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Modern's 60th Anniversary - The '60s

-- Modern Materials Handling, 5/1/2006


Automation and systems take hold
Automation entered the lexicon in the 1950s and truly entered the warehouse in the 1960s. Much of this progress was made possible by computers. Thanks to semiconductor technology, computers became small and sophisticated enough in the '60s for such tasks as inventory control, billing, routing and package and equipment design.
The '60s was also the decade of systems. Managers, including those in materials handling, stopped focusing simply on point-solutions and began thinking in terms of interconnected systems.

 

   
Navy and internal vacuum power 1960's - It sounded like a good idea...
In the early 1960s, the Navy experimented with "internal vaccum power" to lift unit loads. The method used suction to lift a load rather than a pallet and fork truck. Loads were surrounded by plastic wrap, which had to form an airtight seal, or the vacuum lifting failed. Guaranteeing an airtight seal around 2,500 pounds of canned goods proved too difficult.
   
Labor Unions 1960 - Labor unions seek to halt mechanization
Modern publishes a series of articles throughout the year with commentary from the U.S. Secretary of Labor, businessmen and labor leaders including teamster president Jimmy Hoffa.
   
Automation gets into full swing
1960 to 1963 - Automation gets into full swing
  • 1960: Nation's first "fully-automated" post office opens in Providence, R.I.

  • 1961: United Airlines unveils mechanized air terminal in San Francisco

  • 1962: General Electric installs an "operatorless tractor" (AGV) that unloads itself

  • 1963: Sara Lee opens the "first completely automatic" food warehouse, complete with a 10-aisle AS/RS

   
GE simulation computer
1963 - General Electric uses computer simulation to design conveyor layout
One of the many new uses for computers recorded in Modern throughout the decade

 

   
Air-transportation
1964 - Air film transportation method is all the rage
Fad involves floating unit loads on a thin film of air
  • The "Frieght Flier" supports a 40-foot metal container

  • "Jetstream" conveyors transport packages that never touch the conveyor

  • United Airlines hopes to revolutionize cargo handling with air-supported pallets (air provided by vaccum cleaner blowers)

  • A lift truck supplier markets air-in-floor trailer for easy in-carrier maneuvering

 

   
Modern launches - System of the Month 1965 - Materials handling systems take center stage
Modern prints a special report on systems planning and begins featuring a "system of the month"
   
Shrinkwrap 1963 to 1967 - New materials employed for unitization
  • 1963: Nonmetallic strapping catches on: paper, rayon, nylon and polypropylene become popular

  • 1967: American Can Co. shrink wraps pallet loads of RC Cola in "polyethylene wrapper"

   
Photoelectronic Readers
1966 - Photocells read printed code patterns
Sorting systems now include photoelectric readers used to scan an early form of bar code
   
Side Loader 1967 - Side loader lifts operator and load
Operator stays close to the forks, making high stacking safer and faster. Loader can raise 4,000-pound pallets to a height of 20 feet.
   
Wood Pallets
1968 - 115 million wood pallets sold
  • The 10th straight record-breaking year

  • Pallets consumed 2.8 billion board feet of lumber, nearly 8% of total U.S. lumber production for 1968

   
Robots
1967 to 1969 - Robots become more than science fiction
  • 1967: Robotic arms handle radioactive material at Argonne National Laboratory

  • 1969: Manufacturers use "giant hands" for gentle and precise handling of hot, cumbersome and dirty items

1940s   |  1950s   |  1960s   |  1970s   |  1980s   |  1990s   |  2000s

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