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How Warehouse Equipment Helps to Prevent Workplace Injuries in Winter Weather
Advanced, ergonomic warehouse equipment is designed to do two things: Make work safer and boost productivity. The best material handling solutions accomplish both of these goals simultaneously, year-round. However, as the snow, sleet, and ice pile up on our docks and in our yards, there’s even greater reason to rely on mechanical assistance for warehouse workers. Extreme weather has all... Continue Reading
Logistics
Material handling equipment is vital to supply chain and logistics systems. Find out more about the link between warehouse equipment and the broader logistics industry here.
Topics
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Picking without Pallets: Flat Deck Carts and Turntables
For nearly a century, the humble pallet has been the lifeblood of the supply chain. With the rise of the pallet, patented in 1939 by George Ramond, Sr. and Bill House, came the concept of the unit load, the ubiquity of lift trucks, warehouses lined with pallet racking, and many other familiar features of today’s supply chain industries. But what... Continue Reading
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Managing Forklift Batteries in Food Production Facilities
If you use forklifts in a food production capacity, odds are those trucks are electric. Electric lift trucks run cleaner and don’t release emissions, making them ideal for the super-clean, hazard-sensitive nature of a food production facility. Of course, while electric forklifts won’t leak oil or leave a layer of soot on the machinery, forklift batteries do sometimes leak. Electrolyte... Continue Reading
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How BHS Products Comply with the FDA Standards for Food Production
The FDA Food Code provides recommendations to state, local, territorial, and tribal governments on food-safety standards. While it is up to individual governments whether to write the Food Code recommendations into local law, the Food Code does represent a unifying authority on safety in food production, handling, transportation, and service. So when you’re designing material handling equipment for the food... Continue Reading
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Optimizing Inventory Levels in Retail: The Role of Material Handling
Matching inventory to demand is always a challenge in retail. Too much, and you hemorrhage money in storage and handling costs. Too little, and you miss out on make-or-break opportunities. The trouble is, an optimal inventory level is always a moving target. As we write this, there seems to be some anxiety regarding retail inventory at the national level. The... Continue Reading
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Material Handling Costs in Electrical Construction and How to Lower Them
One major study on material handling in electrical contracting came up with a shocking statistic: Around 40 percent of the work electricians do in the construction industry is consumed by material handling. Not cable pulls, installing conduit, or wiring light fixtures: simply moving materials around the work site. Even highly trained, highly paid union contractors end up spending nearly half... Continue Reading
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Designing the Ideal Pallet Build Station for Food and Beverage Distribution Centers
Distribution of food and beverage is facing many of the same challenges as the rest of the logistics industry. Proliferating SKUs, non-standard packaging, and a wide variety of order types are all adding up to inspire the industry to adapt or fall behind. However, one thing remains the same. The basic building blocks of the shipping unit remain similar. Distributors... Continue Reading
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The IFDA Distribution Solutions Conference 2019: What to Expect
The 2019 International Foodservice Distributors Association’s (IFDA) Distribution Solutions Conference takes place October 27 through 29, at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. So what do they have in store for the industry this year? First off, it’s important to understand the significance of the IFDA Distribution Solutions Conference within the industry. This is the major annual meeting for distributors who work within the foodservice space. Food warehouses, cold chain transportation, and supply chain specialists gather at the IFDA Distribution Solutions Conference every year to navigate the latest issues and discoveries in the field of foodservice distribution. In other words, this event offers unparalleled networking within this fairly niche industry. In addition to the professional relationships that emerge... Continue Reading
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Green Supply Chain Management for Electricians
It’s hard to create a more sustainable electrical firm without cleaning up the supply chain while you’re at it. But how can electricians make the move toward a green supply chain? First, of course, it’s helpful to have a working definition of “green” in the context of supply chain management in the electrical industry. According to an early paper on... Continue Reading
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Green Manufacturing: Understanding the Basics
