MHI Blog -- Hoists operate simultaneously with stepless variable speed control to ensure safe and efficient material handling.

Lifting and moving long and bulky loads can often present a problem in industrial or manufacturing material handling applications but member companies of the Hoist Manufacturers Institute (HMI) have overhead solutions based on simultaneous operation of hoists.

Material Handling & Logistics – The talent shortage in the logistics industry is not limited to truck drivers. Higher supply chain volumes and greater operational complexities are creating increased demand for logistics professionals at every level of the supply chain, from the front lines to senior executives, according to a new study form the University of Tennessee, Knoxville's, Haslam College of Business.

A new study, released on May 11, shows that this managerial skill set is already scarce in the supply chain industry and that most executives struggle to strategically recruit for their talent gaps. The report offers some best practices from benchmark companies to analyzing, finding, recruiting, developing and retaining talent that meets a company's long-term supply chain needs.

Forbes -- At JDA’s Focus event, Rich Beck, the Sr. Vice President of Global Operations at PepsiCo, gave the keynote on the second day of the conference.  Rich said that their supply chain goals included "digitizing the value chain" (JDA was a key solution provider in this area) and "sustainability."

I’ve been covering supply chain management for twenty years. Last year, I spent 20 percent of my time on the road.  And I hear many, many supply chain speeches.  I can count on a few fingers of one hand the number of supply chain executives I have heard say sustainability was one of their major goals. That will change.

Supply Management -- Supply chain’s role in increasing sustainability is becoming an increasingly important strategic issue for corporations, according to research. 

Ethical Corporation’s State of Sustainability report revealed that 71 per cent of respondents to a survey said their organizational leader was convinced of the value of sustainability. And even where corporate leaders were not fully engaged, 87 per cent of respondents agreed that sustainability was becoming increasingly important for strategy. 

NGT News -- Fourteen fleets operating more than 53,000 tractors and 160,000 trailers achieved fuel savings of $477 million in 2014 by adopting a variety of fuel efficiency technologies, according to the Annual Fleet Fuel Study released by the North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE).

NACFE says these fleets represent a growing focus on fuel efficiency in the industry. The fleet improvements save $9,000 per year per truck, with an estimated payback period of two-and-a-half years, and reduce their carbon emissions by 19%.

Material Handling & Logistics -- Merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in the transportation and logistics industry had mixed results in the first quarter of 2015, as overall volume declined sequentially but deal value increased, according to consulting firm PwC US. Megadeal activity (transactions worth more than $1 billion) was the primary driver behind the increase in value, accounting for almost 55% of total deal value for the quarter.

Supply Chain Brain -- Today's workforce consists of Baby Boomers hanging on to their jobs, Gen Xers growing impatient to move up, and Millennials expecting to leapfrog their way to the top. Generations expert Hannah Ubl of BridgeWorks offers tips for leaders who must manage this potentially combustible mix.

Baby Boomers expected to move up the career ladder by working hard and "paying their dues," says Ubl. That concept also is embraced by Millennials, but in a different way, she says. "Millennials know they have to work hard, but they do expect their career to progress quickly. In their minds, they have paid their dues after three years."

Press-Telegram -- Cargo containers filled with some 40,000 pounds of citrus picked from the Central Valley can sit for up to a month in a truck yard miles from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

Steve Gardner’s yard, where 90 additional containers of frozen foods and California agriculture sit, is an example of what can go wrong with what academics and economists call the goods movement industry. In Southern California, it’s a multimillion dollar industry that employs tens of thousands of workers, and is rife with congestion problems that’s slowing the region’s economy.

Supply Chain Management Review -- Whether you’re a retailer, manufacturer, or retail or industrial distributor, e-commerce is changing your life and forcing you to think differently about how you fill, package, and ship orders. Given the projections for growth of e-commerce sales in the coming years, it’s only going to get worse. In my view, that’s an opportunity for supply chain professionals to deliver value for their companies. 

MHI Blog -- Forklift manufacturers from around the United States will be celebrating National Forklift Safety Day on June 9, 2015.

National Forklift Safety Day, sponsored by the Industrial Truck Association (ITA), is designated to be a day of discussion and awareness about forklift safety best practices.

NASDAQ -- Eight feet of added ceiling height may not seem like a lot, but for warehouse builders, the extra clearance can be the difference between an empty building and one that attracts a tenant such as Walmart.com or Amazon.com.

Real-estate firm Prologis Inc.'s latest project, a one-million-square-foot warehouse in Tracy, Calif., will boast a 40-foot-high ceiling, 25% taller than the typical 32 feet. The project isn't pre-leased, making this the first speculative building of such dimension that the company has built.

EBN -- Too often, mid-market companies believe that cutting costs in the supply chain will lead to business success. Instead, these organizations need to focus on value to drive growth and enhance supply chain activities.

"Companies that have a view of the value of the supply chain rather than a focus on cost and bottom line expenses do better," Brad Huff, executive vice president and general manager at TAKE Supply Chain told EBN in an interview. "If you are not driving top line revenue, you aren't driving growth."

Supply Chain Brain -- Supply chains in the commercial and consumer sector have long drawn on the experience and lessons derived from military logistics. That's never been truer than with recent conflicts in the Middle East. The challenge of provisioning remote outposts of soldiers and supplies in that region of the world have yielded some creative solutions that later can be transferred to private business. They can also be of value in coping with natural disasters, in which key supply lines are often cut for extended periods of time. In this interview, conducted at the annual conference of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals, Supply Chain Visions' Steve Geary discusses how both the military and business worlds are functioning in today’s world of "extreme supply chains."