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Significant Factors Fueling Asia Pacific Material Handling Equipment Market forecast up to 2027

global trade import handling

Significant Factors Fueling Asia Pacific Material Handling Equipment Market forecast up to 2027

According to a recent study from market research firm Graphical Research, the Asia Pacific material handling equipment market will observing healthy growth during the forecast timeframe, with continued expansion across the healthcare, automotive, and manufacturing sectors. An upsurge in demand for global manufacturing organizations to automate processes and facilitate efficient flow of goods is one of the primary drivers of the market. 

Asia Pacific material handling equipment market size is projected to reach beyond $80 billion by 2027. Fives Group, Dearborn Mid-West Company, JBT Corporation, Honeywell Intelligrated, Hyster-Yale Materials Handling, Inc., and KION Group AG are counted amongst the leading companies operating in the region. Material handling equipment is being used in the following industries, in each of which it serves a distinct function:

  • Healthcare & pharma 

According to the India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), pharmaceutical business supplies more than half of the worldwide demand for various vaccines. With rising threat on various infectious disease spread, the healthcare industry has been working around the clock in R&D to ensure global health security. 

The recent COVID-19 pandemic created havoc around serval industries, including the pharmaceutical. To meet rising drug & vaccine demands on such a large scale, manufacturers such as Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories & Sun Pharmaceuticals capitalized the features of innovative material handling equipment. The industry is mostly dependent on a complex system of conveyors. As per estimates, APAC material handling industry share from the healthcare & pharmaceutical sector will observe healthy growth through 2027.

  • Automotive 

Asia Pacific hosts leading players such as Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., Toyota Motor Corporation, Honda Motor Company, and Mitsubishi Motors Corporation in its well-established automotive industry. Material handling equipment serves a host of purposes in this industry, ranging from heavy-duty conveyors to overhead cranes for carrying hoods, seats, gearboxes, engines, and other components. 

As part of its array of material handling equipment and solutions, Toyota Industries Corporation unveiled 22 new electric models to the material handling equipment market in January 2022. These new versions have four different operator compartments, a multi-directional design for managing lengthy loads in tight spaces, and high-capacity variations with a maximum fork height of 45 feet.

  • E-commerce

The global COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a spike in e-commerce activity across Asia Pacific. As lockdowns became the new normal, both, customers & businesses gradually went digital, providing and purchasing more products and services online. 

To satisfy these rising demands the e-commerce industry has adopted a variety of industrial lifting equipment and other tools for moving products and goods from one section to the other. Automated modular conveyors, loading and unloading conveyors, and monorail overhead cranes are employed to optimize the order fulfillment process. 

According to the International Trade Administration, Australia’s e-commerce revenue is expected to reach $32.3 billion by 2024, representing a 15.5% Y.O.Y growth. These statistics have motivated e-commerce giants such as Amazon, eBay, and Woolworths to deploy innovative material handling technology in their distribution hubs to ensure on-time delivery. The expanding use of warehouse automation to improve material handling processes and maximize uptime is likely to drive the Asia Pacific material handling equipment market expansion.

hall pennwest

Toyota Material Handling Dealer Hugg & Hall Equiptment Company Acquires Southern Material Handling Company

Dealership Expands to Provide Full Line of Material Handling Solutions to Eastern Oklahoma

Hugg & Hall Equipment Company, a member of Toyota Material Handling’s industry-leading dealer network, has formally acquired fellow Toyota dealer, Southern Material Handling Company.

Hugg & Hall Equipment Company is a leading industrial and construction equipment provider in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Missouri and Texas. This acquisition will allow Hugg & Hall to expand its Toyota presence to include the entire state of Oklahoma.

Robert Hall, Vice President of Hugg & Hall Equipment Company expressed in a speech how excited they were to add eastern Oklahoma to their Toyota territory. Southern Material Handling has had an excellent reputation for many years and he wishes to continue the passion for an unequalled customer experience.

Hugg & Hall Equipment Company has represented the Toyota brand since 1994, expanding its territory most recently in 2019 to service customers in Louisiana. With their most recent acquisition, Hugg & Hall Equipment will now have a team of over 700 employees and 18  locations across Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Missouri and Texas.

Anne Ewing, Toyota Material Handling Director of Dealer Development wished Hugg & Hall the best of luck with their exciting business venture, adding that they are excited to see what they can accomplish. Hugg & Hall has been a proud Toyota dealer for nearly 30 years, and hopes are they will continue to strengthen their partnership in the future.

