The Mheda Journal

As I mentioned in my post on November 19, the upcoming Industry Forecast issue of The MHEDA Journal will feature a number of Top 10 Lists. I already posted the Top 10 Challenges facing material handing distributors, and today it’s time for a new list: The Top 10 business books that members are reading.

This list was a little more difficult to compile, because members had such a diverse reading list, but I thought I’d better share it now so you can head to the bookstore while you’re shopping this holiday season. The recommendations come from distributors of lift trucks, conveyors, storage rack and other material handling equipment. Some of these books are recent, some not so much, but members were able to glean some helpful information from all of them. Maybe something to add to your list!

Keep reading the blog for more Top 10 lists throughout December and January.

Top 10 Business Books Members Are Reading

1. How the Mighty Fall: And Why Some Companies Never Give In by Jim Collins (2009)
2. Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture by Ellen Ruppel Shell (2009)
3. Chasing the Rabbit: How Market Leaders Outdistance the Competition and How Great Companies Can Catch Up and Win by Steven J. Spear (2008)
4. The Ten Commandments for Business Failure by Donald R. Keough (2008)
5. Objective Based Selling by Gary T. Moore (2008)
6. Exceeding Customer Expectations: What Enterprise, America’s #1 Car Rental Company, Can Teach You About Creating Lifetime Customers by Kirk Kazanjian (2007)
7. Restructuring Distribution Sales Efforts for Maximum Productivity by Scott Benfield (2006)
8. Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value and Build Competitive Advantage by Daniel Esty and Andrew Winston (2006)
9. Return on Customer: Creating Maximum Value From Your Scarcest Resource by Don Peppers and Martha Rogers (2005)
10. The Oz Principle: Getting Results Through Individual and Organizational Accountability by Roger Connors, Craig Hickman and Tom Smith (1998)

Hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving . In the spirit of the holiday, thanks to all my loyal readers out there. I appreciate your support, as does MHEDA. I also thank all the hard-working men and women of the material handling industry who take the time to participate in The MHEDA Journal, MHEDA Edge, The MHEDA Connection and wikiMHEDA. We greatly appreciate your time and efforts!

Also, thanks to the MHEDA staff, who make my job a lot easier.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Price comparison just got a little bit easier, and just in time for the holiday shopping season. A group of enterprising students at the Missouri University of Science and Technology developed an iPhone app that turns the handheld device into a bar code scanner. According to an article on mystateline.com:

The students say they looked at other products designed to read the Universal Product Code attached to virtually every product and discovered most couldn’t read all available code types.

The students’ app, called Barcodescan, not only reads all types of UPC codes but it scours the Internet for prices, product reviews and other information about the product.

The free program for iPhone users has been downloaded more than a quarter-million times. The final, more feature-rich version is currently available for 99-cents on the iPhone app store or on iTunes.

Material handling is all about creating efficiencies, and these students have that concept in mind. It’s nice to see some young minds getting into the spirit. For more information, see the November 25 headlines on www.wikimheda.org.

I was looking at MHEDA’s Web site today and noticed an announcement there that says only 4 booths remain for next year’s Exhibitors’ Showcase at the Annual Convention next May in Marco Island, FL. So if you’re planning to exhibit a booth and have not yet registered, act now! Call the MHEDA office at 847-680-3500 and let them know!

On November 21, the employment-related portion of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act will go into effect for businesses. (The healthcare-related part went into effect in May). GINA is intended to protect Americans against discrimination based on their genetic information when it comes to health insurance and employment. The act requires covered entities to obtain and post notices informing covered individuals of their rights under the law.

What does that mean? Good question. According to genome.gov:

GINA, together with already existing nondiscrimination provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, generally prohibits health insurers or health plan administrators from requesting or requiring genetic information of an individual or the individual’s family members, or using it for decisions regarding coverage, rates, or preexisting conditions. The law also prohibits most employers from using genetic information for hiring, firing, or promotion decisions, and for any decisions regarding terms of employment.

