As Material Handling Management makes the transition to Material Handling and Logistics with our September issue, you’ll read more transportation-oriented news in our magazine and on our site. Of course, because material handling is still our core interest, we will emphasize stories that incorporate both. I have a good one for you.

Have you heard of the Safe and Efficient Transportation Act (SETA) of 2010? S.B. 3705 and H.R. 1799 represent bipartisan legislation now being considered by the U.S. House and Senate that would increase the interstate highway truckload weight limit from 80,000 lbs to 97,000 lbs. It would require trailers to have another axle to maintain weight distribution, as well as brakes on that axle to maintain stopping distance.

Accounting for the weight of the added axle, SETA would allow 40,000 pound shipments to increase to 55,000 pounds. This legislation has vocal proponents and opponents. The naysayers worry what these heavier trucks would do to our already crumbling roads. The yaysayers see it as a boon to material handling and logistics efficiency.

Getting more into a truckload is a clear logistics benefit, but where’s the material handling connection?

Glad you asked. Because that’s just what I did when this field’s consultants started talking about the legislation. One firm in particular—Chicago Consulting—put out a press release about what shippers should do in preparation. It specifically addressed the infrastructure issue—the infrastructure inside as well as outside one’s four walls.

“Can your current infrastructure handle added weight,” these consultants asked. “Do you have enough space? Are material handling, racking, local roads and bridges adequate?”

The inside-the-building angle intrigued me, so I followed up with one of Chicago Consulting’s partners, Jeff Haushalter, and asked how this legislation would affect material handlers and their facilities.

Here’s what you need to know:

1. Since the trailer cube isn’t getting physically bigger (only being modified to hold more weight) you will still not be able to store more than 30 single-stacked GMA pallets in a 53 footer.

2. To achieve the greater trailer weight there will need to be more weight on an average pallet. To achieve this greater weight shippers will either have to go higher on a pallet, remove air from the boxes, or both.

3. Increased trailer loads will result in larger order “chunks” of both inbound and outbound material.

“These considerations involve re-analyzing current material handling practices while evaluating potential re-racking, equipment, palletizing changes, storage and staging space needs,” he concluded.

We’ll follow the progress of this legislation as its supporters and detractors debate the implications. Which side do you camp with? Our legislators need expert insights. Now’s your chance to weigh in.

I had to comment on one of the news items we posted to our site this week. It’s the one titled Finished Goods Inventories Fall, Order Fill Rates Rise. It summarizes a report from Tompkins Associates noting that although more than half of the leading manufacturing and retail companies they surveyed reduced inventory levels in 2009, their customer service records with regard to order fill rates either stayed the same or improved. This is counter to conventional wisdom, which would have predicted that there would be widespread shortages and stockouts. In fact, according to this study, order fill rates actually improved.

These companies gave a variety of reasons, but the top two in the top five Tompkins cited were smarter planning (21%) and a drop in sales (21%). Those who instituted smarter planning had something to brag about, and I’ll bet they’ll be ready if the economy takes another unexpected turn, either north or south. However, I wondered if those who cited a drop in sales as the reason their customer service didn’t suffer as a result of inventory cuts will fare as well.

I contacted Bruce Tompkins, executive director of Tompkins Supply Chain Consortium, and noted that the smarter planners seemed to be the ones who were proactive with their planning while those who cited their “drop in sales” might fall under the reactive category of inventory management.

“Do the managers who were reactive stand to do as well at pleasing their customers as the smarter planners the next time there’s a major market swing?,” I asked.

“The companies that were proactive and changed their processes and people in order to drive the improved results – with better planning and more management focus – will be in a superior position when markets vary again,” Tompkins answered. “They will also be the ones that excel during this year’s peak season, as well as going forward, because they have learned how to be more effective with their inventories. I think they will be able to continuously improve on 2009’s results and drive inventory lower still, in addition to maintaining good customer service levels.”

And the companies that reacted because they were forced to? They will not be as well-positioned, was Tompkins’ polite assessment.

Keeping customers happy while managing supply chain activities is a feat of synchronization in itself. After running the report on Tompkins’ study on our site, I received another report, this time from a supply chain execution system vendor—Axway. The company says there are five crucial processes in supply chain execution:

1. Inbound delivery management – shrinking lead times make this a must.

2. Labor resource management – managing basic warehouse data is a prerequisite for automating and streamlining supply chain processes.