About Toyota Material Handling

Toyota Material Handling offers material handling products and solutions, including forklifts, reach trucks, order pickers, pallet jacks,
container handlers, automated guided vehicles, and tow tractors, along with aerial work platforms, fleet management services, and
advanced automation engineering and design. Toyota’s commitment to quality, reliability and customer satisfaction extends throughout
more than 230 locations across North America. Built for every application, Toyota can provide the most complete set of solutions for material handling, automation, energy, advanced logistics, and warehouse optimization.

ERP

Scheduling Matters: 10 Ways it Boosts Your Manufacturing

Scheduling jobs is one of the most important tasks in a manufacturing enterprise. Given the amount of variability involved in scheduling a busy shop floor, it’s also one of the most complex and demanding.

Loading new jobs into the schedule, or moving around existing ones, involves a staggering array of variables. From work orders, raw material availability and due dates to employee skill sets, workcenter capacity, jobs in progress and more, every detail must be accounted for to achieve accurate, timely scheduling. Performing this gargantuan task manually can take hours or even days to properly align the flow of work on the shop floor. It can also result in costly mistakes that impact productivity, profitability, and the customer relationships you count on.

With ERP (enterprise resource planning) scheduling, it’s a different story. Designed to simplify and automate the process of scheduling work orders in a busy shop floor environment, ERP can process all the scheduling variables in a matter of seconds. It then uses highly sophisticated algorithms to automatically design the most efficient schedule to meet customer due dates. All you do is enter the data and the software does the scheduling for you.

ERP software makes the entire scheduling process faster and more efficient. Work orders that used to take hours or days can be completed in a matter of minutes. ERP also tracks every step of the production process, so you know when a job will be done instead of having to guess. With ERP, great scheduling becomes a way of life rather than a hoped-for event.

Take the Scheduling Litmus Test

ARE YOU SCHEDULING GREAT? SEE IF ANY OF THESE COMMON SCHEDULING SCENARIOS APPLY TO YOUR BUSINESS.

Scheduling is manually updated on a whiteboard or in a spreadsheet.

• Machine/workcenter dispatch lists can’t be trusted.

• Meeting customer due dates often requires excessive overtime costs.

• Uncertainty about your schedule frequently results in unnecessary overtime or inventory buildup you don’t need.

• You spend too much time putting out fires from customers who scream the loudest.

• Scheduling and production tend to be reactive rather than proactive.

• You don’t know if you can take on additional work or when you could do it.

• You schedule work only in buckets rather than true capacity planning.

• Your planner/scheduler has to walk the shop to determine the status of jobs in progress.

• When customers request a change to a due date, you can’t tell how it will affect other jobs.

Did you recognize some of these in your business? If so, your scheduling needs a tune up. Learn how ERP can help your business overcome these obstacles and create accurate schedules with ease.

10 Ways ERP Makes Scheduling Great

ERP transforms the scheduling process by tracking everything that
happens on the shop floor. It then combines the data with information you input through work orders, routers, BOMs, etc. to create the most efficient schedule. Here are 10 ways it helps accomplish the result every manufacturer wants – on time delivery every time.

 1. Know the status of jobs in real time.

One of the biggest advantages of ERP scheduling is the ability to track jobs in real-time. With a few keystrokes, you can easily see the current status of any job, including where it’s been, where it is now, and where it’s going next. You can also see whether it’s on schedule or lagging behind. Having access to this data helps identify bottlenecks while jobs are in progress to ensure they get completed on time.

“The visibility of data in our ERP scheduling module is superb. We can see exactly when every job will start and end, which jobs are on schedule, and which are running behind. At any given time we know who has each order and where it stands in the production process. This allows us to be more responsive to customer needs and still get finished orders out the door on time,” Peter Belezos, President of Bendon Gear, a Global Shop Solutions customer.

 2. Know your true capacity for machines, workcenters and personnel.

When you can’t determine the true capacity of resources and people, you can only guess. With ERP scheduling, the system automatically does the scheduling for you, in minutes rather
than hours, with maximum efficiency and full capacity utilization.

Planners get a real-time overview of all work centers and available labor hours, allowing them to balance loads across resources by instantly identifying which ones have excess load or capacity. They can easily create workgroups and assign alternate work centers for
a resource, and can even modify the labor default schedule, including interjecting holiday schedules.

 3. Easily move or reroute jobs for better forecasting.

When rerouting jobs, the inability to see how the changes will
impact other jobs makes it difficult to adjust your schedule on
the fly. It can also lead to accepting customer due dates hoping (rather than knowing) you can make them.

