Lift trucks: help students learn to lift
There’s a lot of old fashioned thinking among old material handlers. For example, many lift truck makers and sellers have always seen hoists, cranes and overhead conveyors as competitive products. They bought into a huge case of “Either/Or.”
A new generation of material handlers needs to avoid inheriting that mindset, and Scott Miller is working hard to intercept it. He’s v.p. of operations for Harrington Hoist and chairman of The Overhead Alliance. The Alliance is among The Crane Manufacturers Association of America (CMAA), the Hoist Manufacturers Institute (HMI) and the Monorail Manufacturers Association (MMA) of the Material Handling Industry of America (MHIA). The goal is to reintroduce their technologies to a new generation of engineers. He says advancements in dual speed and infinitely variable speed controls make overhead lifting technologies reliable partners for lift trucks in many applications.
“Also radio remote controls are inexpensive and reliable today and they allow users to move away from a load,” he told me. “We as an industry have to prove an ROI.”
These are the kinds of lessons best taught through experience. My friend Colonel Alan Will has made such education a personal mission. I thought of him when I heard about the Overhead Alliance’s mission. I’ll tell you why. Then you’ll have an opportunity to do something amazing.
I got to know Col. Will a few years ago when he was Chief of Staff, 2d Marine Logistics Group, at Camp Lejeune, NC, and then recruited him as a member of Modern’s Editorial Advisory Board. Today he and his wife live in Virginia and he’s getting involved in a recruitment program of his own.
Col. Will is working with Paul D. Camp Community College in Suffolk, VA to develop a warehouse training program. The goal: to provide a trained workforce for the distribution centers under construction in that region. His challenge: the need to equip a warehouse laboratory. He found a new facility with 8,000-12,000 sq ft, and two dock doors, and it has access to a decent transportation infrastructure. He’s hoping for grant money to rent it, but that’s a separate issue. He’s also recruiting volunteers to donate materials handling equipment. He sent a wish list to the MHIA, hoping the Association could convince member firms to donate. He’ll need it soon, as the first 3-credit-hour course will be offered next January.
Lift truck training will be part of the education, including operation of counterbalanced lift trucks and reach trucks. He asked me if there were other kinds of equipment he and his team should be introducing to students. As I implied at the top of this blog, I think teaming overhead handling equipment with lift trucks would make excellent use of the facility they’ll eventually rent.
If you’re in a position to help Col. Will and the students he’s hoping to turn into working materials handlers, he’d love to hear from you. Can you reach into your network for a reach truck? Have you overheard colleagues talk about a spare overhead handling device? Let Col. Will know. You can reach him at abjbwill@yahoo.com.
Semper Fi.
Tom Andel
Digger Derrick commented:
