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Bon-Ton Stores:ManagingGROWTHpage 18
SPECIAL REPORT
Modern’s 3rd Annual Salary Survey 26EQUIPMENT REPORT
AGVs on path to success 33INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
Supply chain visibility realized 38
Jim Rawlins, senior vice president of distribution and logistics, Bon-Ton Stores
®
m m h . c o m
PRODUCTIVITY SOLUTIONS FOR DISTRIBUTION, WAREHOUSING AND MANUFACTURING
June 2010
SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT
Six DC networkredesign tips 46
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mmh.com MODERN MATERIALS HANDLING / J U N E 2 0 1 0 3
FOUR GRAD STUDENTS from the University of California – San Diego (pictured from left: Chris Crouch, James Duvall, Eli Reihman and Tony Nguyen) recently won the Avnet Tech Games RedPrairie Supply Chain Challenge. Each received a $1,000 scholarship for their demand planning and logistics strategy studies.
This annual, global college technology competi-tion provides a forum for students to apply what they learn in school to real-world scenarios. This year, the competition included 344 students from 41 colleges in nine countries and introduced a virtual game—the RedPrairie Supply Chain Challenge—which marked the first of RedPrairie’s (www.redprairie.com) annual commitment to sup-port this competition.
SUPPLIER OF LOGISTICS SYSTEMS for the factory, warehouse and distribution center, Dematic (www.dematic.com) has expanded its Technical Support Call Center services to help users of materials handling systems obtain the highest levels of performance. A new self-service portal allows Dematic system users to access their records in the Dematic Technical
Support Call Center data-base, which contains all cur-rent data about a customer’s system. The new Alert Monitoring service moni-tors activity and alerts the Call Center if an anomaly in operation or equipment status is detected.
From there, a Dematic technician will take the appropriate action.
WERC appoints new presidentCATHERINE L. COOPER, executive vice president and CIO of OHL (www.ohl.com) was named incoming president of the Warehousing Education and Education Council (WERC, www.werc.org) at its conference last month.
As president, Cooper will focus on integrating new generations to the industry. “We need to support and communicate effectively with them all and keep up with the times. We will provide our services through multiple com-munication changes: online courses and in person seminars, Twitter and printed mailings, and maintain WERC’s Annual Conference as the industry event for our members to interact, network and grow professionally,” says Copper. For a 2010 conference wrap up and WERC’s new Board of Directors, turn to page 9.
UCSD grad students win virtual competition
Dematic expands Technical Support Call Center services
Median base annual salary for professionals in the materials handling industry. See story, page 26Source: Modern’s annual reader salary survey
B R E A K I N G N E W S Y O U S H O U L D K N O W
UPFRONT
Testa Produce is going green and platinum
FAST FACT
WITH A NEW 91,000-SQUARE-FOOT DC under construction, Testa Produce (www.testa-produce.com) is on its way to becoming the first U.S. food distributor to oper-ate in a facility certified as LEED Platinum by the U.S. Green Building Council. On 13 acres of vacant land in Chicago’s Stockyards
Industrial Corridor, it features a 245-foot wind turbine; roof- and pole-mounted photovoltaic panels; vegetated roof and entrance wall; solar-powered water heating; skylights; rainwater collection, filtration and recycling systems; and bio-fueled delivery fleet.
The cost is $20 million, 20% higher than a less environmentally friendly design. Peter Testa, president, said they were
committed to raising the bar on sustainability in the produce industry, which has a fairly large carbon footprint.
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Congratulations to this year’s Toyota President’s Award winners. Dealers who went above and beyond in both performance and service. Making us, once again, the number one lift truck in America. And, more importantly, number one with you.
Left to right, back row to front row.Back Row:Jeff Fischer of Florida Lift Systems, Inc., Tampa, Fla.; Ted Wente of ILT Toyota-Lift, Cleveland, Ohio; Brian Hull of Hull Toyota Lift, Elkhart, Ind.; Bob Whittingham of Forklifts of St. Louis, Inc., St. Louis, Mo.; John Scheunemann of Toyota-Lift of Minnesota, Brooklyn Park, Minn.; Mark Andres of Toyota Material Handling Northern California, Hayward, Calif.; Anika Conger-Capelle of Conger Toyotalift, Green Bay, Wis.; Ron McCluskey of Brodie Toyota-Lift, Lawrence, Mass.; Jim Shoppa of Shoppa’s Material Handling, Ltd., Fort Worth, Texas; Al Rawson of Atlas Toyota Material Handling, Schiller Park, III.; and Ken Turnmyre of Vesco Toyotalift, Hickory, N.C.
Front Row:Sam Swartz of JRC Toyota-Lift, Worthington, Ohio; Ken Townsend of Toyota Lift of South Texas, San Antonio, Texas; David Graffy of ProLift Industrial Equipment, Louisville, Ky.; and Don Herman of Lift, Inc., Mountville, Pa.
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Whatever you needed last year, they were there. And that’s why they’re here.
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mmh.com MODERN MATERIALS HANDLING / J U N E 2 0 1 0 5
PRODUCTIVITY SOLUTIONS FOR DISTRIBUTION, WAREHOUSING AND MANUFACTURING
Jim Rawlins, Bon-Ton Stores’ senior vice president of distribution and logistics
VOL. 65, NO. 6
DEPARTMENTS & COLUMNS 3/ Upfront 7/ This month in Modern15/ Lift Truck Tips: Treat your fleet as a
team42/ Product Focus: Elevating/positioning
equipment46/ Supplement: 6 DC network redesign tips50/ 60 seconds with...
NEWS 9/ 33rd Annual WERC Conference
sees uptick10/ State of Logistics Report12/ Armstrong says 2009 3PL data
down 15%13/ April retail sales continue upward trend
COVER STORYSYSTEM REPORT
18 Bon-Ton Stores: Managing growthAfter doubling in size twice in five years and launching an e-commerce sales channel, The Bon-Ton Stores implemented a new WMS and improved productivity and efficiency.
24 Distribution double-headerBon-Ton’s Fairborn, Ohio, distribution center enables cross-docking and direct-to-consumer operations in the same facility. Here’s how the regional retailer put it all together.
FEATURESSPECIAL REPORT
26 Results of Modern’s 3rd Annual Salary SurveyWhile we may not be out of the jungle yet, our annual salary survey tells us that salaries in the materials handling industry are holding steady and bonuses are bouncing back.
EQUIPMENT REPORT
33 AGVs follow path to successReplacing existing manual, in-house transport processes with automatic guided vehicles has yielded tremendous benefits for the four companies profiled this month.
INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
38 Visibility: Seeing clearly in the supply chain Supply chain visibility solutions have come a long way in the last decade. To get a snapshot of what visibility looks like today, we talked to providers of seven of the most common supply chain management and execution applications.
PRODUCTIVITY SOLUTION
32 Out-of-this-world crane upgradesNASA’s Plum Brook Station at the Glenn Research Center recently updated its unique polar crane for testing of space-bound hardware.
PHOTO: CHRIS CONE 60 seconds with…Kazuo Itoh, page 50
Modern Materials Handling ® (ISSN 0026-8038) is published monthly by Peerless Media, LLC, a Division of EH Publishing, Inc., 111 Speen St, Suite 200, Framingham, MA 01701. Annual subscription rates for non-qualifi ed subscribers: USA $119, Canada $159, Other International $249. Single copies are available for $20.00. Send all subscription inquiries to Modern Materials Handling, 111 Speen Street, Suite 200, Framingham, MA 01701 USA. Periodicals postage paid at Framingham, MA and additional mailing offi ces. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Modern Materials Handling, PO Box 1496 Framingham MA 01701-1496. Reproduction of this magazine in whole or part without written permis-sion of the publisher is prohibited. All rights reserved. (C)2010 Peerless Media, LLC.
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m m h . c o m MODERN MATERIALS HANDLING / J U N E 2 0 1 0 7
THIS MONTH IN modern
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Winner Jesse H. Neal
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EDITORIAL OFFICES111 Speen Street, Suite 200Framingham, MA 01701-1496(800) 375-8015
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Bob TrebilcockEXECUTIVE EDITOR
Noël P. BodenburgEXECUTIVE MANAGING EDITOR
Lorie King RogersASSOCIATE EDITOR
Sara Pearson SpecterEDITOR AT LARGE
Roberto MichelEDITOR AT LARGE
Tom AndelCOLUMNIST
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I’ve always believed that there are “prob-lems” that can derail your progress; but there are also “good problems” that are
presented by too much happening at one time. When solved, these “good problems” can take you down a path of enlightened progress.
For example, I think it’s safe to say that the distribution management team at The Bon-Ton Stores has been faced with some terrifi c problems over the past eight years—and as you’re about to learn, they have indeed seen the light.
For starters, the retail chain doubled in size—from 70 stores to 140—back in 2003 when it acquired the stores of Elder-Beerman and then doubled again a few years later when it bought a number of loca-tions from high-end retailer Saks. During this period of rapid growth, Bon-Ton also launched a new e-com-merce sales channel that has doubled in revenue every year since 2008.
So, at a time when most retailers were cutting back on inventory, staff and stores, the Bon-Ton team found itself facing the en-viable challenge of pulling together multiple distribution centers that were running several different warehouse management systems—all while working to improve the fulfi llment rates of a direct-to-consumer distribution operation that it didn’t have prior to 2007.
“We knew that we did not want to maintain multiple WMS systems and
didn’t want to make two maintenance payments,” Jim Rawlins, Bon-Ton’s senior vice president of distribution and logis-tics tells executive editor Bob Trebilcock in this month’s System Report. To make matters even more complicated, the company’s legacy WMS systems were designed around pallet- and case-picking operations and not each-picking, one of the essential elements to speeding the e-commerce business.
And while I don’t want to steal the thun-der from Trebilcock’s excellent report, I will say that the solu-tion that the Bon-Ton team put into place has not only solved the inherent issues that come along with aggressive growth through acquisition, but it has given the retailer a new level of inventory accuracy and ship-ment visibility that would make even their largest competitors green with envy.
“For years, what was impor-tant to us and our readers was
the physical movement of goods,” Trebil-cock told me after he fi nished this story. “What Bon-Ton underscores is that today, information about the movement of goods is almost as important as the physical move-ment.”
In this case, Bon-Ton’s new WMS system has enabled the regional retailer to inte-grate several acquisitions, greatly improve its e-commerce channel and lay the founda-tion for growth. This may sound simple, but the path to enlightenment is never easy. See for yourself starting on page 18.
Bon-Ton: Solving good problems
MICHAEL LEVANSGROUP EDITORIAL
DIRECTOR
Bon-Ton’s new WMS system has enabled the regional retailer to integrate several acquisitions, greatly improve its e-commerce channel and lay the foundation for growth.
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Operations modernization: 9 Operations assessment 9 Maintenance audits 9 Preventative maintenance services 9 Resident maintenance
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WHEN THE Warehousing Education and Research Council (WERC, www.werc.org) wrapped up its 33rd annual conference last month in Anaheim, Calif., numbers were up, feedback was positive and WERC CEO Michael Mikitka was already planning future initiatives.
The four-day education conference drew more than 800 attendees, up 9% over 2009, and 86 exhibitors, up 48% over last year’s event in Atlanta. Mikitka told Modern that these numbers are signifi cant for a number of reasons. First of all, he said, the conference location could have been a challenge, considering the major-
ity of the organization’s members are located east of the Mississippi. Travel expenses might have kept some peo-ple away, but the increase in atten-dance and the number of exhibitors points to the value of the conference and the importance of participating in educational opportunities.
The clear message, Mikitka said, was that people are getting back to work, and that’s not just a play on words. “Companies had to cut back and change staffi ng levels,” he said, “but now they’re at the point where they need to focus on their workforce by providing more challenges, educa-tion and opportunities.”
On the agenda“Education is always number one in what we do at our conferences,” said Mikitka. “We work hard to cross the vertical markets and provide the information that applies to all participants no matter what business they’re in. That’s one of our strengths. We’re not limited to vertical markets and our presenters come from all verticals.”
This year’s conference session topics included everything from
preventing theft in the supply chain, to using metrics in the DC, to out-sourcing. Also on the agenda were off-site facility tours that were well received and sold out early, according to Mikitka. Destinations included the 450,000-square-foot Smart & Final distribution center, the Port of Long Beach and Disney.
WERC announces Warehouse Certifi cation ProgramThis year’s conference was also a forum to announce the upcoming launch of a new WERC Warehouse Certifi cation Program. The program will use the organization’s best practices guide to assess points to various areas of an operation and classify them as WERC certifi ed. Through this new program, Mikitka explained, auditors go to a facility to evaluate a company’s processes, make observations and identify what they need to do to earn the points required for certifi cation.
