Furniture dollies are one of the simplest pieces of materials handling equipment you can own. They are basically just four wheels and a platform. But there is more to choosing the right furniture dolly than meets the eye. First of all, you want to make sure the furniture dolly you buy is strong enough to … Read more
If you have been living in a cave for the past several years, you may not be familiar with the term “blockchain”. But companies like big, influential companies like Wal-Mart and Amazon — and even smaller businesses like grocery stores and fast food restaurants — are paying attention to blockchain and are even beginning to … Read more
You might think police or firefighter would be the most dangerous job among US workers. But it actually was truck driver. With 745 on the job deaths in 2015, truck drivers had the highest percentage of on the job deaths in the US, according to statistics released this month by the US Bureau of Labor … Read more
In the popular “I Robot” series of novels and movie of the same name, the famed science fiction writer Isaac Asimov created the First Law of Robotics: “A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.” Unfortunately, that’s just fiction. In real life, people can be … Read more
Warehouses or distribution and fulfillment centers use a variety of methods to pick stock from shelves and get it to the shipping department. One such method is called Pick Module. A Pick Module features order pickers who pick products from full cases or individual items from broken or split cases and place them in a … Read more
If Hatchimals are on your child’s holiday list this year and you haven’t already snagged one of these hotter-than-hot holiday toys, you may be out of luck until after the holidays. Spin Master, the Chinese manufacturer of these hard-to-get toys, says it has run out of stock until at least early next year, according to a … Read more
In case you haven’t heard, cigarette smoking is out and vaping is in — at least among young people. But the rise in popularity of e-cigarettes and vaping pens has raised new concerns about workplace smoking that most businesses though had already been resolved. Indoor smoking is now banned in nearly every state, thanks to … Read more
In Part I of the series on Initiating A Successful Next-Day Delivery Program I noted that creating a successful next-day delivery service depends on 9 steps. 1. Assessing your order history 2. Dynamic Order versus Wave Management 3. The proper software to use 4. An accurate inventory 5. Labor management 6. Storage 7. Picking 8. … Read more
A mechanic’s crawler is the little board on wheels that enable auto mechanics and others to slide under cars, trucks, and other equipment. They are sometimes called mechanic’s creepers as well as crawlers — which is pretty creepy by itself — but there is nothing scary about using one of these convenient devices. They can … Read more
As any business owner can tell you, workplaces can be hazardous to employees. Every year, more than $50 billion is spent on worker disability claims. The saddest part is that most workplace injuries can be easily avoided if a few simple changes are made. Identifying risks within the workplace and making corrections, retraining workers to … Read more
