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

Say what you want about the current administration and the decisions it has made in its first year in office, but there’s one thing they definitely got right. A few weeks ago, President Obama banned texting in government vehicles. Also, effective today, the Department of Transportation has instituted a ban on text messaging by all commercial truck and bus drivers. I don’t think anyone, regardless of which side of the aisle they sit on, can argue with that. I know for a fact that many companies, especially in the MHEDA environment, have already banned texting while operating company vehicles due to the legal threats it poses.

However, it’s not just the legal threat that makes texting while driving dangerous. A recent study by The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute showed that texting while driving increased the chance of an accident a staggering 23 times. In the moments before a crash or near crash, drivers in the study spent an average of 5 seconds looking at their devices. At typical highway speeds, that’s more than 100 yards of distance covered. In 2008, almost 6,000 people died in accidents related to distracted drivers, and another half-million were injured.

In an interview with CBS, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood summed up the Obama Administration’s stance “We’re gonna set the highest bar possible. …Any distraction that takes two hands off the wheel and eyes off the windshield should not be allowed,” he says. Drivers who violate the regulation stand to face fines of up to $2,750.

I say Kudos! You got this one right. These commercial vehicles and buses are massive and pose a real threat if they’re not handled correctly. There’s no e-mail or text message that is worth putting the lives of others at risk. Studies have shown texting to be equally if not more dangerous than drunk driving. Thankfully, now both are illegal.

I don’t know about my readers, but I’m a big fan of NBC’s The Office. Regardless of how badly NBC screwed up its late-night programming, this show is one thing that they got right. So what does this have to do with material handling? Well, I’ll tell you.

Last night’s episode “The Banker” featured an auditor coming to Dunder Mifflin’s Scranton branch to check things out. The episode is essentially a clip show that highlights the best parts of the show’s first four seasons.

One of these “clips” features Michael Scott, the branch’s general manager, attempting to master the forklift. In a 10-second clip there are probably 5 OSHA violations as our hero drives the forklift (without being certified) into the warehouse’s storage rack, sending it all tumbling down. The lesson in all of this? Leave the heavy lifting to the experts.

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I couldn’t find a clip of the scene, so here’s the whole episode.

It’s been a busy week at the MHEDA compound as I’ve been slavishly pounding away, finishing up the text for the February issue of the magazine. It’s a labor of love though, and I think we’ve got a great issue on our hands.
This month we’re using the winter Olympics as inspiration. I’m pretty excited about it. We even got an Olympic athlete to write an article for the Career Track section. Ruben Gonzalez is a 3-time Olympic luger and he contributed a piece titled “There’s No Such Thing As Luck.”

We’re also highlighting four “Gold Medal Performers.” These are young MHEDA members that were recommended to us by co-workers or supervisors. Be sure to check in the first Thursday of February to find out who they are!

On an unrelated note, if you haven’t already done so, check out the January issue of The MHEDA Journal at www.themhedajournal.org. This “10″ issue helps usher in the new decade with a series of 10-item lists about the benefits of MHEDA membership, business books members are reading, industry trends to watch, ways to make money in 2010 and more. This issue also features new MHEDA President Greg Morrison, vice president of Morrison Industrial Equipment Company (Grand Rapids, MI), and the other members of MHEDA’s 2010 Board of Directors.

It’s a great issue, Editor Chris Powers and the rest of our staff put a great deal of effort into it, so go check it out!

By now I’m sure that all of my readers have heard about the tragic earthquake that struck Haiti. Individuals and organizations from all over the globe are pitching in. The material handling industry is certainly no exception.

MHEDA is working with the American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN) and major humanitarian relief agencies to identify the most critical relief needs.

As needs are identified that can be met through the expertise and resources of ALAN’s member base, MHEDA Members will be notified, and the needs will be posted on the ALAN web portal: www.ALANaid.org.  

“While ALAN’s focus has been primarily domestic, our mission is to engage the supply chain community to support humanitarian relief efforts wherever the need arises,” says Jock Menzies, ALAN president. “Our hearts go out to the people of Haiti, and we’re eager to support their needs through our network of supply chain professionals.”

