Material Handling Edge Blog 
 A blog for young professionals in the forklift, conveyor and general material handling industries.  

Happy Friday everyone! I know you’re all busy preparing for the Halloween weekend, but I wanted to drop a little knowledge on you while I still can. In an effort to spread awareness about the association and its publications, we’ve launched MHEDA Edge pages on two of the biggest social networks out there.

By visiting this page, you can become a fan of the Edge on Facebook. Imagine the look of shock and amazement on the face of all your friends when they find out you’re a reader of THE online magazine for young professionals in the material handling industry. In all seriousness, though, check it out. I’m going to be using the page to keep you informed on everything we’re up to as it happens.

Speaking of real-time updates, MHEDA Edge is also on Twitter. Several times a day I’m going to be providing you with sparkling insights and valuable wisdom 140 characters at a time. So check it out @MatHandlingEdge.

That’s all for this week, I wish you all a great weekend and a Happy Halloween!

Here at the MHEDA Edge Editor’s Blog, we’re always preaching innovation and talking about technology. Well, today arguably the single most important innovation of the digital age is turning 40.  This innovation has changed the face of the way we communicate, the way we get our news and the way we do business. In fact, without it, this blog wouldn’t exist. That’s right, I’m talking about the Internet.

In a blog post on Mashable, Stan Schroeder explains its birth:

On October 29, 1969  the first two nodes of ARPANET were interconnected between UCLA’s School of Engineering and Applied Science and SRI International (SRI) in Menlo Park, California. It took 12 years for 213 computers to get linked in the network.

 

Somewhere after that, things started changing, fast. Netscape – the archetypal browser – was overrun by Internet Explorer. It took about 10 years for Netscape’s market share to fall from over 90% to less than 1%. Then Firefox started eating away at Internet Explorer’s market share. Who knows what we’ll be browsing on in 10 years?

It’s a great point that he raises. Where will the Internet be in 10 years and what will it mean to the industry? The Web has already revolutionized the way the material handling industry does business. E-commerce has opened doors for small distributors. Warehouse Management Software has revolutionized supply chains around the globe. Wireless Field Service Management software has streamlined the service department. I could go on and on, but I think you get the point. So today, hat’s off to the World Wide Web, here’s to what the next 40 will bring!

In the process of putting together MHEDA Connection, I came across a great story involving MHEDA member Riekes Equipment.

On June 11, 2008, a tornado ripped through Iowa’s Little Sioux Scout Ranch. A group of scouts, 40 total, gathered in a camp shelter to ride out the storm. The shelter ended up getting directly hit by the tornado. The winds demolished the shelter and left four scouts dead.
Duncan Murphy, Riekes’ President, was heavily involved with the scouts and helped create a memorial at the camp. However, the community wanted to do more. The parents of the fallen scouts suggested building a chapel at the camp. Furthermore, they wanted to build the chapel on the foundation of the demolished shelter. As fate would have it, some help came in from the East Coast. New York Says Thank You is an organization of New Yorker’s affected by the 9/11 tragedy. Each year on the event’s anniversary, the group sends volunteers from NYC to help rebuild communities across the country that were touched by disasters. Upon hearing of the project, they agreed to help out.

In a project that Murphy coordinated, New York Says Thank You and about 1,000 volunteers from the local community joined together to build a chapel out of trees uprooted in the storm. They also did a series of other improvements to the camp including creating a new entrance gate and establishing an orienteering course.

You can see highlights of the project in this video.

Kudos to the community, NY says Thank You and Riekes for all of their contributions. I can only imagine what this meant to the families that lost a child.

As I do every Friday, I wanted to bring you something fun for today’s entry.  Then, this morning I found a story that I got a kick out of and I think you will too.

The Pioneer Adult Rehabilitation Center (PARC) in Clearfield, Utah is an organization that provides services to local people with disabilities. Each year, PARC hosts an “Awards Day,” and this year they wanted to do something different.  One of the organization’s leaders saw the excess pallets lying around PARC’s building and got an idea. They would hold a soap box derby of sorts where local companies would design cars to be built using these spare pallets. The cars would then be driven by PARC’s clients in a race.

The “Pallet Grand Prix” sounds like a very cool event. It’s fun to see used material handling equipment turned into something exciting like this. Here’s a video to give you a little more insight into the event. Have a great weekend everyone!

Today, I was sent a link to a blog written by John Maybury, president of Maybury Material Handling and a former MHEDA president. Last month, Maybury participated in the Joint Civilian Orientation Conference, a program sponsored by the United States Secretary of Defense. To give you an idea as to what exactly that is, I’m including an excerpt from his blog.

“The Joint Civilian Orientation Conference (JCOC) is a program sponsored by the Secretary of Defense for civilian public opinion leaders interested in growing their knowledge of the military and national defense issues. JCOC is the oldest existing Pentagon outreach program having been held 77 times since 1948.

JCOC participants attend Pentagon briefings by Department of Defense (DoD) military and civilian leadership and then join the military in the field observing exercise and participating in training.

