugs, it goes through a long...