ERP scheduling makes rerouting jobs simple with short- and long-term “what if” scenario planning. Simply insert a current or new job where it needs to go and the system automatically adjusts the schedule forward, backward or globally. Seeing how job changes will affect the entire schedule improves forecasting and minimizes hot and past-due jobs.

“Any time we make a change to the schedule, the system immediately shows how it will affect every other job. This helped us raise our on-time delivery rates to an average of 97.6%, with 100% for our biggest customer who buys $16 million of product each year,” Dave Dahl, Plant Manager at Alexandria Pro-Fab, a Global Shop Solutions user for many years.

 4. Identify production bottlenecks in real time.

Manual scheduling creates bottlenecks when multiple jobs get stacked on top of each other due to limited capacity. ERP reduces and in many cases eliminates these bottlenecks by automatically scheduling the right job on the right machine at the right time. It also identifies when and where the workflow will be light or heavy, allowing planners to adjust labor hours and move people around to balance the workloads.

“One of our biggest scheduling problems is having jobs go through multiple machines that aren’t configured in work cells. ERP prioritizes the jobs to ensure we schedule each machine in the right order so we get the order done on time,” Gary Bruff, Vice President of Manufacturing at Fullerton Tool, a Global Shop Solutions customer.

 5. Instantly see how new or “hot” jobs will affect other jobs.

How many times have you pulled an ongoing job out of a machine to respond to a more urgent order, knowing you will lose money on the job? Many companies try to solve this problem by hiring more schedulers, which only adds to the complexity of the scheduling process. With ERP, you can insert a hot job and instantly see how it will impact current and future jobs on the schedule.

ERP provides this scheduling picture by gathering data on workloads, available capacity, work center and employee constraints, setup and run times, and more. It then calculates the changes to jobs on the schedule with precision. Planners can finitely or infinitely schedule, balance work center loads, engage in advanced labor scheduling, and immediately see the results. Armed with this information, planners can make decisions to maximize shop floor productivity and job profitability, knowing they can trust the data.

 6. Accept customer due date requirements based on factual data.

With manual scheduling, setting due dates often relies on guesswork. ERP tracks what you’re making, how you’re making it, how many you’re making, and work in progress at any given moment. It uses this data to determine exactly when each job will be finished so you can confidently tell customers when they will receive their parts.

Berlin Gardens, a manufacturer of indoor and outdoor furniture, builds strong customer relationships by providing short lead times and reliable due dates. Scheduling with Global Shop Solutions’ Advanced Planning & Scheduling (APS) module plays a key role in following through on those promises.

“We use the auto work order generation feature in our ERP system to schedule the start of all new jobs. This allows us to build to stock, but only what we need to ship, and plays a critical role in meeting our ambitious lead times and our customers’ requested due dates,” Owen Yoder, IT/Systems Manager at Berlin Gardens.

 7. Salespeople will have confidence when promising due dates.

From a sales perspective, one of the real strengths of ERP scheduling is the ability to turn a “no” into a “yes we can” when customers request difficult due dates. It does this by providing complete visibility of data on every job — from work order number to completion due date — in a variety of formats.

Before accepting a due date, salespeople can quickly determine inventory levels, available workcenter and labor hours, current status of jobs in progress, and other variables that impact production. If the customer’s requested due data isn’t available, planners can perform forward and backward scheduling to see if jobs can be moved around to accommodate the date. Either way, the decision is based on reliable data so sales reps can promise a due date with confidence rather than hoping production will get the job done on time.

 8. Production managers have more time to manage.

With manual scheduling, production managers often spend inordinate amounts of time trying to fix the schedule. ERP allows them to do the job they were hired to do – respond to and manage events on the shop floor that require their knowledge, expertise and judgment.

Suppose a tool breaks and needs to be repaired, or there’s an unexpected bottleneck in a critical phase of a job. ERP scheduling frees up managers’ time to respond to these and other events that require in-the-moment decisions. It enables them to make better decisions and become a more proactive manager of people and resources. ERP also elevates the managerial role to a more strategic level, enabling managers to make decisions that improve productivity and profitability.

 9. Lower production costs.

The ability to schedule quickly and accurately lays the foundation for a host of shop floor benefits, including lowering the cost of setup, production, shipping, and more. For example, when customers order the same part with different due dates, ERP reduces setup time by scheduling multiple jobs of the same part to run concurrently rather than days or weeks apart.