3. Returns management – Returns account for 4-5 percent of total logistics costs.

4. Global multimodal transportation management – Rising transportation costs are forcing organizations to break down traditional geographical barriers and standardize global supply chain processes.

5. Flow management – Supply/demand synchronization can decrease cash-by-cash cycle time.

How have your inventory strategies affected customer service? While no company has all the answers to matching their plans to outcomes, every company has to have some if they’re to survive. Either that, or they have to be very lucky. Answer my question so we’ll know why you’re still alive.

Cleveland (home city of MATERIAL HANDLING & LOGISTICS) may have lost out on the LeBron James sweepstakes (he went to Miami), and it may have lost the NA trade show (which ended up getting rebranded as Modex and is headed to Atlanta), but one thing they can’t take away from Cleveland is garbage. When it comes to keeping track of its garbage, Cleveland is world class.

The city plans to start tagging roll carts with RFID chips that will track if, when and how often residents are recycling their trash. Flagrant abusers of the recycling protocols — meaning those who put more than 10% of recyclable stuff in with their regular trash rather than segregating the cans, glass, paper, etc. — will get hit with a $100 fine.

But that’s not all. Cleveland is also investing in automated garbage trucks that will allow the drivers to stay in their cabs and use a robotic arm to lift the roll carts into the trucks. If you’ve lived through a typical Cleveland winter, you won’t begrudge the drivers the opportunity to remain inside the (presumably) heated cabs. Of course, the new trucks, as well as the RFID chips and roll carts, will be paid for by the taxpayers, who will also be the ones paying the fines if they don’t comply.

Why is Cleveland doing this, you wonder. That’s easy — there’s a lot of money to be found in that trash. According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer article which reported on the story, Cleveland had 220,000 tons of garbage in 2009, and every one of those tons the city $30 to haul away to a landfill. That comes to a hefty price tag of $6.6 million per year, and that was during a recession year when many of those Cleveland residents weren’t exactly living the high life thanks to double-digit unemployment in the region. On the plus side, the city can earn back $26 for every ton of trash it recycles. In 2009 it made $143,000 on 5,800 tons of recycled garbage. Now just imagine if the city can convince a significant number of non-recycling residents to get with the program, while convincing everyone else to pick up their recycling pace. And note also that in the article, the city is already counting on issuing 4,000 tickets for non-compliance, which at $100 per ticket adds up to a 400 grand. There could conceivably be a cool million just sitting there in the garbage, and that’s not exactly an amount that city councilors would turn up their noses at.

Of course, this plan is predicated on a number of assumptions: first, that people aren’t already recycling everything that ought to be recycled; second, that public uproar won’t loudly protest the spending of $2.5 million on these RFID-enabled trash carts when many other public services are being drastically curtailed or eliminated; and third, that these new carts actually work as advertised. Here’s a video demonstrating the basic operation.

At any rate, Clevelanders will soon get a chance to show the nation their proficiency at trash talking.

In the 1950s, forklifts were nifty material handling machines. An automatic guided vehicle? To most, it was as much science fiction as Godzilla. But to one person, AGVs were a gleam in his eye. He turned that gleam into reality in 1954 when he invented the world’s first one.

I’m talking about Arthur “Mac” Barrett. Until yesterday, I had never heard of him. That changed when Dematic’s Ken Ruehrdanz informed me that Mr. Barrett passed away on August 17th. Ken wanted me to let you know. You may never have heard of Mr. Barrett either, but his invention has made a major contribution to the field of material handling. For that alone he deserves recognition.

But Ken will always remember Barrett more for another first. Ken’s first job out of college was working for Barrett’s AGVS company called Barrett Electronics. That’s where this young graduate learned how the first AGVs tracked a signal in a wire mounted on the ceilings of factories and warehouses. These weren’t called AGVs in those days. Barrett called them “Driverless Vehicles.” The Barrett brand was “Guide-O-Matic.” Sounds very 50s, doesn’t it?

Well, eventually those wires were installed in a slot in the floor. However, if it weren’t for Mr. Barrett, who knows what path today’s AGVs would have followed into existence?

Coincidental with Mr. Barrett’s passing, the Material Handling Industry of America’s AGV Industry Group released its Fall 2010 Quarterly Report. It gives a nice summary of how today’s AGVs work and in what applications. There are a couple work sites I’ll bet Mr. Barrett was proud to have influenced.