“For fi rst parties, the certifi cation program is an affordable way to eval-uate their organization and identify areas of improvement,” said Mikitka. “For third parties, it adds value to be able to say they are WERC certifi ed.”
m m h . c o m MODERN MATERIALS HANDLING / J U N E 2 0 1 0 9
WAREHOUSE AND DISTRIBUTION
CEO SAYS BOOST TO ATTENDEE AND EXHIBITOR NUMBERS PROVES THAT COMPANIES ARE FOCUSING ON THE WORKFORCE ONCE AGAIN.
Mood improves at 33rd Annual WERC Conference
BY LORIE KING ROGERS, ASSOCIATE EDITOR
WERC main stage speaker Peter Gibbons, Starbucks’ executive vice president, global supply chain operations, candidly addressed the challenges his company has faced recently and the need to turn around its supply chain.
WERC follow upIf you missed the conference, information is available at www.werc.org. Content is free to members and available to non-members for a nominal fee.
The 34th Annual WERC Conference is scheduled for May 15-18, 2011, in Orlando, Fla.
MMH1006news.indd 9 6/10/10 2:41 PM
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State of Logistics 2010
Business logistics costs fall 18.2 percentBUSINESS LOGISTICS COSTS fell to a record low of 7.7 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) last year compared with 9.3 percent of GDP in 2008, according to a new annual benchmark report issued on June 8.
The 21st annual State of Logistics (SoL) report, released by the Council of Supply Chain Management Profes-sionals (CSCMP) and presented by Penske Logistics at the National Press Club, details the effects of the two-year recession that began in 2007.
Logistics costs last year accounted for 7.7 percent of GDP. That is an his-toric low and less than half of the 16.2 percentage when the fi rst SoL report was authored in 1981, the fi rst full year of trucking deregulation.
Transportation costs now account for 4.9 percent of GDP, well below the 6 percent share in 2008. Carrying costs accounted for 2.5 percent of GDP last year, down from 2.9 percent in 2008 and well off the 8.3 percent of GDP in 1981.
The cost of U.S. business logistics fell 18.2 percent last year, the larg-est decline since the SoL report was started in 1981. Business logistics costs fell to $1.1 trillion last year, a decrease of $244 billion from 2008. Combined with the drop in 2008, that means total logistics costs have dropped nearly $300 billion during the recession.
Transportation carriers have respond-ed by reducing capacity, especially in trucking and air freight. But Rosalyn Wilson, the report’s author, warns supply chain professionals that the current “tenuous” business climate and tightened credit “will make it diffi cult to rapidly expand capacity” for the rest of this year.
“It is likely that we will have capac-ity problems in some areas by year’s end,” said Wilson.
After rising over 50 percent in the fi ve years leading up to the recession, total logistics costs have fallen the past two years. Transportation costs were down more than 20 percent last
year. With the exception of oil pipe-lines, all modes suffered double-digit rate declines last year while ware-housing costs fell 2 percent.
But Wilson warns that supply chain professionals should not get too com-
fortable with these bargain freight rates. Capacity restraints, already beginning to show in some modes, will result in higher rates, perhaps as soon as this year.
—John D. Schulz, Contributing Editor
MMH1006news.indd 11 6/10/10 2:48 PM
12 J U N E 2 0 1 0 / MODERN MATERIALS HANDLING m m h . c o m
SUPPLY CHAIN CONSULTANCY Arm-strong & Associates (www.3plogistics.com) recently released updated fi gures for 2009 U.S. third party logistics (3PL) market revenues. This
data, which was originally released in February, confi rmed that U.S. 3PL revenues dropped for the fi rst time since Armstrong began collecting the data in 1995.
For 2009, Armstrong said that total 3PL segment gross revenues at $104.1 billion decreased 16% while net revenues at $50.9 billion were down 12.7%. Data for the survey was based on 3PL reported year-end fi nancial results coupled with results from Armstrong’s August 3PL report on the feedback of roughly 40 U.S. 3PLs. The August survey found that 72% of participating 3PLs reported gross revenue decreases, while 24% reported increases in gross revenue for the fi rst half of 2008, compared to the fi rst half of 2009.
Individual market segments showed:
• domestic transportation man-agement gross revenue at $31.8 bil-lion was down 15.1% year-over-year, and net revenue at $5.2 billion was down 11.4% year-over-year;
• international transportation management gross revenue at $35.1 billion was down 23.7% year-over-year, and net revenue at $14.6 billion was down 18.9% year-over-year;
• dedicated contract carriage (DCC) gross revenue at $9.5 billion was down 15.2% year-over-year, and net revenue at $9.4 billion was down 16.0% year-over-year; and
• value-added warehousing and distribution (VAWD) gross revenue at $27.8 billion was down 5.3% year-over-year, and net revenue at $21.9 billion was down 6.9% year-over-year.
While the majority of revenue fi gures were down across the board, Armstrong & Associates president Evan Armstrong told Modern that much of the 2009 losses could be attributed to individual market fac-tors. For example, the DCC seg-ment saw signifi cant 2009 losses because a good chunk of its busi-ness is dependent on the automo-tive industry.
“For most 3PLs, the best part about 2009 [looking back now] is that it’s over,” said Armstrong.
Heading into this year, third party performance in 2010 was viewed as likely to be “less than stellar,” said
3PL NEWS
Armstrong says 2009 3PL data down 15.1%
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m m h . c o m MODERN MATERIALS HANDLING / J U N E 2 0 1 0 13
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sales (which exclude automobiles, gas stations and restaurants) in-creased 0.5% seasonally adjusted over March and 4.6% unadjusted year-over-year.
“Spring shopping and seasonal weather helped boost sales last month,” said Rosalind Wells, chief
economist for NRF. “Spending on discretionary items had fallen by the wayside these last few years and we are encouraged to see consumers dipping into that pot once again.”
Continued increases in retail are not entirely surprising, considering that various economic indicators and
Armstrong in a February interview that projected that gross revenue is expected to be up 7.2% year-over-year compared to previous years (excluding 2009), which were all up 13% or better year-over-year.
But Armstrong offi cials said that they now anticipate a signifi cant recovery for 3PLs in 2010, with many fi rst quarter results suggesting a recovery that will restore the U.S. 3PL market to 2007 levels. Armstrong is now calling for a 13.4% increase in gross revenue and an 8.3% increase in net revenue.
—Jeff Berman, Group News Editor
MATERIALS HANDLING BUSINESS
April retail sales continue upward trendKEEPING IN LINE with retail sales growth from February to March, the United States Department of Commerce and the National Retail Federation (NRF) recently reported retail sales were up again from March to April.
March retail sales, which include non-general merchandise like auto-mobiles, gasoline and restaurants, at $366.4 billion were up 0.4% from March, which was up 1.6% from Feb-ruary, and were up 8.8% year-over-year, according to the Department of Commerce. And total retail sales were up 9.6% year-over-year.
The NRF reported that April retail
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14 J U N E 2 0 1 0 / MODERN MATERIALS HANDLING m m h . c o m
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recent media reports have pointed to some improvements in the job market and ongoing strength in the manufacturing sector.
And at the same time, consum-
ers have started to emerge from the bunker and have begun spending more. This has also been apparent in freight transportation volumes, which are seeing consistent sequential
and annual gains due to increased consumer spending, coupled with re-tailers slowly building up inventories after deliberately keeping them low for months to better match up with previously sluggish demand following the depths of the recession.
Industry sources have told Mod-ern that since November the overall market feels better due to what we’ll call the retailers putting themselves in a position to have ample spring inventory in place.
What’s more, retail sales are turn-ing in steady performances at a time when unemployment remains high, coupled with the national personal savings rate at about 5.5%—com-pared to zero in the past—which has lowered the new normal consump-tion rate, and will build up slowly from this point.
While many analysts and econo-mists are calling for continued gains in retail sales, it has led to an outlook of cautious growth which has been sustained, according to Ben Hackett, founder of Hackett Associates.
“These are still relatively good numbers and growth rates,” said Hackett in a recent interview. “We are seeing consumers wearily come back, and the [inventory] restocking contin-ues to occur. A lot of wholesalers and importers are still working relatively low stocks, with stock-to-sale on a two-month schedule, so there is go-ing to be a continuing re-supply of stocks. People initially thought it was going to be a big one-off in restock-ing, but we thought it would be slow and steady.”
—Jeff Berman, Group News Editor
CorrectionIn last month’s Top 20 Systems Suppliers article the URL for Intelligrated should have read www.intelligrated.com and the URL for Murata Machinery should have read www.muratec-usa.com.
“These are still relatively good numbers and growth rates.” —Ben Hackett
MMH1006news.indd 14 6/10/10 2:48 PM
mmh.com MODERN MATERIALS HANDLING / J U N E 2 0 1 0 15
In sports, utility players are those who can play several positions competently. In industry, those players are the lift trucks. And although they’re prized assets, lift trucks
usually fl y under the radar. That can lead to one of two big problems: being misunderstood or not being under-stood at all.
Like all treasured com-modities, utility players are always around when you need them. But if you don’t know their limits and ask them to do something beyond their capabilities, they’ll probably try to do their best—but unfortunate consequences may result.
Order picker lift trucks are the ultimate utility play-ers in materials handling, especially when it come to being misunderstood. John Bourke, sales manager and trainer for Wisconsin Lift Truck, an MCFA dealer, told me customers often confuse order pickers with reach and turret trucks. And, that can be a dangerous mistake.
“We sometimes have a customer who says he wants to put pallets away with an order picker,” Bourke says. “You can’t do that. This is a safety issue. If you’re putting the pallet into a rack with an order picker, there’s nothing between that operator and the rack beam. If he freezes on the controls he’ll crush himself on the next higher level beam.”
That desire to put pallets away with an order picker may come from the way turret trucks are often used in Eu-rope: as order pickers. Bourke says customers in Europe
will often order pick from a turret truck. That use may be fi ne when they’re facing the fork side of an aisle. Howev-er, diffi culties arise when they want to access the opposite side of the aisle and the turret mechanism is in the way. Still, Bourke says that may work for some.
“If the picking portion of the job is less than 50%, fi ne, do that. But if you approach the point where more than half the duty of a reach or turret truck is to order pick as well as put pallets in and take them out, then you’re bet-ter served having two separate machines,” he says.
Back here in the U.S., another position order picker trucks are often asked to play is that of rider pallet truck.
According to Kenneth MacDonald, president of M&G Materials Han-dling Co., a Yale dealer in East Providence, R.I., those who use order pickers that way don’t pick as well as they should—especial-ly if they’re not using a warehouse manage-ment system to help guide productivity.
“They could supple-ment rider jacks with order pickers by keeping E & F inven-tory items up high and the A & B items down in the golden pick zones,” MacDonald explains. “I think there is also a trend to use reach trucks to pull inventory down from
above to feed pick lines. That allows rider pallet trucks to operate more cost effectively and at an increased pick rate.”
Utility players in all fi elds deserve more respect and recognition. But in materials handling, they should be recognized for what they can’t do as well as for what they can. That knowledge will help you build your fl eet into a winning team.
Treat your fleet as a teamOrder pickers may have many talents, but they truly excel when they are mixed with the strengths of the other lift trucks on your team.
LIFT TRUCK TIPSTOM ANDEL,
COLUMNIST
Contact Tom Andel at [email protected].
MMH1006liftrucks.indd 15 6/9/10 3:05 PM
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SYSTEM REPORT modern
Bon-Ton Stores:Managing Growth
18 J U N E 2 0 1 0 / MODERN MATERIALS HANDLING mmh.com
Jim Rawlins, senior vice president, distribution and logistics
After doubling in size
twice in five years
and launching an
e-commerce sales
channel, The Bon-Ton
Stores implemented a
new WMS—improving
productivity and
efficiency.
MMH1006SystemReport.indd 18 6/9/10 3:46 PM
Fresh inventory is the lifeblood of retail. Every retail chain is focused on getting the product the public wants to buy on the shelf faster than the competition. “To keep our custom-
ers coming back, we need to get products to our stores quickly,” says Lora Hardin, divisional vice president for The Bon-Ton Stores, a retailer headquar-tered in York, Pa., with nearly 300 full line department stores east of the Mississippi and approximately $3 billion in annual sales.
Successful store replen-ishment is a challenge for any retailer. For Bon-Ton, keep-ing pace with the competi-tion was compounded by an aggressive growth strategy: In five years, the company doubled its size—twice—through major acquisitions. “We grew from 70 stores to 140 when we acquired the Elder-Beerman stores in 2003,” says Hardin. “We dou-bled again a few years later when we bought a group of stores from Saks.”
After each acquisition, the parent company grap-pled not only with mul-tiple distribution centers but with multiple ware-house management systems (WMS). Add to that mix a new focus on direct-to-con-sumer e-commerce sales, something that had not been a priority for Bon-Ton prior to 2007, and you have a logistical nightmare. Since 2008, the e-commerce busi-
ness has doubled each year and contin-ues to grow despite a down economy.
