Going for growth
By Staff -- Modern Materials Handling, 12/1/1999
After a dozen-plus years moving up its managerial ranks, John Nofsinger recently took over as CEO of Material Handling Industry. It's clear he intends to ask more of member firms, to reach out to other industry groups, and to broaden the membership.Since his election to the CEO post, Nofsinger has worked "to reenergize involvement of our voluntary, member-firm leaders in planning MHI long-term strategy." More attention has been paid to better liaison with related trade groups.
There's also an effort under way to modify MHI's rules on membership. A working group activity, if agreed upon, would make MHI "more inclusive," Nofsinger says, allowing it to add companies more involved with process and assembly technologies, third-party warehousing and logistics, and software controls, for example.
"I would be disappointed," he says, "if we couldn't grow MHI to an organization with 1,000 leading member firms" in the not too distant future.
Show sponsorship will continue, of course. "We're quite visible through our major trade shows in Chicago and Detroit," he notes. But he stresses how "we're much more than just a show organization. MHI is an association for all reasons, all seasons."
There's an incredibly large and wide variety of technical and educational issues, programs, and projects in which MHI is involved throughout the year.
This large menu of items reflects the membership: MHI's 700 members range from the industry's biggest to smallest companies, from its most to least technologically sophisticated.
Nofsinger and his crew of 33 fill roles as technical evangelists for materials handling logistics. And they offer guidance and a start toward solutions to problems when asked.
Indeed, he suggests how MHI might provide "a kind of 911 service for materials handling logistics," offering information to those facing challenges or seeking opportunities. When responding, however, Nofsinger points to the need for balance. It's like calling the results of flipping a two-sided coin. "We have to be careful that we don't focus on just one side (equipment) or the other (information systems) coming up."
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