The ability to see your true machine and labor capacity allows planners to avoid unnecessary overtime. Knowing exactly how long each step of a job takes reduces indirect labor because machinists know what to work on next and when to expect it. Personnel engaged in staging and shipping finished goods can track the status of every job in progress and have everything ready to go when the job is complete. Utilizing these and other efficiency improvements, manufacturers can significantly reduce cycle times, making the business more competitive and profitable.

“Our ERP system helps us operate more cost-effectively by lowering costs, simplifying processes, and enhancing cash flow. It also enables us to get our products to market very quickly, giving us a competitive advantage that other middle market firms in our industry don’t seem to have,” Kevin Mason, CFO of Harding Display.

 10. Sleep better at night.

The uncertainty that comes with manual scheduling creates tremendous stress. ERP software takes the stress out of scheduling by simplifying and automating the entire process.

ERP software enables companies to achieve faster cycle times, better on-time delivery rates, reduced administrative overhead, lower labor and materials costs, improved productivity, and more. Companies can manage the numbers in real time (instead of at the end of the month), leading to timely, informed decisions that enhance the future success of the business. More than just a production management tool, ERP acts as an ongoing process improvement platform that empowers the entire organization to become leaner, more efficient and more profitable. You’ll sleep better knowing your scheduling and your business are in good hands.

Wondering How Your Business Is Doing Overall?
Take the 10-minute Manufacturing Health Test and see how you compare in the 8 critical areas of manufacturing.

___________________________________________________________

Adam Grabowski is the Director of Marketing at Global Shop Solutions. He is responsible for translating the company’s business objectives into successful brand, marketing, and communication strategies to drive awareness, revenue, and loyalty.

To learn more about the 10 ways scheduling boosts your manufacturing, call 1.800.364.5958 or visit www.globalshopsolutions.com.

fleets

How American Companies Are Reimagining the Way Goods Are Shipped Across the Country

Companies across virtually every industry are reimagining the ways in which they move goods from their warehouses and distribution centers to local retail and grocery stores throughout the country.  Challenges arise with the increased need to ship items direct to consumers in many cases – a method growing in popularity stemming from online shopping. 

The demand for more dedicated and private fleets is a surging trend, as shippers continuously find it harder to identify and utilize for-hire trucks due to tighter capacity, particularly from an outpouring of online shopping, increased driver shortage challenges, and volatile rates for moving freight (spot rates). 

Private and dedicated fleets are often more beneficial to all parties involved – the driver, transport company, and customer. Drivers typically enjoy slightly higher wages with regular routes and newer, safer trucks; companies benefit from higher customer service marks as well as improved corporate image knowing their trucks are cleaner; and customers enjoy more accurate, on-time delivery rates that translates into higher quality of customer satisfaction.  

Increased Moves Toward Private Fleets 

Traditional for-hire transportation companies have taken notice and are shifting more of their operations over to the dedicated fleet side. Notable transportation brands such as J.B. Hunt and Transport America are increasingly moving more of their operations to dedicated fleets1. 

The COVID-19 pandemic forced this shift for many retailers and their customers. As the economy saw drastic declines in 2020, some industries saw an increase in demand, such as grocery and convenience stores. This prompted many organizations to place a larger emphasis on private fleet operations to better control costs and adapt quicker to these business climate changes.  

For example, Ahold Delhaize USA says it is transitioning six facilities under its three-year initiative to switch to a fully integrated, self-distribution model driven by its own private fleet. With the transition of the six facilities in 2021, about 65% of Ahold Delhaize USA brand center-store volume will be self-distributed. In late 2019, the company unveiled a three-year, $480 million plan2 to expand its supply chain operations and shift to a self-distribution model, which includes e-commerce channels. 

According to the National Private Truck Council’s (NPTC) 2020 Benchmarking Survey Report3 

“The primary reason companies reported operating a private fleet was to provide exceptional levels of customer service that is unavailable on the open market, especially at a time when transportation and logistics capacity has been relatively constrained. Operating a private fleet provides control over service levels, guarantees availability, and increasingly assures cost-competitive transportation alternatives regardless of market conditions. In this year’s survey, more than 92% of the respondents, in response to the open-ended question, “What is the Primary Reason Your Company Operates a Private Fleet?” answered “customer service.”  

Newer Trucks Drive Better Customer Service 

There is a direct connection between a high level of customer service and a private fleet’s focus on utilizing newer, cleaner, more reliable trucks that protect the environment and offer advanced safety features. 

