The Material Handling Blog

E-Commerce Sales around the globe have eclipsed previous records continuously for the past ten years, and it’s easy to see why. Consumers can purchase everything from household commodities to a lock of Justin Beiber's hair and all from the comfort of their home.

Carton flow rack can be a valuable tool that allows users to save space and increase efficiency in order fulfillment operations. The key is selecting the right type of carton flow rack for your facility. There are several options to choose from, and there are several factors that must be considered.

Employee safety is important in any field of work, but for manufacturing, distribution, and warehouse workers, it's something that must be considered every day. From poor ergonomics to high-tech machinery, there are a lot of situations our workers encounter each day that could potentially lead to injury.

Many supply chain software companies want to sell an entire suite of products to their customers, but oftentimes, only a few of the products fit a customer’s needs. When a “one-size-fits-all” solution doesn’t work, that’s when software modules come into play.

Conventional wisdom has always suggested that concrete floors are superior construction when it comes to mezzanine floors. A popular choice for new construction by many general contractors, concrete is a proven flooring material offering both durability and longevity. Concrete construction, however, comes at a cost, a very high cost.

Voice technology is evolving all around us, and its use in the warehouse is no different. Even with the onslaught of advanced automation, voice-guided picking is an effective and popular order fulfillment solution.

Within a complex material handling system, product may need to be transferred between elevations. The most commonly used piece of equipment for this elevation transfer is an elevator lift. For light duty applications such as totes and boxes, a pneumatic lift elevator is a very economical solution.

The material handling industry is wrought with products that are simply a bear to move. For some products there are plenty of “okay” options, but an optimal one is seemingly nonexistent. So do you just call it quits, close the doors, and never sell another of your difficult to convey products? Of course not.

Whether you are looking to build your first Distribution Center (D.C.) or your fifth, the location of the D.C. is critical for the success of your operations. There are many factors that can affect the decision of where the facility should be, including: real estate cost, transportation cost, labor cost, access to quality labor, taxes, transportation routes, service level guarantees and many others.

When it comes to procuring industrial equipment, we have to look at what option is best for our companies. Many businesses often seek to save as much money as possible when it comes to acquiring this type of equipment. Some businesses have available capital to invest in purchasing new equipment, while others prefer leasing.

Goods to person automation is an ever growing field that represents a revolution in the material handling industry – eliminating the costly and time-intensive process of having operators travel throughout the warehouse to pick. There are many options out there, but all of these technologies are representing only half of the goods-to-person concept.

Our Bastian Solutions Conveyor brand flighted conveyor merge may sound like some sort of fancy, new piece of technology that uses cutting-edge controls to parse products at lightning speed through the air. Well, it’s actually much simpler than that. In fact, it kind of removes the need for controls. And fancy technology. It’s really quite simple.