The Mheda Journal

For more than a couple of years now, the value and validity of “going green” has been going on in the material handling industry. Some people say going green is a moral obligation to protect the environment. Others say it’s no more than a selling point to make people look eco-conscious but really doesn’t mean anything. For several years, the movement to go green in material handling has been the buzzword.

Scott Lee

However, according to Scott Lee, president of Conveyor Solutions in Schaumburg, Illinois, the movement is finally starting to get some traction. The biggest way to show customers savings from going green is through what Lee refers to as energy reduction systems. I’ll let him explain.

“It’s not terribly new—the government has been doing it forever—but it really wasn’t pushed out there in commercial world. We now sell customers on the idea of turning off their equipment when they’re not using it. Most customers start up their conveyor system when they walk in the building but don’t start using it for an hour or two. Then it’s like a bell curve, meaning that it’s super busy in the middle of the day and then almost empty at the end of the day. We shut off the parts not being used. It extends the life of the equipment and uses less energy, so there are huge gains to be made on energy reduction in the conveyor industry.”

In some cases, he says, those savings can result in a lightning-quick payback of just one to two months, depending on the system, of course. Thanks, Scott, for your insights. Pretty amazing stuff. So, once again, I’ll throw this question out there: is the green movement in material handling here to stay? What do you think?

RFID tag

To continue on the back-to-school blog theme for the second straight post, I ran across two more interesting uses of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology beyond efficient warehouse operations. A school district in California has proposed attaching the tags to preschool children to keep track of their whereabouts at school. While I understand the importance of not letting kids wander off, it seems a bit much. According to a New York Times editorial, the school district claims the tags are simply to eliminate attendance paperwork and pay more attention to teaching. A noble goal, but it seems a bit much. 

In a less invasive and more practical application, a school district in Illinois is using a RFID-GPS technology combo to monitor when and where students get on and off school buses. The children are issued ID cards that attach to backpacks and an electronic “reader” is located near the front door of the school bus. The date, time and location is coupled with the child’s name when a student enters or exits the bus. That information is transmitted in real time to a secure database at each school and the superintendent’s office. Knowing if, when and where a student got on or off the bus accounts for a significant portion of calls parents make to schools. This, it seems, is actually a good use of the technology. Particularly considering an acquaintance of mine whose child recently missed his stop on his first day of school and a brief panic ensued when he didn’t arrive on time. What do you think? Are these good uses of RFID technology?

It seems there is no end in sight for uses of RFID technology. It’s come a long way in just a few years. What else is out there? Where is RFID headed?

With all the bad news out there, it’s nice to report some good, heartwarming news for a change. A couple of weeks ago, I got a call from Jeff Ross, president of ESS Group (Brenham, TX). Jeff was calling to report a good deed done by one of his suppliers for a friend. It’s a nice story and I thought it deserved some recognition.

Jeff’s brother, Tom, lives in Big Bear, CA. Tom’s neighbor, Brad Floyd, is afflicted with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) and confined to a wheelchair. Brad’s wife Kay has a difficult time moving him in and out of the chair.  When Jeff heard about their situation, he called Gorbel, on e of his longtime suppliers, to see if they had anything to help. Although Gorbel does not make people-moving cranes, they happened to have a unit on site for evaluation made by another manufacturer. Gorbel Product Manager Mark Grandusky said that they would donate the lift if ESS Group would pay the freight. Ross agreed and the unit was delivered in mid-August.

As you can tell by the picture at right, both Brad and Kay are very happy with the end result. In fact, Jeff says, “Although Brad is a tough cowboy, the goodwill gesture brought tears to his eyes. This is a wonderful gesture by Gorbel and they did not blink an eye to help someone in need.”

Sounds like Jeff is selling himself a little short in there, too. Kudos to all involved and best wishes to the Floyds.

As I’ve mentioned previously in this space, one of the features in the October 2010 issue of The MHEDA Journal is going to commemorate MHEDA members who are celebrating milestone anniversaries this year.  One such company is Cross Bros. Co. in Rochester, NY. Yesterday I had a chance to speak to its President/CEO, Tom Pavone. I did some research about the company beforehand, but I still found out a lot about the company I didn’t know. For instance, the company’s name comes from founders William and Oliver Cross (as you may have guessed, they were brothers) in 1845. What I didn’t know: The company is still under Cross family ownership! It’s now in its 6th generation.

It’s rare to find many companies that make it even to a 3rd generation. In fact, an oft-cited statistic says that only one-third of family companies are passed down at all, and only 13% are passed down to the third generation. So to make it to 6, that’s pretty impressive. Another interesting fact: Pavone is not part of the family. He’s only the third Cross Bros. president in 165 years to not be part of the family. Apparently when they were looking for a new president in 2008, the family owners decided to look outside the family in order to inject some new perspective into the company. It’s an interesting position to be put in, though Pavone is making the most of it. He says the company has rebounded in 2010 after a subpar 2009 (who didn’t have a subpar 2009?) and is expecting big things in 2010.

As you can imagine, a lot of interesting things can happen in 165 years in business. Even though it didn’t start out in material handling (it started out in leather products), customer demand and company innovation have led it to become a full-service systems integrator. It’s really a fascinating business, and I urge you to read the Member Profile in the next issue of The MHEDA Journal when it comes out in October.

Some of my favorite things to read about in material handling are all the creative applications people have come up with for radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. No, it’s not just for tracking packages anymore. Some of the more unusual applications I’ve heard of include replacing credit cards, tracking prisoner/guard activity in penitentiaries and even ordering ice cream.

But today I read one that proves beyond all doubt just how pervasive RFID is. Apparently, the Australian sheep industry is in the middle of a controversy about whether or not to track the animals using electronic radio means or stick with the current paper-based system. The Victorian government and local saleyards are supportive of the introduction of electronic tagging of sheep. However, the Sheepmeat Council of Australia and the national saleyards body maintain the current paper-based sheep identification system is adequate.

A PriceWaterhouseCoopers report earlier this year indicated “a number of faults” with the current system, but change is slow to come. Sheepmeat Council of Australia President Kate Joseph, on the other hand, points to “the current high implementation and ongoing costs” of widespread use of RFID devices. So it’s a standstill at the moment.

I’d say “I’ll keep you posted,” but I doubt many of you have the means to capitalize on the burgeoning RFID market in Australian sheep. But it’s certainly an interesting application.

I wonder what the sheep would have to say?

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.

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!

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!