In a fast-paced distribution center, there is plenty of forklift traffic, moving conveyors, packing machines, carousels, and dock doors. Same with manufacturing; you have all kinds of production machinery, welding (human and robotic), and heavy material being handled, stacked, or processed, along with the forklifts and other handling equipment. It’s hard enough to keep your own people – the ones who should know the lay of the land – safe in these environments. But what about visitors who haven’t had the benefit of your safety training and the situational awareness that your employees develop over time?
How to Make Warehouse & Plant Visitors Safer: A Guide
February 29, 2012
by Scott Stone
Tags: warehousing, Manufacturing, industrial safety, pallet racking, Safety & Ergonomics
Posted in Safety & Ergonomics, Warehousing, Material Handling| No Comments »
9 Ways to Reduce Product Damage in Your Warehouse
February 16, 2012
by Scott Stone
In warehouse & manufacturing operations, things get broken. They break in a number of ways, and it’s expensive. You’ve probably seen product broken or damaged in amazing and improbable ways if you’ve been in this business for any length of time. We had a client once buy a bunch of mismatched, used industrial shelving (not from us), only to see it collapse and dump thousands of tiny aircraft components on the floor. It had to be swept up and discarded since it was all mixed up and visually impossible to sort.
Those are extraordinary examples, but everyday inventory damage that cost “only” a few hundred or thousand dollars can savage your bottom line.
Tags: damaged goods, warehousing, customer service, product damage, inventory control
Posted in Safety & Ergonomics, Warehousing, Material Handling, Industrial Shelving, Order Picking & Fulfillment| No Comments »
To-Do List for Moving a Warehouse
February 7, 2012
by Scott Stone
Over the past four decades, we’ve seen plenty of operations move. We’ve installed entirely new conveyor systems into functioning operations without disturbing the flow of existing work. We’ve seen companies pick up an entire distribution operation and move it across two hundred feet of parking lot into another building. It’s not new territory for us, and if you have managed a manufacturing or warehousing operation long, it’s probably not for you either.
Posted in Mezzanines, Conveyor, Warehousing, Material Handling| No Comments »
Automation More Important Than Ever
February 3, 2012
by Scott Stone
President Obama’s State of the Union address focused on manufacturing in the United States – which everyone, no matter their political persuasion, can agree is a vital part of our economy. Countries that don’t make things aren’t world powers, period. And the numbers, on the surface, can look dire. According to Forbes Magazine, 22 million manufacturing jobs were lost globally between 1995 and 2002. The U.S. lost hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs in that timeframe.
Tags: Factory Automation, Manufacturing, China
Posted in News, Automation, Manufacturing, Robotics| No Comments »