Just as economic development depends on a strong manufacturing sector, sustainable development depends on green manufacturing. You’ve probably heard the term in the industrial press, or even the mainstream news. But what exactly do we mean by green manufacturing? The sponsors of the 2008 Green Manufacturing Expo offer this definition. Green manufacturing is: The creation of manufactured products that use... Continue Reading
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Supply Chain Trends for 2019
Labor shortages. Automation. The growth of omnichannel retail. The trends that transformed the global supply chain over the past few years are likely to continue for some time; these forces also provide hints as to what’s to come in the near future. In fact, some of 2019’s challenges are clearly on the horizon. Here are a few of the market... Continue Reading
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Electric Forklifts in Multichannel Retail Facilities
Brick-and-mortar retailers that run e-commerce channels out of existing stores have a competitive advantage, especially if they operate multiple locations. The combined retail space/distribution center offers retailers incredible access to customers, whether they’re picking items up in the store or having them shipped directly. There is one challenge, however: Space. The retail store and the distribution center have totally different... Continue Reading
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Eliminate Supply Chain Bottlenecks at Distribution Centers
Supply chain bottlenecks can slam the brakes on a booming economy, say economic analysts. Currently, market capacity is limited by a shortage in labor; there simply aren’t enough truck drivers on the road to move goods in sufficient quantity. However, the shipping industry is responding. Trucking firms are offering pay hikes and hiring bonuses in an effort to attract new... Continue Reading
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The Accelerate! Conference by the Women in Trucking Association: Why All Logistics Providers Should Attend
The fourth annual Accelerate! Conference & Expo will take place November 12-14, 2018, at the Embassy Suites by Hilton Dallas Frisco Hotel Convention Center & Spa, in Dallas, Texas. The event is sponsored by the Women in Trucking Association, a non-profit group dedicated to bringing more women into the trucking industry, and to supporting those already working within the field.... Continue Reading
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Why Logistics Professionals Should Attend the Multimodal Americas 2018 Event
Multimodal Americas is a new event for professionals in the supply chain, logistics, and transportation industries in North America. It will be held October 16 through October 18, 2018, in Toronto, Canada. This event is more than a trade show, and it’s more than a conference; as the name suggests, it’s a common meeting ground for every sector of the... Continue Reading
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Reduce Crop Damage During Harvest: The Role of Bulk Bins and Bin-Handling Equipment
According to the World Food Programme, we lose a full third of the food we produce to feed the world’s populations. This isn’t just a problem for hungry communities; it’s also a significant source of inefficiency for farmers in every market. While produce losses occur at every point in the food supply chain, harvest is a crucial step in which... Continue Reading
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Maintaining the Cold Chain: The Role of the Distributor
Food safety depends on maintaining the cold chain at every step, from producer to processor to foodservice operation to, eventually, the diner’s plate. In the United States, a handful of federal agencies regulate all the industries involved in taking food from farm to fork. These include the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and even... Continue Reading
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Preparing the Shipping/Receiving Area for DC Peak Season
The holiday peak season for distribution centers encompasses both shipping and receiving, making this area a potential efficiency bottleneck. Every DC manager needs a plan for scaling up outbound orders while simultaneously processing returns. The good news is that the elements of this plan don’t need to be expensive or difficult. We’ve already looked at a few strategies for preparing... Continue Reading
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Preparing the Forklift Battery Room for DC Peak Season
Every retailer has a peak season, and distribution centers are no different. Certainly, the peak can differ between one outlet and another — an office-supply store may experience peak season during the final days of the summer, when parents stock up for back-to-school season, while most general ecommerce DCs brace for the winter holidays. Whenever peak-to-average order ratios soar, it’s... Continue Reading
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How Automotive Manufacturers Can Improve Material Flow Systems During Plant Shutdowns
Automotive manufacturers can’t push out the next big model without retooling plants, and that means periodic shutdowns at factories across the U.S. But while teams of workers busily upgrade assembly lines, plant managers also stay busy planning to move the entire operation forward. Disruptions of day-to-day plant operation create tremendous opportunities for improvement. This is especially true in the automotive... Continue Reading