“We had automated materials han-dling systems that we liked in place,” says Jim Rawlins, senior vice presi-dent of distribution and logistics. “We also knew that we did not want to maintain multiple WMS systems and didn’t want to make two maintenance payments.”
Moreover, the legacy WMS sys-
tems were designed around pallet- and case-picking operations and not each-picking.
The solution was a new WMS (HighJump Software, 800-328-3271, www.highjump.com) that handles both sides of the business: store replenish-ment and direct-to-consumer order fulfillment. It also manages inventory across multiple brands and integrates with Bon-Ton’s automated materials
handling systems. The WMS was rolled out
first in a 258,000-square-foot distribution center in Fairborn, Ohio, that sup-ports operations for 70 retail stores in the chain. The WMS manages a fully automated materials han-dling system and coordi-nates movement of store merchandise, 85% of which is crossdocked through the facility and routed onto out-bound trucks within four minutes of arrival at the warehouse.
Most of the remaining merchandise is routed to a mezzanine area for value-added services like re-tick-eting and tagging before being shipped to stores. A very small percentage of inventory—about 3% of the total—goes into storage in the facility to fill orders for Bon-Ton’s growing direct-to-consumer business.
The results so far: Since implementing the system, the company has increased productivity by 13.6%. In addition, the solution has increased inventory accuracy and
mmh.com MODERN MATERIALS HANDLING / J U N E 2 0 1 0 19
PH
OTO
GR
AP
HY
BY
CH
RIS C
ON
E
By Bob Trebilcock, Executive Editor
SYSTEM REPORT modern
During the receiving process, cartons are unloaded from shipping containers onto extendable conveyors and then inducted into the facilities automation system.
MMH1006SystemReport.indd 19 6/9/10 3:54 PM
20 J u n e 2 0 1 0 / Modern Materials Handling mmh.com
enhanced visibility of the fulfillment workload as well as aided planning for daily staffing.
“We are getting improved visibility of advanced shipment notification (ASN) ,purchase orders and inbound trailer information,” says Rawlins. “That has been extremely beneficial and is con-tributing to efficiency improvements.”
The improved visibility from the WMS highlights the fact that in today’s high velocity distribution networks, information about the movement of goods is just as important as efficient materials handling to getting the job done at the lowest possible cost.
Managing growthAccording to company history, the Bon-Ton tradition dates back to 1898 when
Max Grumbacher opened a one-room millinery and dry goods store on Market Street in York, Pa.
The business operated “with a close attention to detail and a conviction that business success would come to those who offered customers quality merchandise at a fair price with careful attention to their individual needs and wants.” For the company, those words have held true for more than 100 years.
Bon-Ton’s era of expansion began in the 1960s, growing the number of stores to 70. In 2003, the company doubled in size by acquiring Elder-Beerman, based in Dayton, Ohio. Three years later, Bon-Ton doubled the number of stores again when it acquired the Northern Department Store Group from Saks, Inc., which included the Carson Pirie
Scott chain. Today, the retailer operates 281 stores
in 23 states under the Bon-Ton, Elder-Beerman, Bergner’s, Carson Pirie Scott, Boston Store, Younkers and Herberger’s names in the Northeast, Midwest and upper Great Plains, and Parisian stores in the Detroit area. The stores sell a broad assortment of brand-name fashion apparel and accessories for women, men and chil-dren, as well as cosmetics and housewares.
Those stores are served from a net-work of four distribution centers:
Whitehall, Pa. (near Allentown) – 350,000 square feet Fairborn, Ohio (near Dayton) – 258,000 square feet Rockford, Ill. – 500,000 square feet Naperville, Ill. – 200,000 square feet
Whitehall, Fairborn and Rockford
SyStem report modern
the Fairborn facility uses automated materials handling, including conveyors and sortation systems, to drive efficiency. But the key to the facilities success has been the new WMs system that has improved visibility into inventory and orders and is the power behind Bon-ton’s e-commerce operations.
MMH1006SystemReport.indd 20 6/9/10 3:55 PM
mmh.com MODERN MATERIALS HANDLING / J U N E 2 0 1 0 21
handle apparel, accessories, cosmet-ics and housewares. The Naperville facility distributes furniture.
One of the first steps toward managing the growth from those acquisitions involved the ratio-nalization of the network of dis-tribution centers. In addition to Bon-Ton’s distribution center in Pennsylvania, each of the acquired chains had their own DCs.
“When we looked at the stores and the network, we realized that our stores didn’t really compete with one another, but we didn’t need all of the distribution centers we had to accomplish everything we wanted to accomplish,” says Rawlins. After the Saks acquisition, for instance, Bon-Ton closed facilities in Wisconsin and Iowa, leaving a network that could easily hit 95% of the stores.
Time for a new WMS The new network brought another important change that impacted how the DCs operate: The facilities were no longer unique to a brand.
SYSTEM REPORT modern
A Bon-Ton order selector scans an item in the e-commerce pick module (top) that will be placed on a pick cart. Packages ready for shipment are scanned (bottom) as they are conveyed to the shipping area.
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22 J U N E 2 0 1 0 / MODERN MATERIALS HANDLING mmh.com
A DC could crossdock merchandise to any store in the chain, regardless of the store name, if that location made the most economical sense for the delivery. “We designed the network and located inventory based on pro-viding the lowest overall transportation cost to the stores,” says Rawlins.
All those acquisitions brought along more than just multiple distribu-tion centers; Bon-Ton also inherited multiple IT systems, including legacy warehouse management systems. “Everything from finance to human resources to logistics had to be inte-grated,” says Hardin. “We had multiple WMS sys-tems, and in Fairborn, we had two different materials handling systems.”
Those challenges came to a head in 2007 when Bon-Ton added an e-com-merce channel, some-thing that had not been an important part of its busi-
ness in the past. None of the warehouse management sys-tems in place were up to the task of managing a crossdock operation across multiple store brands and direct-to-consumer order fulfillment. For instance, the legacy sys-tems were enabled to use bar code scanning for putaway operations, but picking was still paper-based. That may have been sufficient for pal-let and carton picking, but not for the real-time nature of each-picking in an e-fulfill-ment environment.
In addition, Bon-Ton set an aggressive schedule to launch
the new sales channel, moving from ini-tial conversations to launch in less than six months. “To manage the business with our old WMS would have required a complete rewrite,” says Hardin. “That just wasn’t feasible.”
To get the e-commerce business up and running, Bon-Ton set aside 150,000 square feet of space in the Rockford and Fairborn DCs. The Rockford facility handles products for the home, other than furniture, like kitchen and bath products, towels and linens. The Fairborn facility handles apparel, cosmetics and accessories.
Since the facilities were optimized around crossdocking cartons, the first step was to install shelving for each-picking modules and workstations for packing parcel shipments. They also patched in a barebones e-fulfillment system that was sufficient that first year, since order volumes were light. But as the e-commerce business began to pick up “we knew that wouldn’t sus-tain us, and we knew we didn’t want to maintain two different systems for crossdocking and direct-to-consumer,” says Rawlins.
Choosing a WMSSelecting a WMS that could handle all of Bon-Ton’s needs was an eight-month
SYSTEM REPORT modern
The WMS directs associates in the packing area as they prepare e-commerce orders for delivery.
MMH1006SystemReport.indd 22 6/9/10 3:58 PM
process. The retailer started by send-ing an extensive request for proposal to the top 10 WMS vendors. Based on the responses, Bon-Ton narrowed that list down to three candidates, each with experience in the retail distribu-tion industry. While functionality was important, the real focus was on which provider offered the lowest long-term cost of ownership.
In part, that was because many of the bells and whistles available in today’s WMS packages weren’t relevant to Bon-Ton’s processes. But it was also because Bon-Ton wanted a system that its IT team could maintain, upgrade and develop to minimize ongoing main-tenance and upgrade costs.
“We chose our new system because it has a very open platform and because the vendor encourages its users to develop on that platform,” says Hardin. “Our IT team liked that they could maintain their customizations when
they do an upgrade.” Another selling point was that the
system design allowed Bon-Ton to eas-ily translate its workflow charts into code. “Much of that was already writ-ten so that all we had to do was plug and play,” says Hardin. The last sell-ing point was the supplier’s willingness to integrate the WMS with Bon-Ton’s existing automated materials handling systems.
To get the system up and running quickly, Bon-Ton launched using the WMS supplier’s core product. As a result, says Rawlins, some functional-ity, like the ability to do pick and pass, and pick sequencing when waves are dropped to the floor, were not part of the original installation. Those will be added in the coming months. On the other hand, the retailer was able to launch without a hitch.
“We started with the Fairborn facility in October of 2008, right
before the holiday season,” says Rawlins. “We waited to see what needed to be tweaked, but it ran almost perfectly from the start.” The system was rolled out in Whitehall in December 2009 and in Rockford this past January.
In the future, Bon-Ton plans to roll out the WMS to its furniture warehouse in Naperville. It also plans to begin managing its fine jew-elry business with the WMS, and will track its high-value jewelry all the way to its stores. The jewelry will bypass the distribution center all together and be delivered straight to stores, where it will be received at the jewelry counter.
The results have been impressive. In addition to the 13.6% increase in pro-ductivity, Bon-Ton has seen its handling cost per unit drop by 11%. “And, we’re going to get better from there,” says Rawlins. M
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MMH1006SystemReport.indd 23 6/10/10 8:51 AM
24 J u n e 2 0 1 0 / Modern Materials Handling mmh.com
Bon-Ton’s Fairborn, Ohio, distribution center is a key component in a network that supports approximately $3 billion in annual sales from 284 department and furniture stores across eight brand names as well as a growing e-commerce division. Seventy stores are served by the Fairborn DC.
Cross-docking: About 97% of the car-tons processed in Fairborn are cross-docked directly to a store; only a small percentage of the merchandise goes into storage to fill direct-to-consumer orders. When a trailer arrives at the dock, (1) an associate initiates the receiving process by scanning a carton on each purchase order to verify the contents of the trailer against an advanced ship notice (ASN) already in the warehouse management system (WMS).
Once the purchase order has been verified, cartons are unloaded from the trailer onto a motorized telescop-ing dock conveyor.(2) From the dock conveyor, cartons are inducted onto the
conveyor system (3) and auto-matically scanned. If the sys-tem recognizes the carton, it is routed to a merge and is then conveyed (4) and sorted to the lane assigned to its store loca-tion. Eighty-five percent of the cartons will be routed to a store lane within four minutes of arrival at the warehouse.
If the system does not recognize a carton, or if the purchase order does not have a pre-defined ASN, the cartons will be sorted to a value-add and audit station on a mezzanine. (7) In addi-tion, some cartons will be automatically routed to the audit station based on the vendor’s shipping history. Value-added services like re-ticketing or tagging are also performed at this station. Once a carton’s contents have been verified, it will be placed back on the conveyor system (8) and sorted (6) to the to the lane assigned to its store location.
At the end of the shipping lane, car-tons are manually palletized (9) and staged by store destination. Completed
pallets are loaded onto a trailer (10) for delivery. Meanwhile, the system creates a shipping manifest for the trailer. The manifest can be shared electronically so that stores have visibility into the prod-uct that is in transit to their locations.
e-commerce receiving: A small per-centage of the inventory is stored (11) at the distribution center to fill direct-to-consumer e-commerce orders. The receiving process is identical to receiv-ing for cross-docked inventory, except that cartons for putaway are sorted and conveyed (12) to an e-commerce receiv-ing area (13) on a mezzanine level.
Putaway: In the receiving area, (13) associates sort the contents of cartons into single SKU totes. Once a tote is
SyStem report modern
the Bon-ton stores, inc.Fairborn, ohio size: 258,000 square feet
Products: A range of products for retail replenishment, from clothing to hard goods
throughput: 3.6 million cartons per year
shifts: 5 days, 2 shifts
employees: 100, depending on the season
Distribution double-headerBon-Ton’s WMS enables crossdocking and direct-to-consumer operations in the same facility.
Receiving111
11
Shipping lanes/sorter
69
2
Packing12
Mezzaninefor receiving
13
13 11
Merge4
Conveyor system8
8
Shipping docks10
3
Mezzaninevalue-addedaudit station
7
Conveyorsystem
5
Palletizingand staging
Dock conveyor
Conveyor system
Storage(ground
level)
By Bob trebilcock, Executive Editor
Daniel Guidera
MMH1006SystemReport.indd 24 6/10/10 8:51 AM
mmh.com Modern Materials Handling / J u n e 2 0 1 0 25
full, it’s conveyed down to the ground level and sorted to a staging area. There, the totes are palletized before they are picked up by a lift truck and dropped off at a pick zone for putaway. In the pick zone, (11) associates scan the totes into a bin loca-tion. Now the putaway is complete and the merchandise in the bin locations is available to promise in the WMS system. A nightly batch makes that inventory vis-ible to customers on the Web.
