Walk into any order fulfillment operation, and you’re probably going to see gravity flow rack.

The reason is obvious–it’s one of the best ways to pick orders utilizing first-in, first-out principles. It used to be that there was one kind of the stuff, the plastic-wheel tracks, but these days the choices are more diverse than ever. For the most part, these flow rack types act the same; they decline toward the picker and boxes or totes or even larger components flow toward him. They’re restocked from the rear and picked from the front onto a takeaway conveyor line, a cart, workstation, or another step in the process.

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Just a few ways to improve your operation as the heat of summer approaches. There are many issues of productivity and safety that are stressed as the heat rises. As temperatures start to rise, it gets particularly hot in industrial facilities, warehouses, shops, and distribution centers where air conditioning isn’t always present, extremely costly, or always effective. Experts say that employee productivity increases when ambient temperatures are comfortable and plummets when they aren’t. Error rates are forced up, safety is reduced as workers fight through hot, sweaty conditions.

Cool down the facility with HVLS fans: If you can’t air-condition, or can’t adequately do so, there are methods that can cool large amounts of square footage for relatively low costs. Floor fans are all right for specific areas, but they suffer from their high volume. One of the most productive methods is to employ high volume, low speed fans. Warehouses have very high ceilings and vast spaces that are often reconfigured when stock and materials change. Warehouses and distribution centers face ongoing temperature control battles during the summer months, with or without air conditioning.

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Steel prices and fuel prices are headed nowhere but up in the coming months.

Price increases and surcharges have become commonplace, driven by increased steel costs and skyrocketing fuel prices. We look around and see manufacturers issuing price increases, steel surcharges and fees on a weekly basis. It’s industry-wide and it’s being driven by international demand and also some commodities market issues. We have seen manufacturers decline to provide a price - orders are priced at shipment. This is reminiscent of the 1970’s, and it’s welcome by absolutely nobody who runs an industrial facility or deals in material handling equipment.

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Last year, there was a big splash when Hytrol introduced its E24 powered roller conveyor system - and rightly so, it’s great stuff. (See the link above for video, datasheets, and more).

E24 is a brushless, gearless, low RPM, high torque motor that drives conveyor rollers reliably and efficiently. The external motor provides exceptional flexibility, superb heat dissipation, and a robustness that cannot be achieved with motors embedded in conveyor rollers. But what really makes E24 superior to the conventional motorized roller conveyor? Let’s explore…

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From a total of 39,324 inspections last year, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) found 88,846 violations. For warehousers, distributors and manufacturers, the list is familiar.

1. Scaffolding
2. Fall protection
3. Hazard communication
4. Control of hazardous energy
5. Respiratory protection
6. Powered industrial trucks
7. Electrical (wiring)
8. Ladders
9. Machine guarding
10. Electrical (general requirements).

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This is the fourth in a series of briefs on cross docking

A recent project for a large retailer in the Southwest provided a good example of how an element of cross-docking might be deployed to reduce the footprint of distribution space required, reduce order fulfillment touchpoints, and shorten the logical pathway for fulfilling orders.

Incoming shipments are anticipated through the use of advanced shipping notices (ASN’s). Stretch-wrapped pallet loads arrive via truck throughout the day. They arrive at doors designated for cross-docking. These doors were selected based upon proximity to the material handling system which takes advantage of the facility layout. Pallets are unloaded by fork truck, the stretch wrap removed, and cases manually inducted into one of several conveyor staging lanes. Each lane represents a “wave” of orders which will be processed either that day, or a specific day later in the week. When a wave is released, it moves downstream, and the individual cases are sorted to a specific shipping lane whose products are destined for a particular store. Other products from static storage positions and non-conveyables destined for the same store are consolidated at this point. (more…)

Above: Hytrol’s Bill Hawthorne presents Cisco-Eagle President Steve Strifler
with a plaque honoring our 2007 conveyor sales achievements 

Cisco-Eagle and Hytrol Conveyor Company recently celebrated our partnership at CEI’s Dallas, Texas facility. Hytrol CEO Greg Goodner, Bill Hawthorne, Matt Farris, and Frank Nichols came to Dallas to present a plaque honoring Cisco-Eagle’s placement as one of the company’s top conveyor distribution partners in 2007. Cisco-Eagle typically finishes among Hytrol’s top 3 distributor/integrators, and recently passed $100 million in total purchases from Hytrol.

Since the gathering was a day before Goodner’s birthday, we honored him with a cake and happy birthday serenade.

PHOTOS: Greg Goodner | The Presentation

Cisco-Eagle’s Houston, Texas Field Operations team was recently honored by FedEx for its exceptional level of performance and use of quality management tools.

Our guys are always out there doing things for customers at difficult times, in crunch time, and on time. They make things work and keep them working, so it wasn’t any surprise for customers to be happy with them. Matt Lanclos, Tom Hull,and Art Rodgers from our Houston Field Operations group, and James Lawson, Regional Manager Field Operations for Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Texas, received FedEx Ground’s GCST Region Certificates of Excellence on January 9. There were also certificates for Cisco-Eagle’s Houston and Dallas offices…

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We’ve been busy adding video in various areas of the website, focusing first on conveyors.

There have been quite a few added in recent days. It’s all embedded in web pages (no media player needed!) so it’s easy to view and not worry about having the right player. The videos tend to be the first thing you’ll see when the page loads. Just click ‘em and they play at your convenience.

In no particular order, here they are:

• E24 power roller conveyor
• ABEZ live roller accumulation conveyor (scroll down a bit for this one)
  
• Model TA slider bed belt conveyor
• The Gapper powered belt gap conveyor
• Slat Sortation Conveyors: Hytrol ProSort 131
• Slat Sortation Conveyors: Hytrol 421 & 431
• Belt Sortation Systems - Hytrol SC Sortation Conveyor
• Sortation Belt Conveyors - Hytrol SC1 & SC2
  

There will be lots more added in the next few weeks. Also, we have added case study videos heavy on conveyor. That includes Excel Beef and ATC Logistics at the moment. More of these coming as available.

To watch, just click the video screen that loads on each page. You can pause by clicking again.

Many people do not realize that when installing equipment such as pallet racks, mezzanines, shelving, in-plant offices, or many other pieces of common material handling and storage equipment that you may be required to obtain a building permit. If you ignore the building permit process it can cost you money in delays, fines, or even having to remove the equipment being installed until a permit is obtained.

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