Materials handling research: the future
By Staff -- Modern Materials Handling, 9/1/1998
"Today, the most interesting materials handling problems require systems not point solutions. As a result, the nature of materials handling research has to become more technology intensive and more multi-disciplinary."That's how Dr. Leon McGinnis of Georgia Tech opened the recent International Material Handling Research Colloquium. The event was produced by the Material Handling Institute and sponsored in part by Modern Materials Handling.
During the 4-day program attended by more than 50 leading materials handling academics from around the world, it became evident that McGinnis had accurately judged the type of materials handling research that he and other academics are most likely to be doing in the near future.
For instance, Bill Beckenbaugh, vice president of technology systems at Motorola, had this to say to the researchers about the needs of manufacturers:
"The big challenge is to find ways to take products made at various locations and coordinate their availability at a single point of final assembly to create finished goods." Beckenbaugh went on to say that research is clearly need on the integration of factory scheduling and materials handling automation.
Similarly, there are changes afoot on the distribution side too.
"Supply chain management today is based on an old paradigm," said consultant Art St. Onge of St. Onge Co. "That paradigm is focused on supplying retailers who then supply consumers. The future is supplying the consumer directly."
St. Onge went on to say that by the years 2005-2010, there will be $1.5 trillion of consumer goods that will travel directly from a distribution center or manufacturer directly to the consumer. That, in turn, will require less finished product inventory and different methods of handling it.
Even the Department of Defense is looking for new ways to handle materials and manage inventory. Glenn Petrina of the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency says improvements in the military supply chain include more shipments same day as received, increased reliance on just-in-time strategies, and more direct shipments direct from the supplier to the end user.
According to Dr. Deb Medeiros of Penn State, these trends raise several challenges for materials handling research. Included are the development of more agile layouts as well as layouts that minimize load travel, putting a focus on materials transport and related handling systems.
Or as Dr. Mickey Wilhelm of the University of Louisville, sees it, "Materials handling research has to have a focus on solving problems and creating practical systems. And with that there needs to be more knowledge transfer from academics to industry."
For more information about research done by these and other academics who attended the colloquium, contact the Material Handling Institute in Charlotte at 704-676-1190.
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