Picking: Orders are dropped once an hour from Bon-Ton’s order manage-ment system into the WMS system. The WMS builds pick waves in the morning, distinguishing between single-line and multiple-line orders. Once the waves are built, they are visible to order selec-tors on their handheld devices. Once the order selector chooses a wave, the sys-tem directs the associate from one pick location (11) to the next until all the items have been picked. Order selec-
tors scan the items to a put location on a cart: a cart has 12 possible put loca-tions for multiple line orders and 30 pos-sible put locations for single line orders. Once all the items for a wave have been picked, the order selector stages the cart in a packing location. (14)
Packing and shipping: Packing (12) is also directed by the system. The packer scans the license plate associated with a put location on the cart and the UPC label on the item, then puts the item in an outbound container or a poly ship-ping bag. Once the system recognizes that all of the pieces for an order have been scanned, it prints a packing slip. At a UPS shipping station, an associate scans a bar code label on the packing slip to generate a shipping label that is placed on the package. Packages are then palletized and staged in the ship-ping area (9) until they are loaded onto a UPS truck (10) for delivery. M
Untitled-1 1 4/6/2010 3:54:41 PM
mmh.com MODERN MATERIALS HANDLING / A P R I L 2 0 1 0 47
programmable optical sensors for safe operation near pedestrians and in confined spaces. The AGVs follow a self-adhesive magnetic tape for simple setup with no floor modifications. Toyota Material Handling, 800-226-0009, www.toyotaforklift.com.
Robotic pallet truck handles 8,000 poundsThe vision-guided GP8 robotic pallet truck frees skilled employees by performing non-value-added work by auto-mating pallet transport. After an operator positions the vehicle’s 96-inch long forks under the pallet, the industrial mobile robot transports pal-lets to an assigned location, automatically positions them, and returns to the original starting point—or other pre-assigned location—for more work. The vehicle handles up to 8,000 pounds and stores 25 miles of learned routes.
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Roller forks handle palletless loads
Using a patented roller fork mecha-nism, the pallet-free automatic guided vehicle eliminates the need for pallets within a facility. The vehicle handles loads on slip sheets and offers stacking and push back rack capability. It may also be used for pal-let handling. The automated system reduces labor costs, product damage and operational costs. HK Systems, 262-860-6715, www.hksystems.com.
MMH100401ProdFocus_ID 47 4/8/2010 11:35:13 AM
SyStem report modern
system suppliersWarehouse management system: HighJump Software, 800-328-3271, www.highjump.com
Conveyor: SDI Group USA, 818-890-6002, www.sdiindustries.com/conveyor-systems.aspx
sortation: Intelligrated, 866-936-7300, www.intelligrated.com
dock conveyors: Stewart Glapat, 740-452-3601, www.adjustoveyor.com
Pallet rack: Interlake Mecalux, 877-632-2589, www.mecalux.us
lift trucks: Crown Equipment, 419-629-2311, www.crown.com
Bar code scanning: Motorola, 800-722-6234, www.motorola.com
Receiving111
11
Shipping lanes/sorter
69
2
Packing12
Mezzaninefor receiving
13
13 11
Merge4
Conveyor system8
8
Shipping docks10
3
Mezzaninevalue-addedaudit station
7
Conveyorsystem
5
Palletizingand staging
Dock conveyor
Conveyor system
Storage(ground
level)
MMH1006SystemReport.indd 25 6/10/10 8:51 AM
26 J u n e 2 0 1 0 / Modern Materials Handling mmh.com
Salary Survivor
By Lorie King Rogers, Associate Editor
While we may not be out
of the jungle yet, our annual
survey tells us that salaries
in the materials handling
industry are holding steady
and bonuses are bouncing
back.
modern special report
3rd annual SalarY SurVEY
Daniel Guidera
MMH1006salary.indd 26 6/9/10 3:34 PM
mmh.com Modern Materials Handling / J u n e 2 0 1 0 27
As far as the economy goes, we’re not out of the jungle yet. However, all current indications show that we’re hacking our way through the tough times and head-ing toward brighter days. That scenario rings true for salaries in the materials handling industry according
to the findings of Modern’s 3rd Annual Salary Survey. Over the years, this survey has been used to gauge job satisfaction in
the materials handling industry and to help the industry better under-stand the overall compensation picture inside the four walls of the ware-house and DC. Here’s what we learned from the 2010 edition.
Over the course of 2009, and despite the economic battering the materials handling industry took at the hands of the economic downturn, 60% of respondents said they were very satisfied with their current positions. In early 2010, while the beating was a little less severe but prolonged, 56% reported they were still very satis-fied with their current positions, 37% said they were somewhat satisfied, while only 7% claimed to be dissatisfied—not too bad considering the circumstances.
Along with job satisfaction, we learned that respondents are earning a median base annual salary of $74,500 for 2010 (The median
Median salary
2010 2009
Regional roundup
West North Central
East North Central
New England
Mid-Atlantic
Mountain
Pacific
West South Central
South Atlantic
$75,000
$76,600
$70,000
$72,500
$78,000
$77,723
$82,500
$72,000
$68,000
$75,000
$72,000
$82,000
$77,313
$78,957
$79,250
$79,000
$72,000
$65,000
East South Central
Source: 2010 Modern Materials Handling Salary Survey
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is the midpoint used when extreme high and low numbers skew the average.). Of those responding, 52% said their sala-ries stayed the same, 38% received an increase and 10% experienced a decrease
in pay. The median increase was 3%, while the median decrease was 10%.
Last year, we factored in the median $3,000 worth of bonuses and commis-sions that 61% of respondents expected
to receive. In 2010, the median bonus is up to $3,500. Of those expecting to earn a bonus this year, 61% say their bonus will stay the same as 2009, and 22% are reporting an increase. Respondents said that the major factors in calculating their bonus are achieving lower operating costs (44%), increased sales (43%) and better inventory man-agement (22%). The annual median salary and median bonus adds up to $78,000 annually.
Job satisfactionThe fact remains: Materials handling professionals are well paid for a job well done. But there’s more to a satisfying career than the paycheck. Just ask 90% of the 2010 respondents who report that they would recommend the mate-rials handling industry as a profession.
Key factors that contributed to job satisfaction remain much the same as they were in 2009, regardless of the economy. While compensation is undoubtedly important, job satisfaction is also based on good relationships with colleagues; open lines of communica-tion at all levels of management; being
SALARY SURVEYmodern
Higher education = higher than average pay
MBA
Level of education Median salary
$90,000
Other graduate degree$83,250
$78,000
$62,000
Other
$97,700
$83,000
$78,000
$65,000
$54,000$61,200
Undergraduate degree
High school/some college
2010 2009
Experience pays, eventually
20 years or longer
Years in the materialshandling industry Median salary
$75,000
$55,000
2010 2009
15 years to less than 20 years
Less than 5 years
10 years to less than 15 years
5 years to less than 10 years
$84,000
$84,500
$70,000
$75,000
$54,000
$81,400
$75,000
$72,745
How satisfied are you with your careerin materials handling?
Do you like your current job?
Extremelysatisfied
Verysatisfied
Somewhatsatisfied
Not verysatisfied
Not at allsatisfied
88%
12%
90%
10%
2009
2010 12% 44% 37% 5% 2%
2009 12% 48% 35% 4% 1%
2010
No
Yes
Source: 2010 Modern Materials Handling Salary Survey
Source: 2010 Modern Materials Handling Salary Survey Source: 2010 Modern Materials Handling Salary Survey
MMH1006salary.indd 28 6/9/10 3:42 PM
mmh.com Modern Materials Handling / J u n e 2 0 1 0 29
a part of the decision-making process; and opportunities for new challenges that contrib-ute to improving their busi-ness.
Julie Menard has been a business coordinator with mate-rials handling responsibilities at ASC International in Tucson, Ariz., for four years. The com-pany manufactures raw materi-als for the solid surface industry, but when times got tough last year, the company scaled down from 29 employees to 20.
While Menard says she was lucky not to lose her job, she didn’t get a pay increase or a bonus last year, and had to wear more hats to help the company function with fewer employees. But she considers the overall experience as a good thing. “We were too top heavy, and bigger isn’t always better,” she says. “Becoming a little more lean has actually been good for us.”
Now that business is pick-ing up again, Menard recently received a 5% pay increase and says the bonus program, which is based on company profit, is still in place. Feeling thankful for what she has, Menard says she was amazed to see how well the team pulled together when they had to make do with less.
But, the same works in reverse. Of the 7% who said they are job hunting, 44% told us that they’re looking for greater or different chal-lenges. Only 7% pounding the pavement are looking to earn more money.
Intangible rewardsFrom an employer’s point of view, being able to provide salary increases and bonuses is important in retaining and attracting top talent—but it’s not the only way. When times get tough, it’s especially
important for companies to find innovative, intangible ways to reward their people. Career development opportu-nities and special recognition are examples that go a long way towards making people feel good about themselves and their employer.
Eric Golden, CEO of Equipois, a Los Angeles-based company that employs 20 people and manufactures a mechanical arm that moves tools, found another way to reward his people inside his warehouse and distribution network. “We launched the business three years ago, then ran head long into the reces-sion,” says Golden. “We didn’t scale back salaries, but we weren’t able to offer increases in 2009. Not only that, with the immense uncertainty [in the marketplace] we didn’t have formal bonus plan tied to targets because we’re a young company and targets were so uncertain that I was unsure about putting a stake in the ground that would be a guess.”
Because of the economic climate, Golden says anxiety was high. “Employees realized a lot of people were probably going to lose their jobs, but they understood our primary object was to keep people working. In general, our people were happy to have a job they enjoyed and felt was rewarding.”
Even though pay hikes weren’t an option at that time, Golden was able to offer another form of reward and recognition. Because Equipois is a venture-funded start-up, every employee has stock options. So, in 2009, in lieu of cash, employees received increased stock option ownership.
This year, Golden is happy to report that they have been able
SALARY SURVEYmodern
What’s your function?
Primary job function Median salary
2010 2009
Company management(CEO, president, VP, GM, etc.)
Engineering(Plant, materials, industrial, manufacturing, project, etc.)
Plant management(Director, manager, supervisor)
Warehouse, distribution, logistics(Director, manager, supervisor)
Purchasing
$100,000
$75,000
$75,000
$70,100
$64,000
$68,000
Other
$120,000
$76,900
$80,000
$72,000
$60,000
$65,000
What’s in your wallet?
Authorized spending level Median salary
2010 2009
$50,000+
$10,000-49,999
$5,000-9,999
<$5,000
$101,000
$85,000
$80,000
$70,600
$97,500
$80,000
$82,000
$68,000
Source: 2010 Modern Materials Handling Salary Survey
Source: 2010 Modern Materials Handling Salary Survey
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to provide small raises and reinstate a company bonus program. “While the economy has not fully recovered, it’s definitely time to look forward again,” says Golden. “We learned that it’s impor-tant to look at how to structure employee compensation to meet objectives and get back to sound human resources management.”
Patience pays offMany companies share Golden’s philosophy. As a result, Tom McMullen, who designs compensation programs for corporate clients at the consulting firm Hay Group (312-228-1800, www.haygroup.com), says that frozen salaries are starting to thaw.
When we analyzed this survey last year, McMullen told Modern that 37% of U.S. companies had frozen wages and 10% had halted promotions. This year is a different story. “Most companies realize you might be able to freeze pay for one year, but you can’t do it for two, so it’s been a top priority to lift salary freezes. We’re also seeing some 401k matches coming back and promotions thawing out as well.”
McMullen says that for now and into 2011, most employee groups will see a typical salary increase of 2.5% to 3%. He recognizes that this is a broad-based statistic that will vary by industry and from company to company. “Not all industries are in the same boat, but I believe this range is consistent with the materials handling sector.” he says.
What’s more, McMullen projects that increases are look-
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Big company = big pay
Company's FY08 revenue Median salary
2010 2009
More than $1B
$500M to $999.99M
$100M to $499.99M
$50M to $99.99M
$10M to $49.99M
Under $10M
$95,000
$79,156
$79,014
$78,000
$65,000
$60,000
$90,013
$90,125
$78,145
$68,000
$67,275
$50,000
Source: 2010 Modern Materials Handling Salary Survey
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mmh.com Modern Materials Handling / J u n e 2 0 1 0 31
ing a little healthier for 2011.“People think things are getting better,” he adds.
Human resourcesMcMullen isn’t the only one who thinks things are getting better. Mike Flamer, vice president of The Dorfman Group (480-860-8820, www.thedorfmangroup.com), says that when the economy is on the upswing, people can usually advance their careers and their bank accounts by moving from one company to another.