He probably never imagined his invention would wind up in a hospital… as a worker…on a team of 43. These AGVs work in an 11-story, 1,000-bed hospital carrying carts of meal trays, medical/surgical supplies, linens, trash/waste, pharmaceuticals, and other general housekeeping items. Loads can weigh as much as 1,000 pounds.

The report also talks about the AGV’s younger cousin, the AGC—the automatic guided cart. A lawn tractor manufacturer used a system of 76 AGCs to merge three production lines into one common platform line. These AGCs have hydraulic lifts, allowing operators to adjust the cart height for improved ergonomics during the assembly process.

In the 50s people knew as much about ergonomics as they did about AGVs. Today AGVs and AGCs are saving people’s aching backs and are even contributing to saving their lives. That’s quite an evolutionary path for any technology.

For this path, Mr. Barrett, we salute you.

No matter how much we and other material handling media outlets preach about establishing a culture of safety, many companies still live by a culture of cost avoidance. For them, time is money and it can’t be frittered away on something whose payback is as intangible as safety training.

This must be terribly frustrating for safety professionals in those organizations—if there are any. There were plenty of them attending the American Society of Safety Engineers’ (ASSE) show in Baltimore recently. Judging by a survey of 132 of them, conducted by Kimberly-Clark Professional, frustration may be an understatement. Ninety-eight percent of them answered “yes” when asked if they had observed workers not wearing safety equipment when they should have been.

Thirty percent of these respondents said this had happened on numerous occasions. In fact, “worker compliance with personal protective equipment (PPE) protocols” was cited as the top workplace safety issue by all survey respondents.

The “most challenging” PPE category, according to 42 percent of respondents, was eye care. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics, nearly three out of five workers who experienced eye injuries were found not to be wearing eye protection at the time of the accident or were wearing the wrong kind of eye protection for the job. Add to this the fact that, according to the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, about 2,000 U.S. workers each day have a job-related eye injury requiring medical treatment.

Why are employees so cavalier about wearing protective equipment? Because it’s “uncomfortable,” 40 percent of these safety professionals responded. Other reasons included “too hot,” “not available near the work task,” “poor fit,” and “unattractive looking.” Heaven forbid that employees feel like nerds at work.

When asked what they had done or intended to do to improve compliance levels, these safety professionals’ top choice was to improve existing education and training programs.

That’s a great idea, but many facility managers don’t want to pay the time or money for such programs. That’s both a threat and an opportunity. It’s a threat because those companies are destined to get whacked by lost-time injuries. It’s an opportunity for local school systems to build occupational safety into their vocational education programs and provide pre-trained job candidates to companies like that in their area.

That’s Al Will’s thinking, anyway. Al is a retired Marine Colonel and a member of our magazine’s new Editorial Advisory Board. You’ll read more about and by Al in our September issue when we’re officially “Material Handling & Logistics,” but I couldn’t resist giving you a preview of the article he wrote for that issue, since it’s about this very topic of safety and training. Here’s his take on the topic:

“Formally trained employees have already developed a mindset of ‘safety first’ and are proficient in basic equipment operations. Safe operation not only minimizes injury to personnel but also reduces the damage to inventory and physical plant caused by careless or inexperienced operators using material handling equipment. Some firms estimate they lose as much as 1% of their total inventory value to damage through careless operation. Eliminating loss caused by damage is a quantifiable cost savings to the company.”

So, if the opinions of 132 safety professionals didn’t sway you to take a second look at your company’s culture of safety,” I hope the insights of one Marine will change your mind. After all, if your employees are always safe, they’ll always be faithful.

Semper fi.

We at Material Handling Management get a lot of press releases, as you can imagine. Most of them are garbage. Some are great sources of information—and put that information right up front. Then there’s a small percent of them that hide their prize and require you to do a bit of digging beneath the vegetable and mineral matter to find the buried treasure. That was the case with a release sporting the headline “GE Capital Develops Customized Digital Sales Tools for NACCO Materials Handling Group, Inc.”

At first this looked a little too “Inside Baseball,” you know, information so specific to OEMs in the industrial truck industry that their customers wouldn’t care. But with the economy the way it’s been and lift truck vendors looking for any way to win more customers, this looked like it could have some relevance for you.