According to a recent industry report on truck utilization and costs, newer trucks offer significant benefits to a fleet’s bottom line. Fleet operators can realize a first year per-truck savings of $16,856 when upgrading from a 2016 sleeper model-year truck to a 2021 model. For a fleet of 100 trucks, when upgrading to a 2021 model-year fleet savings can reach $1.7 million4. 

Fuel economy represents a significant portion of the savings through truck replacement. Fleets can save $5,084 per truck in fuel in the first year following replacement of a 2016 model-year sleeper, a 15% increase in fuel economy and reduction of CO2 emissions.  

Per a recent analysis, a Global 2000 and Top 100 Private Fleet health-conscious wholesale grocer reduced over 8,500 metrics tons of CO2, as well as helped conserve 848,575 gallons of fuel by upgrading to a newer fleet of trucks. At $2.44 per gallon that equals over $2 million in avoided fuel expense, along with improved Miles Per Gallon4. These savings greatly benefit the bottom line and the fleet’s customer can boast about its attention toward conservation. 

Private Fleets See Stronger Driver Retention Driven by Safety 

While there remains a national shortage of drivers, private fleets typically enjoy a higher level of driver retention because of fewer truck breakdowns and a higher level of attention toward their safety. The NPTC’s latest benchmarking survey illustrated that 64% of its drivers reported that they returned home every night3. 

Safety and confidence in the maintenance of each truck is a leading motive. A recent industry survey showed that 11% of transportation fleets estimate they have saved more than $1 million in crash avoidance by upgrading to newer trucks with advanced safety features. The survey also illustrated that 55% of fleets said escalating maintenance and repair costs (M&R) is a leading motivating factor for upgrading to newer trucks5 

Each of these factors represents a growing reason why the transportation of goods in America is being reshaped by the structure by which today’s leading transportation fleets operate. Many companies in a variety of industries are retaining their own private or dedicated fleet of trucks, driven by trusted drivers operating newer, cleaner, safer trucks that are more reliable and beneficial to everyone’s bottom line. 

__________________________________________________________________

Katerina Jones is Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at Fleet Advantage, a leading innovator in truck fleet business analytics, equipment financing and lifecycle cost management. For more information visit www.FleetAdvantage.com

1: https://www.transportdive.com/news/JB-Hunt-Baird-dedicated-fleet-conversion-trucking/589015/  

2: https://www.supermarketnews.com/retail-financial/ahold-delhaize-usa-readies-six-facilities-self-distribution-2021?mod=djemlogistics_h  

3: National Private Truck Council; 2020 Benchmarking survey Report 

4: https://www.fleetadvantage.com/press-releases/fleet-advantages-newest-truck-lifecycle-data-index-shows-continued-fuel-savings-carbon-reduction-when-replacing-aging-truck-units  

5: https://www.fleetadvantage.com/press-releases/latest-fleet-advantage-industry-benchmark-survey-shows-the-impact-older-trucks-have-on-safety-repair-costs-and-fuel-economy 

supply chain

What Does it Take to Build a “Fit” Supply Chain?

Is your supply chain strong and fit, or fragile and weak? A new report from Gartner helps you determine the answer and work toward a stronger, more resilient future.

Is your supply chain fit, fragile, or somewhere in the middle of the spectrum? This is a question that more organizations are asking themselves right now as they balance high levels of demand with constraints like supply chain shortages, port congestion, a dearth of ocean containers, and a short supply of qualified truck drivers.

Much like an amateur or professional athlete focuses on maintaining a certain level of fitness to be able to compete effectively, a company’s supply chain deserves the same level of attention (if not more). In a new report, Gartner explores the correlation between a fit supply chain and a resilient one, knowing that both elements are critical in today’s uncertain business environment.

Fit For Purpose

According to Gartner, the term “fit for purpose” describes an approach where planning leaders focus on what they should be doing, instead of benchmarking what others are doing—but that may not necessarily work for their own organizations.

Supply chain planning leaders that define their function’s fit for purpose and choose a corresponding organization design will improve their results and be better aligned to the overall business, Gartner says.

“Many supply chain planning leaders ask themselves if they should organize their function in a more centralized or decentralized way,” said Gartner’s Ken Chadwick, in a press release. “To answer that question, they must first understand what their individual fit for purpose organization looks like.”

To design a fit for purpose planning organization, Gartner says supply chain leaders must consider their companies’ business and operating model as well as the operational mindset. They must also understand the business and operating model of the overall company – customer base, products, serviced markets – and determine to what extent those factors are changing.