However, when the economy is on the downslide, people tend to stay put. “A year ago, people hunkered down and hoped for the best.” Now he says it’s safe to lift your head and look around a little bit. “Companies have suffered because of the economy and now they need good people to help with the turnaround. Companies are looking for the absolute best and they’re willing to pay the price.” M
SALARY SURVEYmodern
RECOVERY
February retail numbers up slightly from JanuaryA FULL ECONOMIC RECOVERY is not yet underway, but data released recently by the United States Department of Commerce and the National Retail Federation (NRF) data indicate that consumers are slowly coming out of their bunkers, with both organizations reporting increases in February retail sales.
February retail sales, which include non-general mer-chandise like automobiles, gasoline and restaurants, at $355.5 billion were up 0.3% from January and up 3.9% year-over-year, according to the Department of Com-merce. And total retail sales from December 2009 through February 2010 were up 4.5% year over year.
The NRF reported that February retail sales (which excluding automobiles, gas stations and restaurants) increased 1% seasonally adjusted over January and 1.7% unadjusted year-over-year.
“February could be the direct result of cabin fever with consumers eager to get some fresh air and enjoy a day of shopping,” said Rosalind Wells, chief economist for NRF. “We expect sales increases to continue but high unemployment and other economic factors will restrain consumers’ ability to splurge on discretionary items.”
WMS Support offers workshop for WMS usersDon Benson, one of the originators of the WMS in-dustry and the founder of Warehouse Management Systems Support, will host a six-hour interactive workshop for WMS users who want to get the most out of their investment in a WMS system. The work-shop will be held prior to the opening of WERC An-nual Conference 2010 at the Anaheim Marriott from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, May 16.
“The workshop is designed to help people use their WMS systems to do the work in their facilities more effectively,” says Benson. “It’s geared for the person in an organization or facility who is respon-sible for the WMS, anyone from a task supervisor or warehouse manager up to the president of a smaller distributor whose core competency is order fulfi llment.”
The registration fee is $200. Limited seating is available on a fi rst come/fi rst serve basis. For more information or to register for the workshop, contact Don Benson (503-296-7249, [email protected]) or visit www.wmssupport.com.
MMH100401_News_ID 15 4/8/2010 2:08:38 PM
This past March, Modern’s research team e-mailed our annual salary survey to a sampling of subscribers. In the interest of accurate comparisons, the survey was exactly the same as the 2009 version. This year, we had 692 quali-fied respondents and the margin of error is plus or minus 3.2% at the 95% confidence level.
Our average survey respondent is a 49-year-old male with a college education. Of the 67% holding college degrees, 35% have earned advanced degrees beyond the undergraduate level.
This year, 90% of respondents are male, down from 91% last year and 93% in 2008. It’s interesting to note that our female respondents have grown from 7% in 2008 to 9% in 2009 and 10% this year.
Seventy-eight percent have supervisory responsibili-ties, overseeing an average of 33 employees. In terms of primary job function, respondents’ responsibilities run the gamut from presidents and CEOs, engineering and plant operations, as well as the running the front lines of the supply chain in the warehouses and DCs across the country.
Overall, our readers work for companies that employ about 700 people with a median revenue of $187 million for 2009. Primary activity at their locations is broken down by manufacturing (36%), warehouse/distribution (26%), corporate headquarters (23%), warehouse supporting manufacturing (4%), and other activities totaling 11%.
While the typical worker has been employed in the materials handling industry for an average of 17.08 years, 41% have more than 20 years of service and 16% have dedicated more than 30 years to their career. Readers have worked for at least two companies, and have been with their present employer for an average of 7.76 years.
But do they see themselves finishing their careers with their present employers? We found that 43% say yes, 38% aren’t sure, and 20% will likely move on.
A closer look at the respondents
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nASA’s Glenn Research Center Plum Brook Station in Sandusky, Ohio, is home to the
world’s largest space simulation chamber. Measuring 100 ft. in diameter by 122’ ft. high, the Space Power Facility (SPF) is a dome-capped vacuum chamber that uses a modified polar crane to hoist and position valuable space-bound hardware being tested against the extremes of outer space.
Built in the 1960s and dubbed “Cyclops,” the 40-year-old crane needed a facelift (Konecranes, 937-525-5533, www.konecranesamericas.com).
NASA engineers’ list of upgrades for Cyclops included motor and control upgrades, removal of the existing panels, and conduit, and a new festoon system for the main hoist.
This would be a complex procedure because crane components must meet NASA’s strict low outgassing specs and withstand extreme SPF atmospheric conditions.
To meet outgassing requirements, aluminum, stainless steel and electroless nickel coating on car-bon steel was used wherever possible. The control
panel wiring and insulation were engineered with Teflon, and the electrical festoon system that deliv-ers electricity to the trolley and hoist was made with rubber-like neoprene rather than PVC.
Upgrades were designed for easy removal of certain components within the control panel from the chamber before testing. As a result, test prep procedures that once took NASA engineers a week were reduced to less than a day.
Originally, the outdated system had no way to detect if it were picking up a load that was too heavy. Now, using a load limiter feature, it can send an alert if something is overweight.
By NASA’s request, the crane system was updat-ed with trolley and bridge drifting, a modern fea-ture which enables automatic centering of the hoist directly over the load’s center of gravity.
Completely refreshed, Cyclops is performing more efficiently, saving prep time in the testing pro-cess and ensuring the safe handling of spacecraft components with astronomical price tags. M
Out-Of-this-wOrld crane upgrades
NASA’s Glenn Research Center Plum Brook Station updates its unique polar crane for testing of space-bound hardware.
By lorie King rogers, associate editor
productivity SoLutioNmodern
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agVs follow path to success
By Sara Pearson Specter, Editor at Large
EQUIPMENT REPORTmodern
Replacing existing manual, in-house transport processes with automatic guided vehicles has yielded tremendous benefits for the four companies profiled here. By automating the movement of products and work-in-process around the warehouse and manufacturing floors, each of these facilities has boosted efficiency, cut costs, increased productivity and redeployed workers to more value-added tasks. Each cites system’s flexibility and ease of deployment as key to enhancing the bottom line for their business.
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EQUIPMENT REPORTmodern
When Carlsberg, Sweden’s larg-est producer and marketer of beer, soft drinks and mineral
water, decided to fully automate what had been manual warehouse processes at their Falkenberg, Sweden, facility, the company added 22 forklift laser guided vehicles (LGVs) to an existing fleet of two.
Initially implemented in 2004, the two single pallet forklift LGVs were used to supply empty pallets to production. Four years later, the expanded automation sys-tem (Elettric 80, 847-329-7717, www.
elettric80.it) was installed in phases with-out interrupting production.
Ten of the second installed batch of LGVs were equipped with collapsible forks, permitting them to carry either one or two pallets. The other 12 always carry two pallets at a time. The warehouse comprises approximately 20,000 pal-lets—11,500 in floor storage and 8,500 in gravity flow rack.
The entire storage process has been automated by the LGVs—including pick up at the end of the production lines,
Case stUdY
Brewery fully automates with laser-guided vehicles
electric-powered laser guided vehicles carry two pallets of beverages at a time, operating around the clock and transporting up to 500 pallets per hour.
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delivery to gravity racks and floor stor-age, retrieval from storage, and delivery to case picking or to shipping. With Carlsberg’s facility operating around the clock, the LGVs transport up to 500 pallets per hour.
The electric-powered LGVs also handle the regular supply of empty pallets and other consumables from an infeed conveyor system, linking a manually handled outdoor storage area to the automated warehouse, and pre-forms from single racks to the produc-tion lines. Load weights range from 220 to 2,200 pounds.
“Through the system we have obtained more stable operation, and the handling of pallets from produc-tion to warehouse is now considerably more cost effective,” notes Kristoffer Andersson, Carlsberg’s warehouse manager. “In addition, the system is flexible and user-friendly.”
Andersson particularly appreci-ates the completely automatic battery exchange process. When the battery is running low, the LGV travels indepen-dently to the changing system. Once there, the system master indicates a slot to leave the discharged battery, and a second slot from which to retrieve a new, fully charged one. The proce-dure takes less than two minutes, after which the vehicle returns to work for another 10 to 12 hours of operation on a single charge.
Because of the system’s flexibility, the company has been able to make continuous updates to accommo-date changes in handling procedures, Andersson adds. A major update of shipping and pre-form handling pro-cesses is planned for later this year. M
With more than 500 retail stores in 36 states, Eye Care Centers of America Inc. is
the third largest retail optical chain in the U.S. To meet customer demands, parent company HVHC Inc. opened a new production plant in Schertz, Texas, to handle the thousands of configura-tions of eye glasses the company stocks.
“When we built our new plant, we installed several conveyors to move product,” recalls Ric Lee, HVHC’s manager of quality operations at Schertz. However, the plant had sev-eral smaller volume material handling needs addressed by people pushing carts between multiple locations. “We couldn’t figure out an economically
justifiable conveyor system that would work for those applications.”
The company investigated multiple automated solutions and selected an automatic guided vehicle (AGV) that follows an adhesive-backed magnet-ic tape on the floor designating the guidepath (Creform Corp., 800-839-8823, www.creform.com). The vehi-cles—which read the path through a magnetic induction sensor mounted on the cart—are configured from plas-tic-coated steel pipe, joints and hard-ware accessories for modularity and flexibility.
The installed system makes a con-tinuous loop around the production floor. The vehicles are programmed
Case stUdY
eyeglass producer’s agVs boost efficiency and cut costs
Following magnetic tape adhered to the floor, an automatic guided vehicle cart makes a continuous loop around the production floor, stopping at 10 different stations.
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EQUIPMENT REPORTmodern
Case study
tuggers deliver auto parts to the production line
Supplying its assembly plants with nearly 20,000 part numbers—includ-
ing battery boxes, clutches and brake components—the Daimler Trucks North America parts manufacturing plant in Gastonia, N.C., handles more than 30 mil-lion pieces every year.
When the company looked to grow while simultaneously imple-menting just-in-time and 5/S con-tinuous improvement initiatives, it needed a parts delivery system to address efficient workflows for its small fasteners. To meet that need, the company established “Flex Mart,” a centralized parts inventory where staff receive new parts, manage orders and fill totes to be delivered to the line.
Although the new system resolved one set of issues, it created another: management
quickly discovered that there weren’t enough workers available to deliver the fasteners to the line reliably and in a timely manner. Additionally, transportation of the parts was time consuming, inaccurate, and despite high lev-els of stock, production frequent-ly experienced part shortages.
The company turned to a more flexible, cost-effective deliv-ery system to support its three-shift operation six days a week: an autonomous robot tugger (Seegrid, 877-733-4743, www.seegrid.com). The tugger employs patented industrial mobile robotics technology to move independently throughout the facility. To build a 3D map of the environment, each tugger is equipped with stereo cameras. Further, independent reasoning ability enables the vehi-cles to navigate a predetermined
path throughout the facility to complete its transport task.
In addition to accommodating the company’s growth without the need for increased labor, the sys-tem has reduced waiting time by 22%, notes Donnie Dixon, super-visor of materials control. The facility has also noted a reduction in transportation time to the line from an hour to 20 minutes—and virtually eliminated inventory deficits.
Because of its versatility, the tugger can traverse multiple routes for the first and second shifts, and subsequently be changed to fol-low a completely different route for the third shift, Dixon adds.
“We needed flexibility to change the routes easily and fre-quently and the system does that for us,” he says. “That flexibility alone provided us real value.” M
to stop at each of 10 stations for one minute. At these stations, the AGV is loaded or unloaded with trays contain-ing lenses or eyeglass frames, boxes of lenses, cases of frames or small totes of metal alloy.
“It was up and ready in less than an hour,” Lee continues. “All they had to do was lay the tape down on the floor. Actually, we changed the path after we got it in because the way we penciled it in was not optimum. We simply pulled up some of the old tape, laid down new tape and rerouted.”
Lee notes that the facility plans to do some reengineering in the near future to meet changing conditions so the AGV’s path will be changed again. “The flexibil-ity is a nice feature,” he adds.
Although Lee concedes that mov-ing product with people pushing parts was also a flexible methodology, that approach was more likely to cause occasional spoilage. “If you have stacks of trays on top of a cart and you run into something and the trays fall over, then you have lenses all over the floor. We could always count on
it happening at least once during a shift,” he says. The AGVs have solved that issue.
The new system keeps people in their workstations as well, adds Lee. “Each minute counts as far as produc-tion, and when people are away from their station pushing carts, that’s a pro-duction loss.”
According to Lee, the company calculates that their return on invest-ment in the system occurred in fewer than six months through labor and spoilage savings. M
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a 5,000-pound capacity, counterbalanced automatic guided vehicle system loads trailers in multiple patterns.
W ith both production and bottling processes already highly automated, the
Quaker-Tropicana-Gatorade (QTG) business of PepsiCo looked to fur-ther boost productivity and opera-tional efficiency in their Atlanta, Ga., facility.
The company turned to finished product movement as an area where improvements could be made, ulti-mately selecting an automatic guid-ed vehicle (AGV) based automated trailer loading system (JBT Corp., formerly FMC Technologies, 215-822-4600, www.jbtc-agv.com).