Turns out I was right.

The press release says NACCO “is rolling out a secure online portal customized with premium information provided by GE Capital. NMHG’s management team and authorized dealers will use the new portal to more effectively and efficiently research prospective customers.”

Actually, that sounds a little scary—almost like an audit. But when I did a little checking of my own, with GE Capital, Matthew LeSage, managing director of vendor programs for GE Capital’s Equipment Finance business, told me why customers like you might be interested in this too.

“With access to the resource center, a lift truck vendor can better understand their customers and can make more efficient use of the customer’s time because they can prepare—knowing that this particular customer has cash flow needs and they can focus on structures that address cash flow,” he said. “If it’s fleet management the customer cares about, the vendor can focus on structures that address fleet management.”

It’s great to see that industrial truck suppliers are not only selling information management systems via their own product lines, but they’re putting their own money into them too, by taking advantage of systems like this. It proves that even in a challenging economy—

No, ESPECIALLY in a challenging economy, information management can see you through. That message is being sent by industrial truck OEMs and their dealers as well as material handling systems integrators. While some of those industries’ press releases imply it, others put it right up front.

The Material Handling Industry of America likes being up front about the strategic value of information management. In the latest in a series of Quarterly Reports, MHIA’s Supply Chain Execution Industry Group reminds logistics professionals how scalable data systems are.

“The advantage to using data systems and getting information is it will move to scale,” says KardexRemstar’s Ed Romaine, chair of the Supply Chain Execution Industry Group. “When business is slow, you can use these systems to find efficiencies and reduce labor and inventory. When business is gangbusters they help you meet customer demand and expectations.”

Romaine is careful not to do too much sugar-coating, however. He’s quick to add that even with growth in the economy, businesses won’t go back to the way they were. In the same report, RedPrairie’s Jim LeTart, an SCE Group member delegate, lays it on the line:

“There won’t be fast growth any more,” he says. “There will be more uncertainty about the price of fuel, for instance. As the world becomes more global, companies will need to stay on top of how these things affect their supply chain.”

That’s what information management—and Material Handling and Logistics—are all about.

Walmart has never been afraid to be bold when it comes to living up to its environmental sustainability pledge—even if it means moving away from the familiar. For material handlers, one of the most familiar things is a pallet truck. So when Walmart Canada decided to try fuel-cell-powered pallet trucks at its new perishable distribution center outside of Calgary, Alberta, the lift truck vendor involved in the project made it clear that the change would require a change in how operators interact with this equipment.

Fuel cells are still in the beginning stages of development in the industrial truck world, so OEMs like Crown Equipment have to take a research-based approach with every project. Its latest project was equipping its PC 4500 Series pallet trucks for this Walmart application, which will go full speed ahead with them in September. The Calgary facility is the first complete distribution center in Canada to be powered exclusively by hydrogen fuel cells.

The promise and the challenge of this project involved incorporating fuel cell controls and gauges into the pallet truck’s dashboard. This would mean operators would no longer need to stop work to access the truck’s control box to check the status of the fuel cell. However, this technology isn’t at a point where you can just buy the fuel cell of your choice and pop it into the lift truck of your choice.

Walmart chose to use Plug Power GenDrive fuel cells. Eric Jensen, manager of new technology research and development for Crown, told me this required some re-engineering.

“We knew that the cell was taller than a conventional battery and would interfere with the steering,” he said. “We decided to build a prototype to move the fuel cell behind the driver but maintain the traction and plugging designed into the PC 4500. Lab testing of the prototype showed that we needed to move the fuel cell controls off of the cell and up to just below the Access 1 2 3 display on the truck dashboard so the operator could see the fuel level gauge and operate the controls without having to turn around or get off the truck.”

The lesson of this and any new fuel cell project is that one size does not fit all. That means customers who want to try fuel cells in their environment must be ready to work with their lift truck manufacturers to incorporate fuel cell lift trucks into their fleets. Not doing so would work counter to the original intent of adopting this technology.

“Without the proper research, adding a fuel cell power pack to a truck may compromise performance and safety standards,” Jensen added. “Our research has shown this to be true, and given us the knowledge we need to determine what alterations must be made to a fuel cell-powered Crown lift truck, if any, so that it meets the same industry standards as a truck running on a battery.”

