The Mheda Journal

Yet another low-budget (and I’m guessing low-quality) reality television show has turned to the material handling industry for help. On the heels of last January’s “Conveyor Belt of Love,” an ABC show that featured single ladies trying to pick a date from the men moving by on a conveyor belt, comes the newest dreadful combination of material handling and reality TV.

The new show, “Downfall,” premeired on June 22. It’s a trivia show and the contestants must answer the questions correctly and quickly enough to keep their possessions, which are scrolling by on a conveyor belt, from being dropped on to the ground below. Here’s a preview.

One reviewer said that ABC must have seen that old Conveyor Belt of Love lying around and decided they may as well use it. I did not watch the show, but I did read several reviews. It doesn’t sound like I missed much. The good news for material handlers who want to see the big belt in action: Downfall has several more episodes scheduled to air, whereas Conveyor Belt of Love only made one appearance. Check your local listings.

It’s Friday, so there may be a few of you headed out to Happy Hour for a cold one with the gang after work. Those of you in the Atlanta area can do so without straying too far from the material handling field, one of the few places I know of where it’s OK to have a beer on the job.

All right, that’s probably a bit of a stretch, but there is a restaurant in suburban Atlanta that has incorporated RFID technology into its offerings. According to an article I found in Wireless Week, “a restauranteur in suburban Atlanta has introduced connectivity to a Wall of Beer, incorporating connected flow meters on the beer taps and a pair of NFC card readers next to the taps.”

Unfortunately, the article does not name the bar, but here’s how the system works. Bar patrons who are members of the establishment’s “beer club” can go to the Wall of Beer, log into the system with a card and serve themselves. The system records which beer was tapped and how much, and charges the member’s account accordingly. Sensors in the taps detect the flow, pressure and temperature to monitor the product.

For the consumer, the benefit is convenience and a feel of exclusivity. For the restaurant, the benefit is much more accurate tracking of beer dispensing. (According to the article, a restaurant typically only gets paid for 75% percent of the beer it dispenses, due to spillage, bartenders who give away free drinks and other factors.) You may notice that each of those outcomes positively benefits the restaurant’s bottom line. Satisfied customers buy more beer, and the bar is not turning its inventory quite so quickly. Win-win.

The article notes that this isn’t legal in all states; there are 16 that do not have an alcohol self-service provision. But the sensors can still be used for tracking purposes. At the very least, it’s another innovative use of RFID capabilities. Who knows, the next time you’re tipping back a pint at the local pub, you may be in the middle of your next sales opportunity.

I ran across this little nugget today while researching our wikiMHEDA headlines. With all the talk still circulating the industry about green technology, I found it interesting.

A company in Buffalo, NY, specializes in eco-friendly products, like turning scrap tires and computer parts into item like wheel stops and sign posts. They have turned their attention to recycling old industrial conveyor belts made of rubber. According to the blog post in Buffalo Business First, “We don’t want to have any waste or have effect on the environment so were taking scrap and making it into different products. We’re going to take old conveyor belts from quarries and mines and cut them out and we have a customer in Texas who makes them into dock bumpers.” The quote is from Deborah Robbins, VP of Rubberform Recycled Products. They expect the process to start as early as next week.

As you’re all aware by now, the theme for MHEDA in 2010 is The Rules Have Changed. This is another example of small business ingenuity at work. If you or your customers have any old conveyor belts lying around, maybe it can return to another customer’s factory as a dock bumper. Full-circle material handling!

Have a great Memorial Day weekend, everyone!

Earlier this week, I sent an e-mail to every MHEDA Member who I know earned a “Top Dealer” award from a material handling equipment manufacturer in 2009. Now is the time of year when those lists start making the rounds, and once again, they are littered with MHEDA-member distributors. (If you won an award but did not receive an e-mail from me, that means I don’t know about it! Send me a message at editor@themhedajournal.org or leave a comment here to inform me!) It is our goal in the July issue to highlight some of those dealers who were able to acheive success in 2009 despite the conditions.

In the e-mail, I asked distributors how they did it? What was their strategy going into 2009? How did they implement it? How did they meet the award criteria? A smattering of the responses so far:

• “Our strategy was to keep all our salespeople and push service and units in stock for sale. We maintained stock levels in parts and rental fleet. We made ourselves a ‘one-stop shop’ by adding additional product offerings.”
• “We changed our sales force structure to an account management basis with each sales rep being assigned a minimum of 150 customers and target accounts. For each account, they developed their strategy to support the accounts. We provided incentives to our sales staff for doing new business, including equipment and aftermarket sales. We provided special service packages to our customers to assist them during these recessionary times.”
• “We simply listened to what customers needed to have done on their projects and made sure we met their goals with our finished prducts. We were not worried about meeting any special criteria, just stayed focused and kept everyone in the company busy.”

It’s all sound advice. Congrats to the winners, and I’d love to hear from even more of you! There’s still time. Now’s your chance to be included in the “How I Did It” issue of The MHEDA Journal, coming soon to your mailbox.

While surfing the Internet this morning looking for any breaking industry news, I came across an interesting story. While only tangentially related to the industry through the use of RFID tags, it did strike me as a great way for a small business to differentiate itself from the competition. The theme of MHEDA’s recent Convention was “The Rules Have Changed,” and Izzy’s Ice Cream shop in St. Paul, MN, has taken that mantra to heart.