The system includes 11 unmanned, laser guided, computer-controlled vehicles and host soft-ware that is fully integrated in the plant warehouse management sys-tem (WMS). The Web-based host software coordinates efficient vehicle movement and shares information with external input/output operations on the conveyors and other plant soft-ware. It can also be accessed to moni-tor system performance.
Vehicles pick up full pallets of finished goods from 10 stretchwrap-pers and deliver them to the appro-priate destination as defined by the WMS. Three possible delivery points include direct to standard, over-the-road trailers in multiple pallet load-ing patterns; onto bridge conveyors that transport pallets to an adjacent distribution center; or into storage lanes for temporary storage.
The 5,000-pound capacity coun-terbalance AGVs are outfitted with a single/double fork attachment that allows each to carry one or two adja-
cent pallets. This permits one vehi-cle design to service all three delivery destinations.
To manage changes in the vehi-cles’ paths, navigation around the facility is directed by laser guid-ance. Battery-powered, the AGVs are equipped with an automatic battery swap system. When battery level is low, the AGV reports to an automatic exchange area where the depleted battery is removed and a fully-charged battery is inserted to return the AGV back to operation quickly and maximize run time.
Front, rear and side laser bumpers protect the vehicles from obstacles, bringing the AGVs to a safe stop before contact.
For safe AGV access onto trailers, three interlocks must be met. First, the dock plate must be properly set and engaged. Second, a brief visual inspection of the trailer is conducted to make certain all debris has been removed and the trailer is suitable for transporting the product. Third and finally, a light curtain ensures that no personnel can be in the trailer following the visual inspection. M
Case stUdY
guided vehicles automate trailer loading
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graphicCaption Feature
INFORMATION MANAGEMENTmodern
By Bob trebilcock, executive editor
supply chain visibility solutions have come a long way in the last decade, with new real-time views that can improve your operations.
Visibility: seeing clearly in the supply chain
if you had to name one concept that’s driven most, if not all, of the innovations in supply chain man-agement since the Internet boom, it would be supply chain visibility. Think about it: from ware-house management systems to the software behind
motors, drives and controls featured in the May 2010 issue of Modern, every application and equipment pro-vider is focused not just on managing processes but also on providing access to real-time information about those processes to the people who make decisions.
This is not new, says John Hill, a vice president of TranSystems (419-842-2210, www.transystems.com) and a supply chain veteran whose career stretches back to the first commercial bar code systems. “Visibility has driven everything I have done in the supply chain for almost five decades,” says Hill. “The mantra then, as now, was the need to match material flow with data flow, and to then proactively address any exceptions as they occur across the enterprise.”
What’s different today? According to Hill, it’s that technology has finally caught up with the vision of warehouse, transportation and supply chain managers back in the day. “Early systems providers understood the value of knowing what’s going on throughout the network,” says Hill. “They just didn’t have the IT tools to pull data from disparate systems and then roll it up
into a single view to whomever needed that information within a given organization.”
Those tools are widely available today. To get a snap-shot of what visibility looks like now, we talked to pro-viders of seven of the most common supply chain man-agement and execution applications both inside and outside the four walls of the plant and DC.
Warehouse management systems (WMS): WMS systems are tasked with managing inventory levels, labor, warehouse resources and the fulfillment of outbound orders. Today’s systems can roll up the data collected from those processes and share that information across an organization, says Eric Lamphier, senior director of product management at Manhattan Associates (770-955-7070, www.manh.com).
That may be as basic as telling an associate whether he is ahead or behind schedule based on the engineered labor standards for his tasks or as complex as provid-ing upper management with a dashboard on how many orders went out the door during the last shift.
Suppliers can also access a WMS and key or scan in information about delivery plans. “With better visibility into in-transit goods, you can preplan your labor, cross-docking and flow-through activities. And, you can pro-vide better visibility upstream to your customer service people and your customers,” says Lamphier. Finally, the
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WMS system can raise the visibility of tasks that are beyond their critical cut-off points, like a shipment that may not meet a carrier cutoff time, to key man-agement personnel.
Manufacturing execution system (MES): Along with managing shop floor processes, an MES provides vis-ibility in two ways, says Charles Horth, CEO of STICorp (819-373-3332, www.sticorp.com). Those include real-time visibility into what’s happening on the shop floor and after-the-fact visibil-ity into historical data. “When it comes to real-time visibility, an MES will not
only tell you what’s running, it can also monitor your processes and alert you when things are adrift,” says Horth.
The system could send an alert that a machine is going out of spec before that change affects a batch of product. Or, it could send an alert to the main-tenance department that a bearing is overheating before it fails and shuts down the line. After-the-fact visibility provides a window into what happened during the production process and why.
“You plan your production with the expectation that things will happen in a certain way,’” says Horth. “An MES
can tell you what actually happened. The delta between the two is your room for improvement.”
The MES can track metrics like energy or materials consumption or whether there was waste or downtime. With that information, a manufacturer may be able to identify a machine that is not performing up to par or a sup-plier providing substandard materials that are affecting production. “There is a lot of value from being able to act on events in real time,” says Horth. “But the longer term value is the ability to do data analysis after the fact.”
Warehouse control systems (WCS): WCS systems have tradition-ally controlled automated materials handling processes in the distribution center and monitored the performance of those systems for maintenance. In that sense, the systems are doing today what they have done for at least a decade. “Most of the information available from the WCS today has been available for 10 years,” says Bob Carver, vice president at Vargo Adaptive Software (262-784-2510, www.vargo-companies.com).
What’s different is the ease with which that data can be acquired and disseminated. An emerging set of soft-ware tools is using the information col-lected from materials handling systems and the WMS to pull product through the facility based on the workloads at the final processes in the production line. With a more holistic view of orders and activity, the system can balance the flow of materials to create a steady stream of work at packing and palletiz-ing stations.
“With visibility into these other sys-tems, we can react in real time to what’s going on downstream,” says Carver. “Instead of routing materials to a work-station that’s backed up, we can run a continuous flow of product through the facility based on who has capacity at the time,” says Carver. As with a WMS or MES, the information can be cus-
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INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
tomized and accessed by users in real time. “A supervisor can drill down to see what’s sitting on a tray on a cross-belt sorter or what his employees are doing,” says Carver. “An executive can look at their order accuracy for the day or what orders have shipped.”
Asset management: An asset man-agement system is by definition a vis-ibility system. Originally referred to as real-time locating systems, or RTLS, these systems use RFID technology to pinpoint the location of items that are critical to production. That could be anything from work-in-process to totes with critical parts to special tools or jigs required for a process. From their roots in real-time visibility, asset manage-ment systems have evolved to also mon-itor the status or condition of an item.
“By combining locating technologies with sensors and analytical software, we can now provide a more holistic view of assets,” says Amir Ben-Assa, industry solutions marketing director for AeroScout (650-596-2994, www.aeroscout.com). For instance, in addi-tion to location, an asset management system may track the temperature and humidity of a storage area or operating environment for sensitive parts. It may also keep track of whether maintenance or calibration that is required for certi-
fication has been performed on a tool. The system can then make that
information visible by sending alerts if those critical conditions are out of a specified range. “The idea is that the system can do continuous conditioning monitoring so that people don’t spend their time looking at gauges,” says Ben-Assa. “Then, they can notify someone if a status changes.”
Yard management systems (YMS): In supply chain execution, a transporta-tion management system (TMS) keeps track of trailers on the road and a WMS keeps track of inventory once it moves from a trailer into a DC. The space in between those two locations—the yard—is often a black hole. Tracking the loca-tion of trailers that may contain the parts
needed to keep the line running or the inventory to fill orders is paper-based and error prone. That’s where a yard manage-ment system comes in to play.
Through the use of RFID and GPS technologies, these systems automate gate and yard processes and then track the location of a given trailer in real time so it can be easily located when it’s needed. “A YMS is the last mile of visibility for the supply chain,” says Aleks Gollu, CEO and founder of PINC Solutions (510-845-4900, www.pincsolutions.com). “While it’s often neglected, if the yard doesn’t work right, everything else suffers.”
In addition to automatically track-ing the location of trailers, like an asset management system, a YMS can col-lect data like when a trailer arrived at the gate, how long it sat in the yard and how long it took to load or unload. The system can then share that information with a WMS or TMS system to coor-dinate warehouse and transportation processes. It may also have Web-based interfaces that allow a trading partner or customer to log in and view information about their shipments. “A trailer is one of the building blocks that facilitates commerce,” says Gollu. “With better visibility, you can increase the accuracy and timeliness of your shipments.”
Transportation management systems (TMS): When it comes to TMS, what you’re talking about is vis-ibility into four major transportation-related categories, says Keith Whalen, senior director, product management for JDA Software (800-438-5301, www.jda.com). Those categories include when a shipment needs to ship, whether a carrier has accepted or rejected a load, whether a load is on the road or has been delivered, and when payment can be expected. For complex supply chains, a TMS can provide visibility into the status of
asset management systems are tied with sensors to track the location and the status of critical parts, tools and work-in-process.
With a warehouse management or control system, managers can log in through the Web to view processes in real time.
modern
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INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
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a reduction in carbon dioxide output of 3,611 tons. “That’s important because our customers are asking not just about our products, but also what we as a company are doing about sustainability,” says Melinda Beckett-Maines, Toyota’s national marketing manager. But Toyota’s efforts don’t stop with energy consumption. The company has converted 60% of its paint-ing processes over to dry coat and reduced the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) produced by the paint process in half. A Toyota plant in Columbus, Ind., is a zero landfill facility. And, Toyota is working to ensure that its suppliers share its commitment to environmentally sustainable manufacturing. “Companies are not only looking for environmentally friendly products, they are interested in doing business with environ-mentally-friendly companies,” says Beckett-Maines.
Developing fuel cellsOver the last year, NACCO Materials Handling Group (NMHG), maker of Yale and Hyster brand lift trucks, (503-721-6000, www.nmhg.com) has been working with Plug Power and Central Grocers to develop a fleet of 236 fuel-cell pow-ered Yale lift trucks. When the entire project is complete later this year, hydrogen fuel to re-power the cells will be delivered and dispensed on-site, allowing for quick refueling, increased
productivity and zero emissions. For end users that aren’t ready for the leap to hydrogen fuel cells, NMHG has introduced a new line of industrial combustion engine trucks that reduces fuel consumption by at least 8%. It is also partnering with environmental agencies and technology companies to develop the next generation of battery-powered lift trucks. “Some of our largest customers are already planning facility enhance-ments to accommodate new types of equipment to charge their trucks in an efficient, productive and safe manner,” says Jonathan Dawley, vice president of marketing.
Automatic Guided Vehicles and mobile robotsSmooth and efficient robotsIndustrial robotic technologies bring two components to the table, contends Brad Wyland, director of product strategy at Seegrid (412-621-4305, www.seegrid.com). First, they
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deliveries that can affect operations. “If you need to pair loads together to
build a continuous move, you need to understand when the first load is going to be delivered so you can plan the sec-ond move,” says Whalen. “Or, if you are building outbound loads from a hub based on incoming loads, you want to make sure the inbound load is going to arrive on time before you schedule the outbound load.” A TMS can do proac-tive monitoring of those types of condi-tions and then alert a user if something did not occur as planned.
Supply chain collaboration: Collaboration and visibility go hand-in-hand: without visibility, complex manufacturing and logistics processes between trading partners in a collab-orative supply chain just can’t happen. Supply chain collaboration platforms enable that visibility first by connect-ing all of the partners in the supply chain—manufacturing plants, contract
manufacturing plants, parts and raw materials suppliers, warehouses and 3PLs, and transportation providers. Next, the platform shares forecasts, plans and schedules among the par-ticipants and then collects data from external systems as the different play-ers execute against the plan.
“A collaboration platform keeps track of whether suppliers have com-mitted to a manufacturing and ship-ping plan, and once that plan begins to unfold, it is tracking automated shipment notices (ASNs) and inputs to make sure that everything is execut-ing according to the plan,” says Peter Scott, vice president of supply chain solutions for Exostar (703-793-7800, www.exostar.com).