The challenge in all this, as with any new technology, is that the pioneers pay a heavier cost burden than those who will eventually benefit from the lessons learned during these early trials. The more the fuel cell industry and lift truck manufacturers collaborate with these early adopters, the greater the acceptance by the material handling industry and the rest of its customers. Jensen believes the resulting sales volume will drive costs down for everyone.

I asked Jensen what the biggest surprise has been as Crown continues to qualify lift trucks for fuel cell applications.

“The speed of acceptance of this technology into our market,” he answered. “We are definitely seeing an increase in the number of customers with questions about the technology and wanting us to work with them to see if fuel cell lift trucks are a good fit for their facility and how they might help them meet their environmental sustainability goals.”

We’ll check back on this project once Walmart has some operator feedback from its September startup. In the meantime, let me know if you have some questions or insights about the promise and the pain of fuel cell adoption. Without such input, fuel cells won’t be worth the water they output.

After the nasty economic drought we’ve had for the last couple years, it’s heartening to hear that lift truck OEMs are not only expecting better times for themselves and their customers, but they’re pumping out new product to prove it. In my last blog I told you about my visit to Toyota’s Columbus, Indiana, manufacturing plant to both tour it and to witness the unveiling of the new Series 8 four-wheel AC electric. In his remarks during the ceremony, TMHU’s president, Brett Wood, gave some numbers that indicated the economy was moving in the right direction.

“At the beginning of this year industry analysts predicted a modest 3-10% growth in 2010, but industry is doing so well so far this year that our forecast and that of the industry has been revised to 26% growth this year,” Wood told his audience of journalists. “We estimate the North American market will end up with more than 123,000 unit sales this year.”

That increase doesn’t just reflect high-end models. Wood expects an increase in the number of low cost lift trucks imported into the US from the Far East, as well. Variety will also grow, with fuel cells and hybrids making their presence known. Even automated lift trucks and AGVs will get more attention as labor costs grow. These will help some employers—especially those in manufacturing—reallocate workers to more value-added tasks.

The prospect of automated lift trucks is exciting, but living operators will never go away. And just as automation needs to be improved every once in a while, so do we humans; especially humans who operate lift trucks. Training must be factored into every lift truck investment if you expect a good return on it. But even if you don’t factor in training’s ROI, factor this in: lift truck operators are required by law to receive training and certification before they are authorized to operate a lift truck.

So while you contemplate the kinds of lift trucks you might need for your operations, here are ten components to factor into the training package that should be part of your investment. These considerations are courtesy of Steve Cox, training instructional designer for The Raymond Corporation. He says training must be …

1. Designed to satisfy all state and federal government requirements for lift truck training.

2. Conducted by a person with knowledge, training and experience to train lift truck operators and evaluate their competence.

3. Part of a comprehensive lift truck program that focuses not only on training, but also lift truck selection and maintenance and facility design

4. In alignment with company policies. Every company has its own policies, and training should reflect those ideals and operational requirements.

5. Supported, promoted and reinforced by management to ensure proper operation.

6. A combination of theory and practice. It is important to understand the technical aspects of lift truck operation, which can be conveyed in a classroom, and to receive the opportunity for hands-on training.

7. Appropriate and pertinent to the trucks the operator will use.

8. Relevant to the environment where the operator will be working. Every workplace is different, so training should be customized to the actual conditions the operator will experience.

9. Reviewed and updated regularly to reflect changes in the workplace.

10. Inclusive of valuable skills that will help the operator do a productive and efficient job.

If lift truck buyers make sure their managers and operators follow this list, their investment will be returned as much by their safer, more efficient environments as it will be by their shiny, more efficient equipment.

The electric vs IC application gap continues to close. I just got back from a trip to Columbus, Indiana to attend the official unveiling of Toyota Material Handling USA’s 8-Series 4-wheel AC electric lift truck. Here at their manufacturing plant, TMHU demonstrated the progress AC technology is making in narrowing that gap. Now AC is being applied to the controls as well as the drive system. That means it governs the hydraulics, including lift.

With this AC-powered system, you’re actually talking about a series of subsystems—each of which either conserves or regenerates power to maximize run-time between battery charges. The motor’s “power-keep” function compensates for battery depletion and loss of performance while energy is continually recovered through three forms of regenerative braking: coast control, plug braking and foot braking. TMHU says this will extend run times significantly. That’s what’s important to IC users.

