Topic: Equipment

Fully autonomous lift trucks are on the scene, and with higher-end price tags than conventional trucks, robotics-as-a-service may shape up as the leading model.

Demand for pallets is running high, as reflected by pallet use trends from our 2021 survey. However, there was a sharp rise in respondents having issues with availability and cost with used wood pallets, and a modest rise in readers using semi- or fully-automated pallet wrapping equipment.

In this podcast, Jim Page, Sales Manager, and Matt Kindt, Application Specialist at Huron Technology Corp., join Michael Levans, Group Editorial Director of Peerless Media's Supply Chain Group, to discuss how e-commerce growth has exaggerated the labor and square footage problems associated with using totes in distribution facilities.

While the technology has been available for a decade, auton­omous lift trucks have been slow to catch on. That may be changing.

Once thought of as reliant on fixed guidance infrastructure and aimed at moving larger loads across facilities, the automatic guided vehicle evolved. AGVs today can move loads large and small, and some can reliably lift multiple levels high. Some now even use natural feature navigation and collaborate more closely with people.

While the technology has been available for a decade, autonomous lift trucks have been slow to catch on. That may be changing.

In its annual survey of lift truck buy/lease activities and use, Modern finds that decision making and practices fluctuated much less than might have been anticipated given the times. Fleet size has remained stable, and buyers still put price, quality and safety at the top of their checklists.

With this year’s Top 20 based on 2020 revenues, a challenging pandemic year, it’s perhaps no surprise the bottom-line total for the suppliers on our list dipped slightly, but by less than 2%. Some suppliers managed growth, since even in the pandemic year there were goods to move to consumers and e-commerce warehouses at the pallet level.

A common thread to technology such as telematics and fleet software, operator assist features, and motive power advancements is the positive impact these technologies have on getting more work done, in a safer manner, for the operator.

Lift truck fleet managers and operators expect more data about everything from seats and tires to on-board technologies that put critical information front and center. These advances are the only way for operations and drivers to keep pace with demands.

Telematics, VR and other technologies can help with safety and training, but don’t lessen the need for best practices like hands-on training, documenting training, clear procedures and continuous improvement.

Telematics helps the Chicago Tribune’s printing center operation reduce lift truck impacts by 30% and gain vital fleet information.

How a Minnesota cold storage 3PL is reaping benefits of a paperless logistics management system.

Modern sat down with Jordan Julius, Advanced Manufacturing Engineering, New Product Introduction at GE Appliances.

As automation, robotics and artificial intelligence continue to infiltrate all corners of supply chain management, the warehouse dock is getting a technological facelift of its own.

Uni-Craft has designed Pass-Through Upenders to automate the repositioning of a wide range of products from furniture to coils and more.

Not everything fits in a standard sized carton that moves around the DC with ease. Some items are just too big, too small, too heavy or too irregularly shaped for standard conveyors and require special handling. Don’t be intimidated. With the right planning and resource allocation, you’ve got this.

A mobile goods-to-person order picking system helps an abrasives products maker efficiently fill orders from expanded inventory, while also bringing some training and retention benefits.

With narrower aisle configurations on the rise due to warehouse capacity issues, reach truck ergonomics can help when it comes to productivity and safety.

This month’s index is 71.3, steady with the May index of 72.1.