 ALAN is an organization that was formed after Hurricane Katrina. Its mission is to provide a central hub for logistics and material handling organizations to coordinate relief efforts in times of disaster.

Please check out the Web site and if you can lend a hand, please do!

We hear the mantra all the time “Safety First.” I challenge any of my readers to find a company that doesn’t claim that “safety is its number 1 priority.” The phrase is tossed around so often that it sometimes loses its meaning—employees just tune it out. That’s a dangerous prospect. Do a Google search on “forklift” some time and tell me if 1/3^rd of the results aren’t about someone being seriously injured or even killed as the result of a lift truck accident.

In light of this, I asked my Twitter followers for some help. I posed this question to them—What’s one piece of advice that you would give to the material handling public. I actually received quite a few quality responses. Read on below to find out what they were.

@MN_Pallet_Rack Take time to properly Train, Evaluate and correctly certify all forklift drivers ensuring safety for everyone.

@HAZMATPlans The forklift training needs to be re-accomplished every 3 years to be considered current.

 @HAZMATPlans More Materials Handling and Storage from OSHA http://bit.ly/5kHX52 Lots of answers to questions.

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@yorksaw Take care of your machines! The worst injury is one that could have easily been prevented by proper maintenance.

@PalletRackNow Increase the effectiveness of your sprinkler system by replacing wood with wire mesh decking on pallet rack and s helving.

That’s some great advice from some great Tweeters. If any of you are on Twitter, I highly recommend following all four of these companies.

In the meantime, keep safe. I’m not in a position to be replacing readers if you go out there and get yourself hurt!

The latest issue of MHEDA Edge came out today, but I want to talk for a second about last month’s issue. In that issue we asked our readers to tell us “Aside from the economy, what is the biggest issue facing the material handling industry in 2010. These were your top five responses.

1. Industry Awareness

2. Political Uncertainty

3. Preparing for Growth

4. Attracting Quality Employees

5. Accounts Receivable

I also wanted to give you a  few quotes from the actual responses.

“As the challenges of the changing market place requiretechnically savvy personnel, it is important to pass this on.  I do not believe that the sizzle of this industry is sold to the pool of prospective people we meet every day.  I would challenge people to look around at the level of technology that is employed everyday and in many different ways within our industry.  Even the smallest of dealers need to keep abreast of these changes and also sell them to our prospective employees”

“I beleive there will still be many weak companies in 2010 with some that you might not suspect filing bankrupsy. It will be imperative to continue to monitor accounts and in particular larger orders and projects.
It is just too easy for someone \”reorganize\” these days and when it happens there is nothing you can do. If someone has an issue with the need for you to make sure you are going to be paid, there is probably a problem.”

What do you make of these observations

Well ladies and gentlemen, I’ve been writing for the material handling industry for a few years now and I’ve seen all sorts of conveyor installations. I’ve seen systems that transport everything from heavy equipment pieces to tiny pills. Last night I saw another use for a conveyor—and I’m worse off for it.

For those of you who don’t already know what I’m talking about, last night ABC premiered a 1-hour special titled “Conveyor Belt of Love.” In this marvel of modern television, five single women are seated across from a stage where a conveyor belt is set up. They’re all given signs that say “interested” or “not interested” and then, once the conveyor belt is fired up, a collection of 30 men are wheeled by for the women to choose from. The five “winners” then get to go on dates with the young “lady” who selected them. Sounds great, huh? Somebody had better call John Hamm, Mad Men is going to have competition at the Emmys next year.

Although, I must say, there were some entirely hilarious moments in the show like when one contestent recited his original “poetry” or another who opened with the lady-killing line “I still live with my parents.” If any of you are dying to see what you missed, the show’s official Web site is here . Sure, it’s disposable TV and I’ll probably never sit through an entire episode, but it is nice to see a show with “conveyor operator” in its credits. Did anyone else catch the show?