Since being named president of Rapistan Systems in 1987, Pete Metros has seen quite a bit of change. And now he's going through some of his own. Earlier this summer, Metros passed on the presidency of what is now Siemens Dematic to Prashant Ranade, but continues his duties as a member of the Siemens Dematic board.

Some of the change Metros has seen was summed up in what he considers to be the three watershed events since 1987: the development of high-speed sortation systems for retailers; the emergence of warehouse management systems and related software, and; the expansion of materials handling's influence from within the four walls of facilities to other points across the supply chain.

Looking to the future, Metros also identified three shakers and movers that he expects to have major impact. One, he says, has to be radio frequency identification, calling its coming widespread use "a revolution."

Another major development will be the emergence of greater visibility into what is where at any point in the supply chain. Metros expects that the availability of such information to make decisions will result in smaller and smaller distribution centers.

The third major development will be a new emphasis on life cycle costs of materials handling equipment. This, he says, will be part of the push by companies to tightly manage these systems, achieve the top performance they are capable of, and remove people whenever possible from the process.