This information is not particular to material handling, but it will affect business owners of all sizes. More information can be found at http://www.genome.gov/24519851.

The industry forecast is almost complete! I’ve spent the last several weeks compiling data from MHEDA distributors about what to expect in 2010. The findings have been intriguing, to say the least. Over the next few weeks I’m going to be posting some information here leading up to the publishing of the First Quarter 2010 issue in January.

Let’s start today with an quick Top 10 list. Here are the top 10 challenges that material handling distributors expect to face in the coming year. Not surprisingly, the uncertain economy remains at the top of the list.

Top 10 Challenges Facing Distributors in 2010:

1. The economy
2. Expense control
3. Consolidation of customers
4. Increased competition
5. Commoditization of products
6. Selling the value of distributors
7. Finding qualified technicians
8. Margin pressures
9. Maintaining employee morale
10. Rising health care and benefit costs

Keep reading for more lists in the coming weeks!

Christmas is coming, and here’s the hot new video game sensation MHEDA members can feel good about getting their employees. A new application from Etcetera Edutainment called “Forklift Safety Sim” puts players through simulated real-world forklift safety training.

According to the Web site,

“Forklift Safety Sim delivers instruction in OSHA-based forklift safety standards and best practices by putting trainees through the paces with tasks that they would commonly find in a real work environment. This software gives users hands-on experience with inspection, traffic rules, load movement, and more, all in a virtual workplace filled with people, vehicles, and safety hazards that they must master. An exam mode lets trainees apply the lessons they have learned, tracks their performance, and gives them feedback so that they have a chance to learn immediately from the errors and mistakes that they made.”

Click here for the promo video.

Earlier this week, I spoke to Dr. Lowell Catlett, an economics professor at New Mexico State University who will be a keynote speaker at MHEDA’s Convention next year. There’ll be an article from Dr. Catlett in the upcoming issue of The MHEDA Journal, but he said one interesting thing that I couldn’t wait to share.  

Did you know that despite the recession, the United States’ gross domestic product for 2008 was actually higher than in 2007? I was stunned by this. The GDP actually rose by 2.6%. Catlett says,

“The year of 2008, we actually had an increase in gross domestic product to a $14.4 trillion economy, a 2.6% increase over the previous record year of 2007.”

How is that possible? Well, I’m as confused about it as anyone including Catlett, who added:

“Economists don’t have a true definition of a recession. A lot of us just basically say a couple of quarters where gross domestic product doesn’t grow.”

Since, the GDP has since shrunk by 1.9 percent over the last three quarters, I guess that qualifies. For more intriguing commentary from Dr. Lowell Catlett, check out the next issue of The MHEDA Journal.

Today is Veterans Day, so I’d like to give a special shout-out to those individuals who currently serve or have previously served our great country. For more about how MHEDA has acknowledged the military members in the association, click here.

As I prepare our Annual Industry Forecast article (which will be released in print and online on January 15), I’ve been talking to a host of material handling equipment distributors. Even though they aren’t predicting a robust recovery, they have outlined a few places where they see opportunity.

Scott Lee, president of engineered systems integrator Conveyor Solutions (Schaumburg, IL) and a director on the MHEDA Board, outlined some when I spoke to him a few days ago. In talking about some recent quoting and a general pick-up in activity, he said:

“It’s weird out there because it’s not these big, new projects where people are expanding. It is actually a lot of consolidation work that companies are doing to stay afloat and reduce resources. They’re reducing the number of facilities, so it creates opportunities for us to help them. Plus, I also think it’s a lot of end-of-the-year money too. People who may not have done as bad as they planned to are saying, ‘Let’s consolidate these two buildings and get this done for next year.’”

Scott didn’t make a solid prediction for next year, but was glad to report an uptick in business lately. As I hash through more information and distributor comments, I’ll keep posting updates of what I learn.

Any of you out there with any predictions for next year, feel free to leave a comment and let me know!