Surrounded by Material Handling
I was on vacation for a few days last week and spent some time cruising around Southern California. I had been there before but always had a destination and a reason in mind, and never really took any time to explore beyond my immediate destination.
This time, though, I had some free time to relax and soak it all in. Looking back on it, it’s amazing how much material handling I saw, really in every way. Traveling around Long Beach, i saw the port filled with huge barges loaded with hundreds of shipping containers. I saw cranes and hoists being used to unload those ships.
I saw forklifts in action, at every size business, from a tattoo parlor in Venice Beach using a truck to unload what looked to be large ink canisters, to the Hollywood Walk of Fame using one to haul some new granite for a new sidewalk star (I think it was Russell Crowe’s), to a shipyard in San Diego.
I saw industrial storage rack in the place where we picked up our rental car, and I saw conveyors both at the airport and at a cruise ship boarding station we rode our bikes past.
Most people don’t know it, but material handling is everywhere! Making that awareness more prevalent is the purpose of MHEDA’s Industry Advocacy committee, and the good news is, they have a lot of material to work with. Even on vacation, I can’t escape it!
Tags: conveyor, distribution, engineered systems, forklift, lift truck, material handling, pop culture, rack, storage & handling
