Modern's 60th Anniversary - The '60s
-- Modern Materials Handling, 5/1/2006
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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.
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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. | |
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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. | |
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1965 - Materials handling systems take center stage Modern prints a special report on systems planning and begins featuring a "system of the month" | |
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1963 to 1967 - New materials employed for unitization
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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. | |
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