Like other systems, a collaboration platform can alert a decision-maker when an exception to the plan occurs, and provide real-time visibility into the state of the supply chain to resolve the
problem. “If a shipment is stuck in cus-toms, the system can show me whether I have consigned inventory at a sup-plier’s DC, where I have inventory at a 3PL’s hub, or whether I have inventory at another location that I can borrow,” says Scott. M
today’s Mes systems not only manage manufacturing processes on the shop floor, they also make the factory visible to host systems.
modern
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Variable height workstation To reduce fatigue and back strain, the elevation station adjustable-height work-station includes a tabletop that may be raised or lowered to the appropriate level. A convenient foot pedal at each end of the base initiates transition to any platform height from 24 to 40 inches. To accommodate different tasks, the unit includes a reversible platform insert. The workstation is ideal for assembly, inspection, packing and shipping in light-manufacturing operations, with a 200-pound maximum capacity. Pre-wired and ready to operate without assembly, the unit plugs into any standard 115-volt wall outlet and is covered by a two-year warranty. southworth Products, 207-878-0700, www.southworthprod-ucts.com.
stationary scissor liftThe Instant Dock 6568 stationary scissor lift may be specified in stainless steel, gal-vanized, epoxy or enamel finish to meet application requirements. Employing all-tubular legs for rigidity, the lift incor-porates a safety tread steel platform and bevel toe guards on all four sides. Other features include steel tube scissor legs, lifetime lubricated bearings and a hydrau-lic operating system with controls and safety devices. Maximum vertical travel is 58 inches. advance lifts, 800-843-3625, www.advancelifts.com.
Pneumatic scissor lift tilts, rotatesOffering a 4,000-pound load capacity, the scissor lift table tilts and rotates. Particularly ideal for applications where large containers of liquids must be raised, spun and tilted, the pneumatic lift improves worker ergonomics. The tilt angle is limited to 10 degrees for maximum control during the process. Manual rotation turns the table a full 360 degrees in both directions, while an integrated air brake locks the lift securely into position. Rising to a full height of 32 inches, the movement of the 42 x 64-inch platform is controlled by a single remote pedestal. Herkules equipment, 800-444-4351, www.herkules.us. dC-powered quick lifts push-button operatedQuiet, lightweight lifting units transport and position loads quickly with push-button control. Battery-operated, the lifts feature a high-density polyethylene platform and 9-inch horizontal load cen-ter. For maneuvering in narrow aisles and confined spaces, the low profile lifts come equipped with poly casters: two swivel and two swivel-locking. Powered by a 24-volt DC sys-tem with 115-volt AC onboard charger, the units may be speci-fied with a detachable handheld control with coil cord for remote operation. An optional programmable height indexing function per-mits multiple preset working heights. Vestil Manufacturing, 800-348-0868, www.vestilmfg.com.
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system can now self-regulate its speed depending on the volume that’s inbound on the system,” says Ruehrdanz. The warehouse control systems (WCS) soft-ware makes that decision using elec-tronic sensors that’s constantly moni-toring where all the cartons are and how they’re fl owing.
2. Print and apply on the fl y. When your supplier is a fancy designer from Italy who can’t be bothered with labeling, you’ve got to be ready with Plan B. The use of print and apply sys-tems allow crossdock operators the fl ex-ibility to deal with inadequately labeled cartons so that proper labels can be printed and applied on cartons as they travel along conveyors allowing them to be immediately cross docked.
“When they fi rst started out, these systems could process 10 cartons per minute (cpm) maybe,” says Steve Haskell, vice president for L.A.-based SDI Industries, a designer, integrator and manufacturer of materials handling systems. “Now you can get 30 cpm reli-ably with a tremendous range of print-ing and software capabilities.”
3. Crossdocking with voice and RFID. With a scan of the pallet license plate, voice-directed operators on the receiving dock can be instructed to quickly move their crossdock pallets to
the correct shipping doors without hav-ing to look at a terminal.
By attaching an RFID tag on a pallet, the simple act of moving the pallet from a tractor trailer through a receiving por-tal not only acknowledges receipt, but allows the automatic download of criti-cal information so automatic crossdock allocations can be made.
The next generation of RFID-enabled lift trucks go a step further by combining RFID data collection with optical real-time location sys-tems (RTLS) to precisely record pallet movement without any operator typing or scanning. As adoption increases, users are investigating the feasibility of using RFID-based technology to elimi-nate the need for some EDI communi-cations by encoding the advance ship-ping information onto the RFID tag to reduce the number of EDI messages.
Vision for the futureWith more trading partners shar-
ing data in real time along with greater levels of systems integration, Manhattan’s Lamphier envisions more “dynamic crossdocks” that constantly look for opportunities to fl ow-through product, even while still in transit. SDI’s Haskell sees equipment improv-ing and becoming more affordable. Soon, you’ll simply be running out of excuses not to crossdock.
50S A P R I L 2 0 1 0 / MODERN MATERIALS HANDLING m m h . c o m
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This gapping conveyor creates mini-mum gaps between cartons. Minimum carton gaps allow the conveying and sorting systems to accommodate more throughput at a slower operating speed.
A sliding shoe sorter diverts cartons using a parallel diverting method.
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Manipulator absorbs shocks, reduced injuriesIncreasing productivity while reducing the risk of worker injury, the ReactionArm industrial manipulator absorbs shock, torsional forces and impact forces from power tools. Offering lift capac-ity up to 500 pounds and torque capacity up to 2,212 foot pounds, the manipulator reduces injuries by absorbing the shock of an attached tool. It may be mounted overhead, on a trol-ley, pedestal or wall with concrete anchor bolts, mounting hardware and leveling jacks. Configured to balance forces, the manipulator gives the operator a float feel when moving through the work cell. A middle joint leveling feature keeps the arm in place once positioned, eliminating second arm drift. It operates pneumati-cally with 90 pounds per square inch of clean dry air. Positech, 800-831-6026, www.positech.com.
lifting column for stand-alone or synchronized useThe Ergo-I lift column provides smooth, quiet and precise vertical lifting in stand-alone or synchronized multi-column lift applications. As a ready-to-use, compact, self-contained lift system, the column fea-tures anodized aluminum telescopic profiles for structural support. Extension and retrac-tion are accomplished with an integral elec-tric linear actuator. Control options include push-but-ton hand pendant, foot pedal, pro-grammable con-troller or notebook computer. The col-umn is offered in multiple lift heights and load capacities up to 1,200 pounds. ergotecH, 203-790-4100, www.ergotechinc.com.
Pick up, transport, position gMa-sized palletsEnabling a worker to pick up a standard GMA pallet or skid with-out straddling it, the UniLift also transports and ergonomi-cally positions the pallet and its load. Constructed without straddle legs that could hinder maneuverability and take up space, the lift’s electronically deploy-able outriggers simulate the handling and steering characteristics of a standard pallet jack. Operator actuated after the pallet is raised to transport mode, the outriggers lift the load up 34 inches. Bishamon industries, 800-358-8833, www.bishamon.com.
Foot-activated scissor liftIdeal for moving loads from one area to another, Regal portable scissor lifts may be used in manufacturing, warehousing or retail environ-ments. The lifts can also be used to raise loads to a convenient height for transfer to and from workbenches or as a vari-able height workstation. Lift is achieved by pumping a foot pedal to activate a hydraulic cylinder; loads are lowered by pulling a controlled release lever. Offered in five models, the units lift up to 2,000 pounds and reach heights from 28.5 to 59 inches. Presto lifts, 800-343-9322, www.prestolifts.com.
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transport multi-layered loads up to 6,000 poundsFor automatic transportation and multi-layered stacking of heavy loads, a hydrau-lic cantilevered lift incorporates a transfer system for space-saving handling in lean production applications. Features include guide columns con-structed of reinforced rails and hydraulic ram with large cylinders for smooth lifting and traverse motion. For safety,
mechanical stops ensure positive leveling while safety interlocks and velocity fuses control ascent and decent of
the lift. The system handles 6,000-pound loads of a maximum 114 x 96 x 48 inches. almac industrial systems, 800-265-3094, www.almac.com. Ceiling-mounted, hydraulic scissors lift For lifting large delicate parts, including a complete jet engine, a 15-metric ton, ceiling-mounted, hydraulic scissors lift station incorporates two 7.5-ton pat-
ented monorail hoists. Once the load is lifted, it can be secured to struts that are supported by eight monorail trolleys on the lift. The scissors lift then moves the load up or down to the desired working height. To support the load in the event of a main cylinder failure, the lift includes an air-over-hydraulic backup safety sys-tem. Bushman avontec, 800-338-7810, www.bushmanavontec.com.
Hydraulic, light-duty scissor lift tableLight-duty G-Series scissor lift tables are offered in four models with 2,000- and 3,000-pound capacities. Hydraulically-powered, the table improves productivity and reduces injuries by elevat-ing loads to an ergonomic work height. It includes a
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heavy-duty, 1.7-horsepower motor running up to 12 cycles per hour on average, powered by a 115-volt input 15-amp circuit. Features include a full perimeter safety bar that stops the table from lowering if it comes in contact with an obstruction, and built-in, flip-down bars on each side of the outer scissors arms for use during maintenance or inspection. Lift Products, 877-543-8776, www.liftproducts.com.
Raise, transport 3,300 pounds to ergonomic heightTransporting and lifting loads up to 3,300 pounds, the Thork-Lift raises loads to ergonomic working heights. Offered in two models, the lift’s user-friendly features include centrally located control buttons and an ergonomic handle. For optimized stability, supporting feet are located at the steering end of the lift, while tandem wheels on the scissor legs produce a braking effect. Forks measure 47 inches long. Interthor, 708-345-1270, www.interthor.com.
Portable lift integrates with tow line Portable lift units for use during assembly may be installed on a continuous tow line. As the lift table moves down the production line, operators can raise, lower or rotate the lift into the most ergonomically correct position. For worker convenience, the lift tables can be operated from either side. A rechargeable DC power unit is included with an on-board 115/1/60 charger. Pentalift Equipment, 519-763-3625, www.pentalift.com.
Programmable end-of-arm toolingEasily programmed to automatically relocate four separate com-ponent holders within a single robotic cycle, the programmable end-of-arm tooling device uses four tool holders. It works with vacuum cups or grippers mount-ed on individual linear actuators; each can be programmed for up to 28 separate locations through outputs from binary inputs. Capable of interfacing with any robot style or make, the device allows the robot to pick and place, or pull from an injection mold, different sized items with one device. If four separate parts are picked up at one time, the program will allow for part re-positioning before release. SAS Automation, 937-372-5255, www.sasgripper.com.
Vacuum device handles glass sheetsFor safe handling of glass sheets and windows, the VacuMaster Glass device handles loads up to 1,320 pounds. Capable of hori-zontal and vertical han-dling, the unit attaches to a crane and secures loads with four or eight suction plates. Multiple vacuum reservoirs and manom-eters for displaying the vacuum levels of the unit are included. If the vacu-um level drops to a critical minimum level, an audible and visible warning signal is produced. Should one circuit fail, the second circuit can handle the maximum load alone. The unit is powered by a rechargeable and replaceable 12-volt battery with an LED charge status indicator display. Schmalz, 919-713-0880, www.schmalz.com.
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successful network design will always come down to the specific needs of your business, the needs of your customers and the types of products moving through its veins. our panel concludes that while there are a lot of options, there’s no silver bullet.By Maida napolitano, Contributing editor
Over the past 18 months or so, the economic chal-lenges of the recession found many companies scrambling to overhaul their distribution networks, closing or even consolidating warehouses—some a little too aggressively—in an effort to cut costs
and conserve cash. Recent market upticks, however, suggest it’s time to regroup and re-assess what you currently have and gear up for an economic recovery that’s likely waiting just around the corner.
Jeff Metersky has been seeing some of the effects of the upturn firsthand as vice president of the supply chain strat-egy practice for Chainalytics, an Atlanta-based consulting firm specializing in distribution network design. “The empha-sis has moved away from the more strategic exercise of clos-ing and opening facilities to finding ways to better use exist-
ing networks with a heavy emphasis on cost reduction for immediate, short-term tactical gains,” says Metersky.
C. Thompson Brockmann, principal for the Raleigh-based supply chain consultancy Tompkins & Associates, agrees with Metersky’s observation. “The successful organization is one that’s leveraging the resources that they have right now and reconstructing how they’re distributing products to their customers,” he says.
Indeed, network studies have been known to reduce dis-tribution costs by as much as 25%. But cutting too much can compromise your ability to provide the highest levels of ser-vice that your customers have been expecting. A lot of effort and energy needs to go into understanding how your network is performing today before you can start picking away at where the opportunities are.
6network redesign tips
Special report: Distribution Network Redesign
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To accomplish this, you start by ask-ing the right questions that are related to your business goals. Are you servicing your customers correctly out of the net-work you currently have? Do you need to shuffle SKUs, inventory or shipping points? These are best answered by modeling and analyzing your network.
And, of course, there’s no time to lose. As the country slowly emerges
from the depths of this recession, Troy West, Nashville-based assistant vice president for supply chain consultancy TranSystems, explains why companies should seize the day: “With so much capacity available right now, it’s easier to negotiate rates with real estate bro-kers and carriers.”
In the next few pages, and with the help of these three experts who have spent a combined 50 years studying supply chain networks, we’ll explore how to make the most out of your existing distribution network. They all agree on one single axiom: There is no silver bullet.
The right distribution network will always come down to the specific needs of your business, the needs of your cus-tomers, and the types of products you’re moving through that network. It’s criti-cal to accurately model your business and apply only those relevant tips that will help you reach that light at the end of what has been a pretty dismal eco-nomic tunnel.
