There are things you enjoy but don't necessarily want to know how they came to be. Yogurt is one (with that live bacteria culture—yum!) A fast-food cheeseburger is another (assembled by disgruntled, minimum-wage teenagers—argh!). Then there's sausage, and its brand-name cousin, SPAM (urp!).

Materials handling doesn't fall under this category. However, while its science won't induce a gag reflex, neither does it inspire much excitement, either among the general public or even among those who apply it. Excitement comes when someone with vision elevates it to an art and applies it in a way that spurs productivity.

That's the rationale behind Modern's annual Productivity Achievement Awards. These trophies recognize visionaries identified by our Editorial Advisory Board from among a year's worth of stories. These stories take readers behind the scenes of plant and distribution center operations. Unlike the sausage making process, artfully executed materials handling is a beautiful sight. This issue marks the 18th year Modern has recognized such excellence, but we've added a few enhancements. We're spotlighting innovation and modern thinking. These are two new award categories, but they're also qualities every modern materials handler should embrace.

Staples, the July cover story and winner of our new Innovation Award, uses “robotic retrievers” in a break-pack operation. These devices bring shelving pods to pickers and then return the pods to the floor. This is rule-changing innovation.

Tim Cavanagh, our new Modern Thinker Award winner, isn't even from an industrial setting. However, as director of process innovation for Lawrence & Memorial Hospital in New London, Conn., he saw his Emergency Dept.'s need to eliminate process waste as no different from that of any Six Sigma-certified plant operation. Again, rule changing (and we should all have his title).

Even the winners in our traditional award categories—Manufacturing (CAMI Automotive) and Warehousing/Distribution (American Eagle)—were worthy contenders where innovation is concerned. At CAMI, their use of automatic carts on the assembly line relieved them of being at the mercy of crippling conveyor shutdowns. American Eagle's method of cross-training workers gives it the flexibility to dynamically reallocate labor to different parts of its facility. By reacting instantly to changes in demand, American Eagle can run with less inventory and excess capacity. Rule changing.

Modern's Productivity Achievement Award winners are the kind of professionals who will ensure that materials handling maintains its relevance in a global economy built on instant gratification. They're finding ways to satisfy “want-it-now” consumers without sacrificing profit margins. Their kind of innovative thinking will inspire the materials handling industry to continue bringing rule-changing technology to market.