The Material Handling Blog

As a fundamental element, supply chain and logistics requires delivering a quality product to the consumer. The details behind quality product and on time delivery are complex and filled with complexities such as distribution center locations, advanced automation technologies, product specifications, throughput goals, and software support. And, while selecting the right automation equipment is important for a company’s competitive advantage, sustainable growth is most centered around the people. Lean supply chain management and the operational success is a product of the strength of your human resources. How do you create and foster sustainable human resource growth? While COVID-19 has forced companies to shift priorities and adjust manufacturing processes to deal with changing consumer demand and new safety precautions, the fundamentals continue to hold true for employee development: clarify goals and direction, identify the challenges, promote learning, and put that learning into practice.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) has penetrated every industry and forced changes throughout. Business processes have required accelerated reviews for the safety of the workforce and to adjust to changes in consumer demand. Supply chain and logistics has been in the spotlight with concerns about how shipments will get from one location to another, replenishment changes due to ecommerce trend acceleration, and demands for same day deliveries. This leads to process and management decisions. 2020 was a year of uncomfortable but necessary process change. Paralleled with new year’s resolutions and facing the “new normal” discussions, business around the world are working to have a more planned outlook with a better understanding of how to react and adjust. What aspects of your business processes should you protect and what do you change?

As we close the door on a year of tremendous challenge and change, it’s a good time for distribution center (DC) leaders to pause and reflect on how to apply the hard-won learnings of 2020 in order to make course corrections for 2021 and beyond. Despite how early it may seem, now is the time to prepare for the second half of 2021, by which time the COVID-19 pandemic may be substantially behind us. As you chart your distribution operation’s path forward consider a few key questions that take into account your business needs, workforce, trends and technologies. Not only will this help prepare your operations for a smoother process but will help you assess your capabilities as external factors continue to change.

As the global effects of COVID-19 continue to play out, demand for contactless shopping via eCommerce is increasing putting pressure on fulfillment. Businesses are scrambling to identify opportunities to increase supply across their distribution networks. Many are seeking support from automation systems integrators (conveyor, robotics, software, controls) across several fulfillment sites at once. While multi-site implementations can be challenging, when executed successfully they can achieve greater results than single-site implementations.

The two weeks at the beginning of a project take just as long as at the end of a project. The difference between the beginning and end, is that the beginning is usually less stressful than when a project is getting close to a deadline or a hard Go Live date. It can be easy to let precious time slip! By being efficient during the negotiation stage and clearly communicating the project timeline and milestones at the beginning of the process, you can help your projects run smoother.

With large-scale projects, proper planning is required for success. This is where having a good site supervisor makes all the difference.

Change is not easy and not everyone adapts well. Fortunately, with effective change management, successful transformation can be reached with minimal issues.

Successful warehouse projects require collaboration between the individuals possessing engineering and analytical knowledge and those with a deep understanding and expertise of the operation itself.

All projects, large and small, have many moving parts that need to come together in time to meet your deadline. For projects to run smoothly, it's important to have one person who knows your system inside and out, making sure it all goes smoothly - a site manager.

In today's fast-paced, demand-driven world, material handling system modifications are almost guaranteed and required to keep up with competition. To ensure a smooth project and successful go-live, whether a brand new system or modification, follow these five steps. Read: 5 Key Steps to Your Next Material Handling System Modification

Conveyor equipment can be dangerous if not used in the proper manner and with necessary safety precautions in place. To prevent injuries and accidents, OSHA has outlined several conveyor safety standards, which we'll review and expand upon. Read: Understanding OSHA Safety Standards for Conveyor

Supervisionar uma instalação de equipamentos como em outras áreas requer atenção, paciência e obviamente o conhecimento técnico necessário, tanto para lidar com os técnicos como com o cliente. Leia o Artigo