“Some companies are now moving from global to more regionalized supply networks because global networks are less resilient when it comes to disruptions, such as trade wars or the COVID-19 pandemic,” Chadwick said. “On the other hand, there are companies that want to try a more centralized approach to better serve their key customers.”

Gaining Competitive Advantages During Disruption

Fit supply chains can move ahead of the competition after dealing with the high-impact events, while fragile supply chains fall behind. According to Material Handling & Logistics, the most fragile supply chain operators focus on short-term survival, while the fittest supply chain organizations see disruptions as inflection points to improve the value that the supply chain provides to the business.

“Disruption is not a short-term situation, but a long-term trend that will most likely accelerate as we face climate change impacts, global power balance shifts, and more,” Gartner’s Simon Bailey told MH&L.

“In the future, disruptions will occur more frequently and supply chains must be able to deal with whatever is coming next,” he continued. “Some supply chain leaders have understood that already and prepared their organization accordingly.”

Step by Step Approach

Creating a stronger, more resilient supply chain requires a focus on what’s important to the company, both in terms of operations and decision making. Some companies’ mindsets focus on business unit accountability, for instance, so they align planning to a commercial leader who owns those outcomes.

Other companies are driving an end-to end mindset, leading to one integrated planning organization serving enterprise outcomes, with mindsets related to cost-focus, customer experience, innovation, agility, resilience, and risk also significantly impacting how planning leaders organize.

“When planning, leaders know about their organization’s present and future operating model and mindset,” Chadwick added, “they can in turn think about what their own function should look like to best fit in and serve its purpose.”

When creating fit supply chains, companies can choose among decentralized, center-led, or centralized models. Using the organization’s overall operating model and mindset as a guide, Gartner says supply chain planning leaders can evaluate if a decentralized, center-led, or centralized model is the best design for their function. Here’s what each of these looks like and how it operates:

-In a decentralized model, all planning roles report into the separate business unit leaders. This approach makes sense for large portfolio companies with mostly independent business units.

-The center-led model leaves planning operations within the business units but creates roles at a global level that focus on planning processes and long-term planning.

-Finally, in the centralized model, all elements of supply chain planning report into an integrated planning leader who is running all aspects of planning across the different regions.

Remember that different companies will take different paths to “fitness,” and that these variations are expected and perfectly normal. “There really is no one-size-fits-all solution for a planning organization, nor is a decentralized model necessarily a sign of lesser maturity,” Chadwick concluded. “Planning leaders must evaluate their individual situation and future plans and design their function accordingly.”

Generix Group North America provides a series of solutions within our Supply Chain Hub product suite to create efficiencies across an entire supply chain. From Warehouse Management Systems (WMS), Transportation Management Systems (TMS) to Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES), such platforms can deliver a wide range of benefits that ultimately flow to the warehouse operator’s bottom line. Our solutions are in use around the world and our experience is second-to-none. We invite you to contact us to learn more.

This article originally appeared on GenerixGroup.com. Republished with permission.

signode

Signode’s Latest Automated Storage and Retrieval System Enhances Warehouse Management

During the fully digital 2021 ProMat show, Signode, a global manufacturer of innovative warehouse automation solutions, showcased the latest offerings in their solutions portfolio. The demos included the newly upgraded StorFast® ASRS (automated storage and retrieval system). The StorFast® system emphasizes the importance of managing the warehouse, allowing for twice the speed with improved control for acceleration and deceleration as compared to their previous version. Additionally, increased weight capacity components provide the opportunity for handling up to 4,400 pounds – maximizing all weight requirements for Signode’s customer base.

Vice President of Marketing and Product Management, Mike Stein, shared with Global Trade Magazine that even though the upgrades are subtle, they provide a significant advantage for capacity, speed, controls, simplification, and flexibility – things that highly differentiate companies from their competitors.

What challenges are addressed through Signode’s solutions, specifically for the warehouse?

“More pressure has been put on the warehouse, especially over the last year while navigating the COVID-19 pandemic. Before that, we were seeing similar trends due to the growth of e-commerce and maintaining customer expectations for quicker response times and deliveries. It used to be all about the two-day delivery expectations and customers were happy. Now, if a customer cannot receive something in two hours, they will go somewhere else.

