The Material Handling Blog

As I learned more about material handling systems, I thought--a silly thought I admit--that even Santa Claus would be more efficient with a conveyor system...

If you're anything like me, you've probably procrastinated on this year's holiday shopping. And if you're really like me, you have an engineer on your shopping list, and you're struggling to find him or her the perfect gift. Well, you're in luck because I've spent the last week digging around the Internet to find some ideal gifts, ranging from humorous to down right practical...

When expanding your facility, one key decision is the choice between modular construction and traditional stick-built or “hard” construction. Some of the typical considerations when making this choice are cost, lead time, and code requirements. While this is a good starting point, there are other things to consider. Let’s look at the following as a guide to help you compare the two building methods and their benefits...

During the design process of any system, it is desirable to know how the possible range of input values will affect the system output. One back-of-the-envelope method is to assume the amount of resources the system will use, err on the high side, and protect yourself against failure.

Technology in today's material handling world is changing at a record pace and will only continue that same trend. As I see this pattern, it reminds me of how history really has so many lessons for us today.

I have had the good fortune to have succeeded in the material handling equipment (MHE) industry for more than 27 years now, and during my time in the industry, I have worked with a wide range of customers. Most of them have been excellent partners in the purchasing process; however, some have made the process a bit difficult, resulting in numerous re-quotes and many wasted engineering hours. This not only resulted in frustration for me, but more importantly, frustration and wasted time for them. To avoid those issues and facilitate the process for both parties, here are some basic tips on how to be an excellent material handling equipment partner:

In years gone by, facility roofs were designed in such a manner that you could just about hang the Queen Mary from them with little regard given to worrying about the roof collapsing or caving in. Nowadays, this is not always the case. With rising costs in steel and labor, roof structures are for the most part designed with the minimum loading allowed by law.

In my last blog article, What's the True Cost of Your Corporate Safety Program , I discussed the importance of corporate safety training and some of the most popular OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) citations in 2010. Now I'd like to review some of the costs that occur when workplace safety standards are not followed, which often results in violations with costly penalties that can reach upwards of $500,000, and in some cases, even jail time.

The topic of robotic, or automatic, mixed pallet building has come up quite a bit recently, so I thought I'd share some of the benefits and challenges that go along with it.

It's always puzzled me as to why so many companies spend months and years planning and designing a project and only give the material handling integrators two weeks to bid. It's also been suggested that tight timelines provide the end user with the best price possible. In my opinion and past experience, this statement couldn't be further from the truth. Read More >>

Despite the economic downturn, engineering has been one of the least affected professions. In fact, hiring in the engineering services sector has increased 104% since December of 2009. So what does this mean for you?

As consultants and material handling system integrators, we are often asked to evaluate the economics of capital projects. There are several metrics that can be used to evaluate a project, each with their own set of advantages and disadvantages. However, we are almost always pressed to say what the "payback period" is of a given project. Every time it happens, my stomach hurts just a little.