Productivity is ever important in the MMH industry today. Between a waning recession and lack of qualified new applicants, companies are relying more heavily on getting more out of their existing workforce. Some companies are following approaches developed by companies like Toyota; they’re going lean, green, just in time, or even flexible. Regardless of the… Read more
On April 23, 2013, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar posted that manufacturing, which creates over 292,000 jobs in the state, is on the rise in Minnesota. This industry has been considered the backbone of the state, and according to MPR news, “…has been one of the big engines of economic recovery after the recession.” However, at… Read more
New Equipment vs Ergonomic Posture on Old Equipment in Manual Material Handling Most manual material handling (MMH) requires some cognitive and physical multitasking. The ability to multitask is such a given these days that managers gloss over it on resumes. Still, multitasking is a skill in which many people pride themselves. However, according to Stanford… Read more
Material Handling and Logistics’ 2013 Annual Salary Survey results are in, and there is a lot to look at. According to the MH&L website, respondents were asked, “What is the biggest challenge facing the material handling and logistics industry today?” While several consistent themes surfaced, we want to focus on one in particular in this… Read more
Green and lean manufacturing are two terms that go hand-in-hand. Green manufacturing is a response to the growing knowledge of the impact of environmental pollutants. It seeks to minimize waste that negatively affects air, water, and/or soil. Lean manufacturing also strives to eliminate waste from a process. However, the intent of lean may not really… Read more
When researching the most innovative and successful manual material handling (MMH) solutions, results consistently point to automotive giants. Toyota is credited for having pioneered today’s Lean manufacturing. Lean, along with Just in Time, focuses on increasing efficiency and decreasing waste. Many businesses are finding success with these models. As with anything, however, one model does… Read more
Most of the articles written on our site involve material handling in manufacturing or warehousing. These are certainly areas of heavy lifting, pushing and pulling. But they are by no means the only industry that requires pushing or pulling material. The hospitality, healthcare and gaming industries also require some heavy moving. In the hospitality industry… Read more
Safety issues with the use of lift tricks have prompted a new paradigm in manual material handling (MMH). Consequently, “forklift-free” is no longer a foreign term in MMH, but people still need convincing when it comes to making the switch. While everyone is all for eliminating injury and death caused by forklift accidents, not everyone… Read more
From the warehouse to the hospital, pushing and pulling is a requirement of a number of jobs. Do a quick search of physical requirements of manual material handling (MMH) jobs, and you’ll return a lot of phrases like, “Heavy pushing and pulling,” and “Extensive periods of pushing and pulling.” We know this is a necessary… Read more
According to the Texas Workers’ Compensation Commission, “…Material handling often composes one of the largest cost components of a product, operation, or service, and unnecessary handling of materials costs time and money.” Unnecessary handling along with unnecessary wait time can increase work in progress (WIP). For optimal production management, one works to minimize WIP. It… Read more