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3 Green Warehouse Improvements You Can Make Right Now
Whether it’s for cost-saving or environmental responsibility, warehouses are going green and saving money in the process. Here are a few simple ways warehousing companies can reduce costs while limiting their carbon footprint with green practices. 1. Upgrade to LED Lighting Switching to LEDs can save an operation more than 60 percent on energy costs compared to fluorescents and other... Continue Reading
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Forklift Sales Grow for the Third Consecutive Year in a Row, Says ITA Report
The Industrial Truck Association (ITA) has announced that 2017 was the third consecutive year of record-breaking forklift sales in North America. Over 250,000 units were sold marking a nearly 10 percent increase from 2016. These record-breaking numbers took even industry insiders by surprise. “The 2017 sales numbers of 253,146 exceeded most industry expectations,” said Brian Feehan, president of the Industrial... Continue Reading
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Women in Warehousing: The Value of Building and Retaining a Diverse Workforce
March is National Women’s History Month, but that’s not the only reason that this is a great time to talk about women in warehousing. We’re also at a crucial point in the development of logistics workforces, which aren’t keeping up with the industry’s growth. If businesses can’t attract new employees, we’ll start to have serious problems keeping up with the... Continue Reading
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Retaining Warehouse Staff with Ergonomic Equipment
Hiring and retaining warehouse staff could be the next big challenge facing the logistics industry as a whole. And while you might have read a lot about the ongoing scarcity of truck drivers, the entire supply chain, from start to finish, is starting to compete for the best workers to stay ahead of the curve. These new conditions could hit... Continue Reading
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Electric Forklift Fleet Costs Over Time
If this is the year you switch to an electric forklift fleet, costs are bound to be a major topic of conversation in your office. The expense of a capital investment like a forklift fleet can’t be limited to the purchase price alone, of course. You need to consider the future costs, as well, and those can be hard to... Continue Reading
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How Warehouse Ergonomics Can Help You Cope with Labor Shortages
The logistics and warehousing industries are facing substantial labor shortages. A 2015 study presented at the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) conference showed issues with labor availability throughout the sectors; however, the CSCMP’s 2018 survey noted that the vast majority of 3PL professionals agreed upon an increased need “to respond to customers more quickly and with complete, accurate,... Continue Reading
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The 5 Biggest Differences Between Traditional Fulfillment and E-Commerce Distribution
Online shopping has officially overtaken brick-and-mortar retail. Every year, the United Parcel Service (UPS) consults more than 5,000 online shoppers to track trends in retail. The results of the 2016 UPS survey showed an anticipated but historic change: Shoppers made 51 percent of their purchases online in 2016, the survey said. This is the first time in the long history... Continue Reading
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Designing a Better Forklift Battery Room
So you’ve decided you need a new battery room. Maybe your current battery charging area is outdated, or perhaps your fleet is just now large enough to justify the expense. Regardless of the reason, your new battery room’s success depends on a great plan — from choosing the ideal location to optimizing equipment. Battery room planning tools from BHS help... Continue Reading
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What is International Logistics?
If you’re involved with warehousing in any capacity, you’ve likely heard the term “international logistics.” It’s a fairly large and complex concept — in short, it encompasses the entire process of controlling the movement of goods as they travel from one country to another. International logistics includes a close consideration of every factor involved in the flow of products, people,... Continue Reading
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Order Picking and Shipping Strategies for Omni-Channel Retailers
In order to survive, online retailers need to streamline the order picking and shipping processes. Efficiency is always an important factor — regardless of the size of the operation — and while the largest distribution centers may rely on automated goods-to-picker systems, this technology isn’t cost efficient for small to mid-sized stores. The Internet provides these smaller retailers with ample... Continue Reading
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Planning for Battery Room Expansion in the Logistics Industry
Even if you’re not ready to add to your current lift truck battery inventory, you should always be prepared to expand. Any facility may suddenly need to add shifts, hire new workers, and add new lift trucks to its fleet — especially given current growth trends in the warehousing industry. Demand for warehousing services is soaring as consumer spending increases... Continue Reading