It's anything but business as usual when it comes to materials handling these days. Not only are companies looking for more efficient ways to handle inventory within the four walls, but they are also looking for new approaches to their manufacturing and distribution networks. In short, companies are redefining how to be smart so that they can be more competitive.

That was the thrust of an online roundtable last month on better materials handling in a tough economy. Roundtable participants were Tony Gerace of Tompkins Associates, Terry Tysseland of Ingram Micro, and Bob Meigs of QSC Audio Products. The roundtable was held as part of the SupplyChainLinkExpo presented by Modern Materials Handling and the other publications in the Supply Chain/OEM Group of Cahners Business Information.

Key trends roundtable participants identified include facility consolidations and other strategic reorganizations of supply chain components, more sophisticated information systems, and improved use of materials handling automation.

The key objective, they said, is to work smarter for more effective use of resources already in place as well as higher performance for new capital investments. This often includes repurposing of facilities and combining new and used equipment to create better systems.

According to Tysseland, the end result is increased productivity and 30% efficiency gains through automated materials handling systems. In manufacturing, said Meigs, cycle times have been cut from weeks to hours.

To get to both points, there must be a focus on the total operations from concept to implementation, explained Gerace. Driving forces here are both logical and physical automation as well as complete integration of materials handling and information systems.