Consumer expectations were increasing pre-pandemic, so retailers had to be nimbler when it came to order fulfillment, whether through direct shipping or aggregators such as Amazon. All of this required warehouse operators to be more responsive through technology, which also drove thought processes around going through large facilities in remote areas or warehouses closer to customer centers. These circumstances forced the change of philosophy around footprint and density. For Signode, our focus on automation – as seen with our ASRS System, lends itself to the more high-density fulfillment centers that take advantage of a smaller footprint but compact more product into a smaller space. That trend is something we believe will continue as fulfillment requirement times go down.”

Discuss the StorFast® ASRS system and its high-density, lights-out, 24/7-access. How does this benefit businesses?

“Signode’s general focus on automation is in synchrony with our customers’ desire to operate efficiently. Our background is rooted in the end-of-line material handling and transit packaging, so moving goods from a production line and handling them safely and efficiently has always been our focus. We understand operators’ needs for efficiencies, uptime, maintenance, product handling, and related needs as premiums. As we move into the requirements for automation, all of those factors must continue to be upheld, from product handling to employee safety.

Additionally, we understand that the product gets handled in a variety of ways, so we utilize automation activities to ensure that the product is still going to be moved through a warehouse, 3PL-type facility, an LTL trucker, or similar, and needs to be protected and packaged appropriately. The 24/7 operations access serves as an extension of this automation in continuing required efficiency and the ability to safely move product from the manufacturing environment through the warehousing and shipping process. It also provides a solution for labor access and changes in demand.”

How do Signode’s solutions support employees?

“Most of our customers have a variety of products, order flow and seasonality, and require a certain level of flexibility. Automation is great for repetitive activities – and it can be flexible, but a lot of times you need the type of flexibility that only workers or employees can provide in terms of responding to changing dynamics. So, it is important for even a highly automated system to have the capability to work in conjunction with the employees who provide a lot of the thinking and flexibility of the system, while maintaining that ability. Our experience with different parts of the packaging and warehousing system allows us to focus on designing products and solutions in a way that makes it easier for maintenance, IoT integration for monitoring remotely, and more. The machines must be well maintained, and our solutions allow for that.”

What competitive advantage is gained for warehouses with Signode’s solutions portfolio?

“Signode focuses on the concept of rightsizing. There is a lot of technology available to automate packaging lines and warehouses, but we provide our customers with a competitive advantage through rightsizing the system based on their needs. For example, the needs of a customer with high volume but low SKU count are quite different from the needs of a customer with lower quantities but more variety. The design of our system is focused on meeting individual customer’s specific needs – even though the same technology is being deployed. We learn about the needs of our customers as early as the RFP phase, understanding the nature of the business and overall goals, ins and outs, seasonality, handling of goods, and more. We learn what the long-term shifts are as well to ensure we assist them in deploying a system that gives the most effective use of space, capacity, resources, and capital investment.”

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Mike Stein is an experienced, forward-thinking executive who has a proven track record of developing best-in-class organizations and leading strategic business initiatives. He values and facilitates collaboration across all functions, and applies his global experience as a leader, mentor, and catalyst to his progressive efforts for his team at Signode since 2017. Mike holds an MBA with Honors from the University of Chicago, Graduate School of Business, and an MS in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University.

Every Loading Dock Should Have a Vehicle Restraint. Here’s Why.

In 2017, there were 270,000 injuries reported in the transportation and warehousing industry. The same industry also saw 819 deaths, a number only surpassed by the construction industry. The number of preventable fatal work injuries in transportation and warehousing grew 5.3% from 2016 to 2017 (1). 

What do these statistics have to do with loading docks? More than 25% of all industrial accidents happen at the loading dock, and for every accident, there are about 600 near misses (2). If your job has anything to do with loading docks, these figures are meant to help you understand how important loading dock safety really is. 

Forklift Fall-Through

One of the most dangerous types of accidents that occur at the loading dock is forklift fall-through. This type of accident happens as a trailer is being loaded or unloaded. Sometimes, the momentum of the forklift transfers to the trailer, causing it to move forward until it separates from the dock leveler. Other times, the truck driver thinks loading or unloading is complete and pulls away from the dock prematurely. When the forklift leaves the trailer, it falls into the gap. The forklift driver often falls out or tries to escape, and the forklift falls on him or her. The average forklift weighs as much as three cars. 

“Forklift fall-through doesn’t happen every day, but when it does, it’s one of the worst types of accidents that happen in a warehouse or distribution center,” says Jeff Schulze, Vice President at loading dock equipment manufacturer Systems, LLC. “Fortunately, when used correctly, vehicle restraints help minimize the chances of a forklift fall-through accident.” 