“IC operators are used to that top speed because they may go 200 yards to get product and load a trailer and they couldn’t get that performance with an electric before,” Marty Boyd told me. He’s vice president of product planning and marketing for TMHU. “The AC technology was just on the drive system before, not on the controls. Now you have AC control of the hydraulics and the controller.”

But saying this new truck will compete effectively with IC trucks is a bold statement. How will they know this without proof from the field? That’s what they intend to collect with the help of USAC Properties, Inc. the performance testing and endorsement arm for the United States Auto Club. They will test Toyota’s Series 8 four-wheel against competitors’ lift trucks. This will prove whether TMHU’s engineers in Japan were able to deliver on their performance promise. These engineers will also go on a tour of customer sites in the U.S. and look for any improvement opportunities first-hand. What they learn during this tour will be applied to the design of the Series 9.

Meanwhile, those IC stalwarts who put the new Series 8 to their own test may find it necessary to adjust their own skills to the truck. However, Boyd told me the learning curve will be real fast. The main differences will be hydraulic handle placement and mini-levers, with feathering of the hydraulics. Plus, that operator will notice he’s sitting a little higher. Boyd is confident the new truck’s ergonomic improvements will further minimize that learning curve from IC to electric.

“With an IC truck, as soon as I get up to the rack I want to raise the mast four stages to pick up that load and I’m pushing that gas pedal and flooring the hydraulics and getting the engine to rev,” Boyd said. “Now you don’t have to do that with electric; it’s full speed and on-demand. We’ll see the same kind of learning curve with our electric pneumatics. It’s a little different configuration because with pneumatics you go a little bigger and the truck designers have the freedom to do what they want with the battery. You can actually drop the battery down below the drive tires and steer tires and once you do that there’s a lot more you can do with the operator space.”

Boyd is looking forward to the results of customer surveys. They provide another rich source of ideas for the designers. Even something as seemingly minor as a cup holder is a big plus for operators who get thirsty during their shift. That’s how this truck’s 32 oz cup holder made it into the design. And for those operators who drink every drop of that super-sized soft drink and it shows in the size of their own frame, the overhead guard of the new truck has been designed to provide more operator entry and exit width than the previous model. The folks at TMHU didn’t make that connection between the truck’s frame and the expanding frame of many operators. That was my own observation. But if the lift truck fits, wear it.

You wouldn’t think there’d be much passion associated with a topic like lift trucks, but that seems to be the one that generates the most response when we say something that hits a nerve. I guess that’s what I did when I wrote recently that lift trucks and racks are every bit as much a system as an AS/RS is.

Michael Yacks agrees. As owner of Reachable Solutions, LLC, which specializes in lift truck attachments, he’s responsible for helping customers systemize their lift trucks to their particular material handling environment. The biggest problems he sees happen when companies get locked into that environment. This creates an enclosure that limits their vision.

He told me of his experience in the food and grocery industry. Before Reachable Solutions Mike spent 25 years selling narrow aisle and very narrow aisle lift trucks. The mindset he encountered in food and grocery had to do with the basics of slotting and picking. One of the tenets of that mindset states: “Use pallet trucks to pick fast-moving items from floor slots.” That worked in the old days when the number of SKUs entering the distribution center was manageable. But in recent years marketers became students of demographics and market niches were created.

From these niches burst forth wave after wave of new products, from energy drinks for those who jog to diet foods for those who don’t. The varieties in those categories alone are enough to fill a couple warehouses. Of course, most grocers handle many more than those categories, so dedicating floor slots to the fast movers started becoming a problem. They’re ALL fast movers!

Many grocers have sought solutions in off-site storage, finding new locations or by automating. But Yacks believes if these grocers had done a little better planning and been more systematic with their existing material handling equipment, they might have found a solution closer to home.

“Had they planned for expansion, they could have simply implemented low-level order pickers which are similar to standard pallet trucks but, also have the ability to lift the operator slightly over three feet,” he told me. “This allows quick and easy access to pick slots as high as 10 feet. These types of trucks were common in Europe way back in the early ’90’s but are still just beginning to catch on in our market.”

The material handling market is filling with an array of new products almost as vast as the variety of products they handle. Why not try to understand your own demographic as well as the marketers in this industry do? You might find systems you didn’t know existed.