An article in Computerworld magazine outlines Izzy’s new strategy for keeping the customers informed of flavor options. Apparently, one of the biggest customer service issues a shop like Izzy’s has is that customers don’t know what flavors are available until they get to the front of the line. Shop owners Jeff Sommers and Laura Hammel took care of that.

Izzy’s began using RFID technology to give customers real-time updates on the flavors it is offering each day. The store offers nearly 100 flavors, but only serves 32 on any given day. RFID readers in the dipping cabinets—the glass case where the ice cream tubs are housed—scan tags attached to the signs that label each tub to give customers updated information on available flavors. Every time a tub is replaced, an Izzy’s employee changes the RFID tag with one corresponding to the new flavor. The readers scan the tags 22 times every second and sends the information to a systems that projects the different flavors onto a wall in the store.

The information is also displayed on the store’s website, giving customers up-to-the-second information on whether their favorite flavor is available. 

Now that’s innovative! And just in time for summer!

With MHIA’s NA 2010 getting underway in Cleveland, OH, today (anyone out there attending? I’d love to hear how it’s going!), it’s a reminder that there’s only five more days until we leave for MHEDA’s 55th Annual Convention and Exhibitors’ Showcase, to be held May 1-5 in Marco Island, FL. It will make a busy week for some who are traveling straight from one to the other, I’m sure.

Even though we’re not attending in Cleveland, we will be in Marco Island in full force. For the first time ever, we will be producing a daily newsletter at the Convention, recapping previous day’s events and previewing what’s to come. MHEDA members, both attendees and non-attendees alike, will receive a daily morning e-mail with a newsletter that looks eerily similar to The MHEDA Connection e-newsletter you’ve all come to know and love. So if you see me (see the picture, below right) or my colleague Dan Vest in the hotel hallway, feel free to introduce yourself and give us a comment for the newsletter. You’ll be a rock star in no time!

There’s a lot happening in Marco Island, beginning Saturday, May 1. I hope to see you there!

Today is Earth Day; it’s the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, in fact. I learned yesterday that the impetus for Earth Day was the day when my hometown Cuyahoga River notoriously caught on fire near Cleveland, Ohio. Can’t say I was proud to learn that fact, but at least something positive came out of that debacle. (Well, two things, if you count the song “Burn On” by Randy Newman.)

Earth Day seems like as good a time as any to talk about the continuing efforts of our industry to go green and help end-users of material handling equipment (which is virtually everyone) do the same.

The material handling industry is at the forefront of the sustainability movement, whether it’s:

• Reducing forklift emissions
• Warehouses that go up instead of out and preserve more green space
• Turning off power to certain parts of a customer’s warehouse when not in use
• Encouraging adherence to green building codes
• Embracing alternative fuels
• Increasing remanufacturing opportunities.

And just today, I read about a study finding that logistics companies made commitments to sustainability during the recession.

Consider this a tribute to our industry. Keep up the good, green work! (Editor’s note: See The MHEDA Edge Editor’s Blog to read another perspective on Green Material Handling.) Happy Earth Day, everyone!

At long last, the Second Quarter (April) issue of The MHEDA Journal is back from the printer and being distributed to MHEDA members. Those of you traveling to upcoming material handling equipment trade shows can also pick up a copy at NA2010 in Cleveland in two weeks or at the MHEDA Annual Convention & Exhibitors’ Showcase next month.

This issue plays off the MHEDA Convention’s theme of “The Rules Have Changed,” and is chock-full of articles from distributors about how they’re changing the rules at their companies to drive profits. See how M & G Materials Handling (East Providence, RI) President Ken MacDonald has improved productivity by implementing 5s procedures. Read how Bill Rowan, president of Sunbelt Industrial Trucks (Dallas, TX), has instituted more strict credit policies to ensure better cash flow. Learn what Ted Springer, president of Springer Equipment Company (Birmingham, AL), is doing to diversify his product mix, and many more!

This issue also features articles from speakers at the Annual Convention, on topics from marketing to sales intelligence to thinking creatively and more. So even if you can’t make it to Marco Island, you can still receive some of the benefit by taking a look at this quarter’s issue.

It’s all available online now and is being mailed to subscribers this week. I’d love to hear your feedback. Leave a comment here or send an e-mail to editor@TheMhedaJournal.org. Thanks for reading!

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!

I can’t believe how fast time flies. It seems like it wasn’t very long ago that I was leaving Palm Desert, CA, after last year’s MHEDA Convention.

Now, it’s only three and a half weeks until the 55th installment of MHEDA’s Annual Convention and Exhibitors’ Showcase. It takes place May 1-5 in Marco Island, FL. MHEDA has been to Marco Island several times, most recently in 2005. That was my first visit, and I’m excited to be heading back. What a great locale!

Beyond that, this year’s Convention should prove to be a valuable one thanks to the strong speaker lineup and networking opportunities. With the industry taking a hit over the last few years, the MHEDA Convention is a great way to re-introduce yourself to suppliers, distributors and customers that you may not have heard from in a while. All the material handling industry’s heavy hitters will be there!

This year’s theme is The Rules Have Changed, a nod to the changing environment that we’ve endured this past several months. Speakers will present on topics ranging from marketing your business to profitability improvement, from to strategic planning to sales intelligence.

My colleagues and I will be there documenting the event. If you want your name and photo in The MHEDA Connection daily newsletter that’s going to be published there, seek us out! (I hope I didn’t scare everyone away!) I look forward to seeing you there!