Tip # 1: One size does not fit allThe high-performing network is usually one that responds to the specific needs
of each customer. This may involve designing and engi-neering a unique path flow for a specific customer or cus-
tomer segment. “One size does not fit all,” says
Metersky. “You have to know what it is that you’re trying to provide from a cost and service perspective.” He cites a clear example in major retailers that have primarily been invested in brick-and-mortar stores, but have now gained strongholds in e-commerce.
“There’s a fundamentally different
need from a customer service perspec-tive of what it means to deliver goods to retail brick-and-mortar stores, as opposed to delivering goods to a per-son at their home because they’ve ordered off the Internet,” says Meter-sky. “E-commerce deals a lot more with faster-paced parcel shipments, while the brick-and-mortar stores typically replenish themselves with truckloads—but occasionally it can be slower multi-stop truckloads.”
Tip #2: Get down to the nitty-gritty SKU level Managers need to determine, at the SKU level, which products should go
direct to store and which should go through DCs. You can figure this out once you know which product should
be stocked and at which DC, including how much and where, and which prod-uct should be cross-docked.
“For example, if you have a fast-moving, high margin item, the level of service and stock-outs that you would be willing to tolerate are going to be a lot lower than something that’s a low-margin, slow-moving item,” says Metersky. The goal is to maximize your product’s profitability by reducing the costs associated with the movement of product through DCs and trading part-
ners. Commercial software packages are now available, allowing network analysts to process tens of thousands of SKUs in just a short amount of time.
Tompkins’ Brockmann relates the story of a retail client who adopted a product-line-focused network by consolidating large, bulky, difficult to handle product lines—such as furni-ture—into one facility. “Most of the
day-to-day items still ship out of their traditional network, but now they’ve got a large-goods focused facility,” says Brockmann. “It lowered the inbound cost, decreased handling cost, and kept specialized material handling and trans-portation in one place, while freeing up much-needed storage capacity in the other DCs.”
Tip # 3: Being green can bring more green The whole movement towards environ-mentally-friendly or green networks has
certainly helped companies enhance their level of social responsibility—but it’s also saving them money.
One of the best ways to get started, says TranSystems’ West, is by reducing your carbon footprint and cutting back on transportation costs by winnowing down the miles driven or the number of trucks and shipments. More trans-portation managers are also looking into intermodal opportunities versus truck-load. “It’s not only to reduce costs, but also to be more green-friendly, because rail is more energy efficient with less emissions,” he adds.
West predicts even more emphasis will be put on “going green” as future regulations on emissions will likely increase and a potential cap and trade
network redesign tips
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market will evolve. “We anticipate a substantial growth in carbon footprint analysis as companies will not only conduct studies to identify their car-bon footprint, but also make supply chain network design decisions regard-ing the number of their facilities, size of their transportation fleets, and their potential carbon penalties, tax credits or trade value,” he adds.
In any network study, it’s essential to not only reduce costs as products flow from one facility to the next, but it also makes sound economic and environ-mental sense to reduce operating costs within each facility in the supply chain. For example, at each DC use fans for air circulation; replace high-intensity dis-charge lights with energy-efficient fluo-rescent lighting; and consider installing solar panels on rooftops. These are just some of the more popular environmen-tally sustainable initiatives that are not only part of good corporate citizenship, but also reduces operating costs of DCs across the network.
Tip #4: Get creative with transportationThe biggest cost drain on distribution networks has typically been transpor-
tation costs; thus, finding creative low-cost ways to reduce these costs can cer-tainly go a long way. Much
of it involves collaborating and nego-tiating with trading partners and other
carriers to create more efficient loads, eliminating “empty miles” and achiev-ing lower transportation costs overall.
West suggests taking advantage of online freight exchanges to look for backhaul opportunities. Consolidate not only on the outbound but also in the opposite direction.
How does it work? Shippers typically sign up for online freight exchanges and post key lanes that they plan to share
with other companies in order to reduce costs. Load-matching services have been offered for many years, but have only recently been tapped for long-term, continuous arrangements between what can be two completely unrelated com-panies. An excellent example of this is Macy’s maneuver to fill empty miles. For a subscription fee of less than $2,000 a year, Macy’s is seeing an average annual savings of $25,000.
Kansas City SmartPort is an example of an inland port alternative. It’s located at the intersection of three of the nation’s major interstate highways (I-35, I-70, I-29) and offers a wide range of intermodal opportunities.
A few more network redesign nuggets from our panel
“Studying your distri-bution network should absolutely be part of your continuous improvement initiatives. You should always be looking at how
your network is performing against how you plan. It shouldn’t be these big studies that happen every three to five years.”
— Jeff Metersky, vice president of the supply chain strategy practice at Chainalytics
“Look for opportunities to reduce miles driven in your network. This will not only save costs but reduce emissions that would benefit
sustainability programs within your organization. Establish a baseline to determine what your carbon footprint looks like and then look for ways to improve on that.”
— Troy West, assistant vice president at TranSystems
“Don’t assume that your post-recession business is going to mirror your pre-recession business. Everybody’s been affected by the
recession and has re-evaluated how they do business. Your customers and what they want are going to change. ”
— C. Thompson Brockmann, principal at Tompkins & Associates
Special report: Distribution Network Redesign
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In another transportation cost-sav-ing maneuver, Metersky describes how large retail companies are now taking more control over inbound freight. “Loads once transported by truckers hired by suppliers are now being trans-ported by the retailer’s own dedicated carriers and private fleets,” he explains. Retailers save money because they can now dictate what carrier and mode can be used for their inbound mer-chandise, and have better control of inbound shipments.
Tip #5: It’s time to consider inland ports for your network For a few years now, congestion issues along with sustainability and clean air
mandates in West Coast sea-ports have had companies looking into inland ports in cities such as Kansas City
Chicago, Memphis, Dallas, Columbus and Atlanta.
The Center for Transportation Research at the University of Texas defines an inland port as: “A physi-cal site located away from traditional land, air, and coastal borders with the vision to facilitate and process international trade through strategic
investment in multi-modal transpor-tation assets and by promoting value-added services as goods move through the supply chain.”
“They’re trying to get containers away from the seaports themselves where the real estate is more costly, there’s more congestion and where the labor rates are higher,” says West. Inland ports are typically more centrally located leading to shorter trucking distances to DCs in the network, while offering more inter-modal opportunities, thus reducing transportation costs.
Tip #6: Create an off-shore, on-shore, near-shore blend for flexibilityTranSystems’ West cites rising labor costs, lack of quality control and politi-
cal instability in off-shore manufacturing sites—cou-pled with an anticipation of rising fuel prices—as some
of the major reasons why many opera-tions are coming back to North Amer-ica (on-shore) or to Latin America (near-shore).
Managers need to look at the total landed costs by customer segment and the appropriate service level required
by that segment to determine which approach for locating production is best in a post-recession economy. It may very well be a combination of all three.
Good news, bad news
First, the bad news: Chainalytic’s Metersky believes that over the next few years there’s actually not going to be enough capacity—especially in the truckload transportation market. “With more demand and less supply, transportation rates are going to go back up again,” he adds.
Now the good news: According to West, is that there seems to be more of a collaborative effort among trad-ing partners “to share information to reduce costs as seen in the case of freight exchanges.”
The temptation to wait and see how the economy progresses can be great; however, according to our experts, the companies that will thrive are those now taking advantage of the recession’s low real estate rates and better freight negotiations. It’s time to re-assess your existing network.
—Maida Napolitano is a Contributing Editor to Modern Materials Handling
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New slotting accessories for the supplier’s SelecDeck carton flow sys-tem enable fast, cost-effective prod-uct mix changes. Offerings include drop-in lane dividers that fit into slots along the load side and permit cartons to be added, changed and sorted by size and SKU. To eliminate adhesive labels, a sliding label holder can be placed anywhere along the front of the case flow bed for hassle-free reprofiling. Additionally, the SelecDeck system retrofits existing structural roll-formed racks with-out replacing shelf beams. Frazier Industrial, 800-614-4162, www.frazier.com.
Steel axle carton flow tracksCarton Trax steel axle carton flow track features abuse-resistant 1.125-inch dia-meter polyethyl-ene rollers and chromate-coated steel axles that are free-floating to prevent binding for durable, smooth operation. The heavy-duty tracks incorporate a specially engineered steel axle tooth for close wheel placement that enhances reliability. For carton support, the wheels are placed on 1.5 inch centers. The grav-ity-driven tracks include durable, galvanized side channels, making them ideal for freezer and food stor-age applications. UNARCO Material Handling, 800-862-7261, www.unarcorack.com.
Racking resists earthquakes
Offering greater lateral stability than the supplier’s standard pallet rack, the PLUS rack is ideal for areas where seismic activity or other severe conditions are likely. The rack’s beam end connectors feature four prongs to create a tighter connection with more surface area between the beam and the upright post. Beams are welded 3 inches down from the top of the connector to evenly distribute loads across all four prongs. To pre-vent accidental dislodging, all beams have a beam locking key. Upright frames offer heavy-duty 35-square-inch, 0.325-inch thick footplates with four anchoring holes. Standard frame heights range from 48 to 240 inches. Penco Products, 800-562-1000, www.pencoproducts.com.
Customized push back rack systemsPush back, high-den-sity storage rack permits selectivity and dense storage, making it ideal for storage of multiple SKUs and mul-tiple pallets of individual SKUs. The system includes an integrated cart system mounted on rails in the rack structure at a slight pitch. Pallets are placed on the carts as many as six-deep per storage lane. Each racking system is custom-configured to match specific pallet and load size: width, depth and height. Elite Storage Solutions, 508-230-5755, www.elitestoragesolutions.com.
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50 J U N E 2 0 1 0 / MODERN MATERIALS HANDLING mmh.com
Modern: How did motor-driven roller conveyor come about? Itoh: Back in the 70s, Japan was a leader in manufacturing. The auto-motive, consumer electronics and appliance industries were especially strong. One of the keys was being able to quickly change over a manu-facturing line for new products. When I looked at conventional conveyor systems, I realized there was a lot of work to install the motors. I thought if you had a modular system, with integrated motors, it would be much easier.
Modern: Was the industry receptive? Itoh: That was a challenge because it was so new. Our initial solution wasn’t a full conveyor system, but was limited to sections such as a transfer conveyor. Our first success was with Panasonic—thanks to the boom in the production of VCRs in the 1980s. But then it was still very much a niche product.
Modern: How did the product evolve?Itoh: Our first roller used an AC motor. That worked, but it had limita-
tions, which is why it wasn’t used to power an entire conveyor. And, our early customers were manufactur-ers. In the mid-1980s, we built the first rollers with brush and brushless DC motors. Those were much more efficient. Our greatest success came after MDR was adopted by the U.S.
Postal Service. That moved us into the logistics industry and then into e-commerce. Equipment manufactur-ers understood that with the ability to run on demand, there were many commercial uses for the technology. Our biggest market is still in North America. �
TITLE: President and CEO, Itoh Denki Co., Ltd. LOCATION: Kasai, Japan; Wilkes-Barre, Pa. EXPERIENCE: 50+ years in the motor business FOCUS: Developed the first motor-driven conveyor roller, or MDR, in the mid-1970s
Kazuo ItohItoh Denki Co., Ltd.
MODERN 60 SECONDS WITH…
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www.hyundai-ce.com
Beyond the LimitsHyundai’s cutting-edge technology is the new criteria of
forklift trucks.
HEAD OFFICE(REP. of KOREA) Tel.: 82 2 746 4526 Fax: 82 2 746 7444~5 E-mail: [email protected] www.hyundai-ce.com
HCE AMERICAS(U.S.A) Tel.: 1 847 437 3333 Fax: 1 847 437 3574 www.hceamericas.com HHI EUROPE(BELGIUM) Tel.: 32 14 56 2200 Fax: 32 14 59 3405~6 www.hyundai.eu HHI BEIJING(CHINA) Tel.: 86 10 8321 3377 Fax: 86 10 5143 8502 www.hyundai-bj.com
DUBAI BRANCH OFFICE(U.A.E) Tel.: 971 4 425 7995 Fax: 971 4 425 7996 E-mail: [email protected]
ISTANBUL BRANCH OFFICE(TURKEY) Tel.: 90 212 345 1261~2 Fax: 90 212 345 1263 E-mail: [email protected]
MOSCOW BRANCH OFFICE(RUSSIA) Tel.: 7 495 258 1381 Fax: 7 495 258 1382 E-mail: [email protected]
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LPG Forklift 1.5 - 4.5Ton Battery Forklift (Counter Balanced) 1.6 - 5.0Ton
Reach Truck (Seated) 1.4 - 2.5TonReach Truck (Standing) 1 - 2.5Ton Electric Towing / Platform Truck40TA-7/15PA-7
Diesel Forklift 1.5 - 16Ton
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