JCOC alumni are encouraged to share their experiences with their circles of influence when they return home.

The blog chronicles Maybury’s experiences with the program that lead him everywhere from Guantanamo Bay’s holding cells to the United States’ Columbian Embassy and the locks at the Panama Canal. I found the whole thing to be fascinating, and I think you will too.

I’m hoping to speak with him in the next few days to find out more, so keep an eye out in future MHEDA publications. . Until then, take a look at his blog.

Greetings, fellow Edgers. I hope this week finds all of you well. It’s been quite a while since I’ve updated you on what’s coming up in the magazine, so I figure that there’s no better time than now.

The next issue of the magazine is going to focus on leadership. I’ve recruited noted speaker and former fighter pilot Waldo Waldman to write an article for the career track section of the magazine. I received a draft of it today and it’s top-notch stuff.

Also, today I spent a good deal of time putting together an article that features insights from 8 of the association’s young leaders. I sent each of these people a questionnaire aimed at finding out what qualities they think a leader needs during times like these. They gave me a great range of answers and I think you will benefit greatly from reading them.

I will admit, though, there was one answer that made me laugh out loud. I asked Todd Gillespie from Riekes Equipment company “As a young leader, how have you kept your peers/employees motivated in a challenging market?” To which he replied, “Pizza and chicken wings. I have no further comment.” Sounds like I need to attend some meetings at Riekes!

This is only the tip of the iceberg. In the next few weeks I’ll preview even more articles leading up to the big launch!

As all of my readers know, on Friday’s i like to go out with a laugh or at the very least a smile. Today i found something that i think may just leave you shaking your head.

RFID technology is becoming pretty incredible. It’s being used to track everything from inventory to swine flu patients. Today i stumbled across what might be the LEAST impressive utilization of this technology yet.

Wei-Chieh Tseng, a student, has developed a robitic tail that is designed for humans to wear. The tail reads RFID-based “Mood Cards” and then wags accordingly. Fast forward to about the 1:18 mark of the video  and prepare to be astounded–or something along those lines.

I feel like we’ve said it a million times. However for the benefit of those living under an Everest-sized rock, I’ll say it again. The economy has been brutal this year. Many companies have seen a drastic dip in sales, and the lucky ones, they managed to tread water at best.

However, it’s not all been doom and gloom. There are plenty of companies still out there working hard and making sales. That’s what the Fourth Quarter issue of  The MHEDA Journal  is all about. The issue, which is available on the Web today, is titled “Manufacturer-Distributor Relationship Success Stories.” The meat of the magazine lies in the “Sales Success Story” section. It’s a collection of 20+ mini case studies that show how manufacturers and distributors were able to work together and make some big deals in this economy.

This issue also features a  series called “Hitting The Mark.” It is a collection of 12 articles written by individual manufacturers and distributors describing the components of  an ideal manufacturer-distributor relationships.

As always, there’s plenty more in the issue. So stop by http://www.themhedajournal.org and check it out. While you’re there, why not check out TMJ Editor Chris Powers’ blog.

Yesterday I got a message from Associated Material Handling’s Mike Romano about a project his company just completed. They recently held a dedication ceremony celebrating a new student lounge that the company funded at the Glendale Heights, IL, campus of the Universal Technical Institute.

The room features nine workstations, computers with internet access, wireless capability for laptop users, a learning center and flatscreen TVs. Pat Kellen, campus president of UTI Glendale Heights said of the event “We are grateful to Associated for generously sponsoring the lounge, which gives our students a great place to study and relax.”

I spoke with Romano and asked him why he decided to fund this project. He responded “”It is my hope that this might serve as a model to encourage other MHEDA distributors to embark upon similar initiatives with other UTI campuses across the country. As chairperson of MHEDA’s industry advocacy committee, this would support one of our continuing goals to build and strengthen the relationship between the material handling industry and the academic community.”

Hats off to Associated! The material handling industry is a great business, and now more college students are going to know about it!

Well, it’s Friday once again and time to take a look at the lighter side of the material handling industry.  It might come as a surprise to some of my readers, but the editor of the Material Handling Edge Blog is an avid fan of the infomercial. I even watched the entire first season of The Discovery Channel’s “Pitchmen.”.

Of course, I was duly saddened when infomercial titan Billy Mays. The new OxyClean adds just aren’t the same without the “Hi, Billy Mays here” at the beginning. For a while, I was beginning to think infomercials had lost their direction after Billy’s passing. Then, this Monday, someone brought this gem to my attention.

 The Forearm Forklift

I could have used a few of those puppies in college when it seemed like I was moving every nine or ten months. Looking at a few review sites, this product actually seems to be getting good reviews—shocking for an infomercial product (no offense, Snuggie). Hey, maybe really, really, extremely cash-strapped customer might even consider buying these from you if they can’t afford a hand truck! I wouldn’t factor that into your forecast though.

Until next time, have a great weekend everyone!