Up your game
We asked people in varied sectors of material handling what trends are on the horizon for the New Year and beyond. Here are their insights:
The industry that moves product has made its own mobility a high priority. That means using tablets or other devices on lift trucks or other machines. “Customers want to extend applications to wherever and whenever the work is done. This results in more accurate real-time information,” said Jim Rimay, vice president of sales for Handheld. “Everyone in the facility can be connected so that everyone can see what everyone else is doing. Just-in-time inventory in material handling really drives the need for real-time information.
“We’re finding that customers are looking to drive increased productivity with devices that allow multiple applications,” Rimay said. “They want to support legacy applications via terminal emulation, client server ERP apps and also newer browser-based cloud systems.”
“Applications are being migrated from single-use devices to multi-function ruggedized tablets. Tablet devices can be used for pick-n-pack or inventory cycle counting, and can be forklift-mounted, carried, or used kiosk-style,” Rimay said.
“Since Handheld offers a wide product line of rugged mobile computers, we work in many different industries. Some markets, electric utilities for example, have adopted mobile technology early and extensively. Others, say waste management and forestry, are just now widely deploying these types of devices to harness the productivity gains,” Rimay said. “Material handling industry has seen early wide-spread adoption, but is now fine-tuning the process and changing to newer cloud-based applications.”
“Offering multiple hardware platforms allows us to find the best ergonomic fit. And supporting both Windows and Android simultaneously provides the customer both flexibility and migration capabilities,” Rimay said. “By creating devices with broad appeal, we’re able to offer our rugged devices at prices that make them a great value.
On the horizon, “applications will develop that communicate in real-time with better endpoint connectivity and intelligence,” Rimay said
Ergonomics will continue to drive the industry, and look for automotive to start strong, according to officials from Herkules Equipment.
“Equipment cost may be higher but system speed can increase efficiency, requiring fewer units/lines and less operating requirements,” said Scott Priest, senior account manager for Herkules Equipment. Customers want “equipment that is flexible and more easily updated, equipment that is smarter and has fewer maintenance needs, and focuses on user return on investment.”
Customers are also looking for “ergonomics, definitely; aging capital requires updates, and ergo was not high on many lists in the past. Now businesses recognize that keeping the work force happy and healthy is good business sense,” Priest said.
Because material handling serves so many industries, it needs to “be on top of trends across the board–a difficult assignment,” Priest said.
Changes on their way include “‘data-driven’ processing – collecting and using data – analytics – to drive improvement and efficiency, for example, operator efficiency,” Priest said, and “autonomous vehicles – not track or sensor driven – that can make decisions based on environment conditions.”
The growth in ergonomic demand is the biggest change Mike Jenner, senior account manager for Herkules Equipment, has witnessed.
“Automotive will be ‘hot’ until the summer of 2017,” Jenner said. “Budgets are tightening, and most customers are waiting for their 2016 budgets to start purchasing.”
And this year, “companies will be challenged to get through the 2017 slowdown. But the fragility of the Chinese market, and their decreasing quality, will drive more companies to move back from China, as well as Mexico,” Jenner said.
Drones have work to do before they can work in material handling.
For drones to be used in warehouses, they need to be able to lift product, have battery power that will last and be safe, said Jaco Hooijer, operations manager at Qimarox. “For now, the lifting capability is too limited and battery life is too short to be interesting,” Hooijer said. “For safety, it would be necessary that the area where drones are operating cannot be entered by people or they should be separated by nets or fencing. In my opinion, their best use would be in warehouses that cover a big area with low rotation speed on stock, cost for people to move around is high and investment in automated systems is not feasible.”
The drone itself won’t be the major cost; software and adaptations to improve lifting will be. But investment on infrastructure is low. “You can start with a few and if demands increase you can quickly add more units,” he said.
Besides a potential trend toward drones, more manufacturers are specializing in a limited number of products and don’t sell directly to end-users, Hooijer said, “and specialized integrators that work with the end-user to find the best solution to their challenges and determine together with the customer which equipment is needed and from which supplier it is bought. End-users now are more aware of the fact that no machine builder or system integrator can build everything at the needed quality and for a good price as a specialized manufacture can that is working on higher volume and therefore can continuously work on improving of quality and better pricing.”
Consolidation has changed markets. “An increasing part of the market is being served through O.E.M. aftermarket programs driven by consolidation within the forklift dealer organizational structure,” said Tim Ryan, president of Rhino Rubber. “These new companies, which reach across state lines, have greater buying power than ever before, and their tire sales volume is growing.”
“Many tire manufacturers are looking for ways to increase revenues by offering ‘bolt on’ products that will appeal to the customer base they currently serve. An example of that is traditional polyurethane manufacturers offering rubber tire solutions to assist in growing market shares.
“Over the past 35 years, the single biggest change I have seen relates to the positioning of tires as commodity items, thus eliminating special compound tires to solve specific application problems. While this serves to reduce tire manufacturing costs, it will increase operating costs for those customers who are unable to extend or improve tire life when needed,” Ryan said.
“To see the future is always challenging; however regarding tires, I believe over time the demand will grow for localized knowledge-based companies that have service-driven commitments to their customers,” Ryan said.
Changes in the way people shop have made changes in warehouses, and as more people do more of their shopping online, companies want nimble ways to deliver quickly.
“Over the next five years, key components to warehouse automation will be increased visualization and flexibility. Access to goods via single-click mobile applications, as a next-step platform for e-commerce, presents consumers with an increased convenience to drive growth,” said Alex Kushner, sales and proposal manager, sortation and distribution for Beumer Corporation. “Further, with increasing competition throughout the industry, service levels are amplified. So how does an e-tailer fulfill clientele which are spread out, ordering a wide variety of goods, in an ever decreasing lead time? With a comprehensive automated fulfillment process solution and real-time knowledge of inventories.
“E-tailers will develop omni-channel fulfillment processes, sharing inventories to maximize flexibility to accommodate surges in various peaks throughout the year. Sortation solutions will need to adapt to these peaks as well, with infrastructures to adjust to changes in the business. To decrease lead time, the supply chain may choose to mix multiple product engines in common corrugate to reduce transportation time and cost, and/or pull from local retail location. The clientele will need a real-time look at each stage of their supply chain to determine the optimal fulfillment method. I foresee the growth of big data and mobile applications will aid engineers in algorithm development to make these decisions more data driven.”
So there will be a demand to handle surges at back-to-school and Cyber Monday and to get everything ordered in the same package. Which will lead to increased pressure on delivery companies.
“I expect a surge in growth in not only your major carriers (FedEx, UPS, Amazon, DHL), but also regional carriers preparing to automate,” said Kushner.
Clients want common systems that can keep up with growth and make sure the orders will arrive when promised.
“The biggest change I have witnessed in recent years is this push to ‘waveless’ fulfillment, and the impact that has on the fulfillment process. To be honest, I am still working to gather information to generate an informed decision on the impact it has on efficiency and labor,” Kushner said. “I expect a further push in the customization of software and big data to influence fulfillment processes, particularly the allocation of inventories to fulfill orders most efficiently.”
Mary Glindinning is a freelance writer who has worked at daily and weekly newspapers for more than 20 years. She lives in rural Shullsburg, Wis. E-mail [email protected] to contact Mary.
