The Material Handling Blog

Does your current single line barcode scanner underperform, resulting in excessive no-reads or read conflicts? Today’s barcode reading systems need to reach read rates of 99.9% to 100%. If your system is not reaching this percentage, it’s time to re-evaluate your technology.

Do you or any of your clients have processes where employees’ expected rates are unknown, based on averages, or quite frankly conjectured from guessing? Rates may be unknown or need re-evaluation because of new or different layouts, or process changes. If any of these situations are affecting your employee production rates, then you should consider MOST, Maynard Operation Sequence Technique.

There are 5 common inefficiencies and resource wasters STEALing from distribution operations everywhere, but today’s goods-to-person technologies can turn those losses into profit in as little as 2 years. Let’s look at these five wastes and how goods-to-person systems are overcoming them.

You don’t need a giant distribution center rivaling Amazon or Wal-Mart to benefit from automation. These days, small and medium retailers are competing with the big boys by investing in scalable technologies. Here are 4 signs you're ready for automation.

Following a hugely successful Cyber Monday, it’s easy to see why an efficient and accurate order fulfillment process is critical to today’s retailers. Customers are expecting orders to arrive faster, and one way of doing that is injecting a little automation into an often manual operation.

Logistics professionals are the unsung hero of the retail industry, ensuring consumers get the products they need when they need them. With all this hard work, it's nice to see the industry experience an increase in news coverage in recent months. Here are some of the top stories...

As an increasing number of companies move toward the use of automated case picking systems, it is important that they first determine the best one for their business.

Cracks and holes in your facility's floors can be a costly issue if not maintained on a regular basis. Thankfully, there are new industrial coatings and polymers that can easily and cost-effectively fix these problems without leading to operational downtime.

A growing trend in the material handling automation industry is the use of system integration companies as opposed to traditional equipment-focused manufacturers for materials handling needs. Here are 5 reasons system integrators are a great option for your next material handling project... Continue Reading >>

It is easy to look back and say how different technology was fifteen years ago. It’s also not a stretch to say that technological innovations like laptops, broadband Internet, and USB drives have made the workplace more efficient. But what comes next? Below are 4 emerging technologies that should, in the next 15 years, make as much of an impact as the laptop computer had on the last.

As a design engineer in the robotic material handling field, I am always looking for new and innovative ways to handle different types of products. About a year ago, I was briefly introduced to a new robotic end effector technology that I thought would be worth spending the time to research and share.

With the recent release of the Samsung Galaxy S4, I finally reached the tipping point and tossed my antiquated Blackberry to the wayside, but when I was researching which smartphone to select, I looked online only to be overwhelmed by the number of options. This led me to visit a small kiosk in the mall before finally making my purchase online. In this instance, and in many others as the trend continues to grow, the storefront served to augment my online buying decision...