Blog! Five Fast Things For January 10, 2007

By Bob Vavra, Editor, Plant Engineering January 10, 2007

1. Successful warehouse management: A presentation by the Aberdeen Group at the ProMat Show in Chicago Tuesday highlighted the results of their new study that focused on best practices in warehousing. The study’s findings were discussed at a Webcast conducted by our sister publication, Modern Materials Handling, and that Webcast will be available at their Website, www.mmh.com . Among the Aberdeen findings: the lack of technology and the lack of organized warehouse space is holding back companies from achieving best-in-class warehousing.

2. And the result? While 47% of the people polled by Aberdeen have seen warehousing costs increase in the last two years, the top performers have cut warehousing costs by 10%. In short, there’s a payback if you do things well and a penalty if you don’t. Anyone out there who can afford to have costs increase?

3. State of the industry: The Material Handling Industry of America , the ProMat host, held its state of the industry presentation Tuesday. The market began rebounding in 2003 after 9-11 and the dot.com crash. While growth is slowing, MHIA executive chairman Brian McNamara said, “the entire industry has turned positive and is expected to remain positive through 2008.”

4. Headed in the right direction: Jungheinrich demonstrated its new rotating cab lift truck product at ProMat. It’s designed to allow the operator to pivot 180 degrees and drive in the opposite direction from the load if the load obstructs his view. For a look at how it works, click here .

5. And if you have a sense of humor… Our friends at Bosch Rexroth have some compiled the top 10 ways you know if you are an engineer. We thought we’d share…