When a trailer backs up to a loading dock, the most common types of vehicle restraints capture or block the trailer’s Rear Impact Guard (RIG), sometimes called an ICC bar, securing the trailer to the loading dock until the restraint is disengaged.

Wheel Chocks Are Not the Answer

The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) states that companies with warehouses and distribution centers are responsible for the safety of their employees, which obviously includes dock personnel, and requires that all vehicles are, at minimum, restrained by wheel chocks prior to and during loading and unloading. 

If someone believes wheel chocks are an acceptable substitute for vehicle restraints, he or she must ensure that every trailer is properly chocked, which is rare. In one facility, every dock position might have an immaculate set of wheel chocks that are always stored in their cradle, but they’re only immaculate because they aren’t used very often. Dock personnel at another facility might believe truck drivers should chock their own trailers, but all they’re legally required to do is set their brakes. At another facility, perhaps wheel chocks are not even available. They were there at some point in time, but on a frigid winter day they weren’t returned to their cradle and the snowplow picked them up and ripped them off the wall. At yet another facility, some of the chocks have simply broken down from years of use and were never replaced. In each case, the company is not only risking OSHA fines, but also the safety of its dock personnel.

Wheel chocks also must be applied firmly against the closest set of wheels to the dock, or they may not prevent trailer creep. This requires more than just casually tossing the chock near the trailer wheels. A gravelly drive or wet or icy conditions also reduce the effectiveness of wheel chocks. To top it all off, in most cases, trucks can simply pull trailers right over wheel chocks, so they’re generally not very good at preventing early pull-away. 

Communication is Key

Securing a trailer to the loading dock is only part of the reason vehicle restraints are preferred over wheel chocks. Communication between dock personnel and truck drivers is essential for maintaining safety in the loading dock, and wheel chocks do nothing in this area. Vehicle restraints often include light communication systems that know when the trailer is restrained and use interior and exterior lights to communicate this to the truck driver and dock personnel so loading or unloading can safely begin. 

Safety is an Investment

Anyone who thinks vehicle restraints are too expensive should consider that loading dock accidents cost companies an estimated $675 million every year,(3) and the average cost of a worker injury accident is about $189,000 (4). A better way to spend $189,000 is to install automatic vehicle restraints and greatly reduce the chances of a forklift fall-through accident in the first place. 

There is also a possibility that installing restraints at your loading docks may lower your insurance rates. “When you install restraints, you’re acting to not only reduce the chances of employee injury accidents, but also damage to equipment, vehicles, and cargo from accidents,” says Schulze. “It’s definitely worth a call to your insurance provider.”

A Chance Not Worth Taking

It’s been said that forklift fall-through accidents are a one-in-a-million incident. That might not be far from the truth. If a facility has 20 dock positions and each sees 10 trailers per day, and each of those trailers sees 40 forklift entries and exits during loading or unloading, it only takes 25 weeks for this facility to have a million opportunities for a forklift fall-through. Suddenly one-in-a-million feels much too close for comfort.

Don’t Wait Until It’s Too Late

The time to put on your seat belt is not after you’ve been in a car accident. It’s a bit late to install smoke detectors after your home has burned to the ground. If you drive a forklift to load or unload trailers and wheel chocks are all you’ve got, ask your supervisor about vehicle restraints. If you’re a warehouse manager or safety officer, don’t wait until someone gets hurt to put vehicle restraints in the budget. When you install vehicle restraints in your loading docks, rest easy knowing you’ve done the best thing you can do to help minimize the risk of forklift fall-through accidents. 

 

Jeremy Artz is the Product Manager for loading dock equipment manufacturer Systems, LLC. He has 20 years of marketing and product management experience in various industries from manufacturing to financial. Jeremy specializes in connecting people and products by focusing on how those products can benefit businesses and improve lives.

 

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1 National Safety Council Injury Facts https://injuryfacts.nsc.org/work/work-overview/work-safety-introduction/ 

2 Industrial Safety & Hygiene News https://www.ishn.com/articles/107356-slow-down-watch-out-know-the-facts-about-loading-dock-hazards 

3 Material Handling & Logistics https://www.mhlnews.com/warehousing/safety-and-security-loading-dock-know-your-risks-and-take-control 

4 National Safety Council: $39,000 medical cost https://injuryfacts.nsc.org/work/costs/work-injury-costs + estimated $150,000 property damage ($75,000 forklift + $75,000 building repair cost)