MHI Industry News
   
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COVID-19 has facilitated the need to re-imagine every aspect of our supply chain. In this new video, Kathy Fulton and Mark Richards from the American Logistics Aid Network comment on the current situation and offer best practices and resources for moving forward.
Innovation. Quality. Service
The Raymond Corporation
It takes a lot to be a global leader. It takes a proud history of engineering material handling solutions that lead the way in innovation. It takes skilled and talented people committed to constant improvement. It requires a level of service that offers end-to-end solutions that anticipate customers’ needs.
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MHI Updates
  
MHI has created a virtual show experience to connect manufacturing and supply chain professionals with all the education and solution sourcing that MODEX delivered in 2020. While nothing can match the power of attending the face-to-face expo, MODEX 365 delivers the latest equipment and technology solutions and education in a digital format to meet the immediate needs of manufacturing and supply chain professionals. MODEX 365 provides instant access to virtual booth showcases, show news, expo videos, webinars, podcasts and more directly from the MODEX 2020 expo.
  
It’s no secret that the ongoing labor shortage and consumers’ desire for ever-shorter delivery times have combined to pose a challenge for supply chains. These trends, combined with the strain posed by the COVID-10 pandemic on supply chains, have taken these challenges to unprecedented levels. The good news is that with autonomous mobile robots, automated storage and retrieval systems, mobile sorters, palletizers and other automated solutions, warehouses and distribution centers have added some powerful new tools to their arsenal.
   
J-tec Industries
      
FOX IV Technologies, Inc.
   
MHI has put together the resources to help keep essential manufacturing, material handling and supply chain operations running during this crisis.
At MODEX 2020 the latest edition to the MHI Annual Industry Report was unveiled to an eager crowd. George Prest along with Deloitte representative Thomas Boykin and a panel of contributors delivered the results and implications of the growing body of research.
MHI Industry Group, Protective Guarding Manufacturers Association (ProGMA), released its first American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standard—Steel Mesh Containment Panels used on Pallet Rack Vertical Storage Systems Applications: Performance and Testing Requirements. This is the first step in providing the marketplace with certified product testing protocol.
MHI recently donated $25,550 to the Rock Hill School District Three Education Foundation, which is the foundation that supports in part the "Back the Pack" program. The money was raised as part of the proceeds from MHI Industry Night at MODEX 2020. Back the Pack provides meals during the school year for K-12 students in need of nutritional support during weekends when school meals are unavailable.
Technology and Innovation
The growing use of collaborative robots, or cobots, is giving some warehousing and distribution centers a much-needed productivity boost. Guided by sensors, cameras and artificial intelligence (AI), cobots can move autonomously and work alongside human employees to complete various tasks. Unlike large industrial robots, they are small, lightweight and flexible enough to work in a warehouse environment where people and equipment are constantly on the move.
Innovation in the sensor arena—especially related to cameras and safety—is creating opportunities for increased functionality with AGVs and mobile robots. With ever-advancing technologies, knowing when to invest and when to wait can be tricky.
When the Doors are Open
Berner International Corporation
Berner Industrial Air Curtains: Maintain temperatures, keep out flying insects, protect perishables, de-stratify the air. Made in U.S.A., we make it easy to reliably give your customer an energy saving solution for the Shipping & Receiving doors.  Berner air curtains are engineered to perform, built to last, and are simple to install, operate, & maintain.
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Education & Professional Development
The MODEX Education Conference serves to educate the industry on timely and relevant topics for today’s industry professionals. This year MHI rolled out the Top Education Seminars program, a program designed to reward seminars that go above and beyond in educating attendees. The Top Education Seminars were chosen based on net promoter score, relevancy score, and attendance; all ratings used to determine the winners were from MODEX 2020 attendees.
   
Tennant Company
      
Lean Factory America, LLC
   
Fulfillment Robot DEMOS at MODEX
Locus Robotics
Locus customers picked over 13 million items, delivering 400% more volume in Peak 2019 compared to 2018 – 1 million during Cyber Week alone!
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Supply Chain Trends
  
The degree to which a supply chain can achieve agility—that is, the ability to quickly react and respond to unforeseen events within its network—increasingly gives organizations an edge in an increasingly uncertain and continuously changing business environment. No company, however, can become agile without achieving greater visibility into its multitude of moving parts.
Deloitte recently released a report titled “COVID-19: Orchestrating the recovery of organizations and supply chains” that details how supply chains might move from a response to recovery. While many supply chains set up a central command center to speed up response during crises, as the crisis moves into recovery, that command center can flow into a central orchestration point. 
Manufacturing
Since 1933, the Monorail Manufacturers Association (MMA) has been promoting the advantages and safe use of patented and enclosed track underhung crane and monorail systems. The independent incorporated trade association, affiliated with MHI, has actively supported the development and certification of safety standards.
   
Stanbury Electrical Engineering LLC
      
HMS Industrial Networks
   
Workforce
  
A select number of businesses, including some manufacturing, distribution centers and transportation companies, have been instructed to continue their business operations due to their critical nature.
If your operations are critical, you must implement new and stringent health and safety protocols. Thomas Insights put together seven steps to help keep your employees safe and ensure that the essential work your company delivers can continue.
Numerous options exist for ergonomic workstations, but there are also numerous keys to selecting the proper equipment to the job. Finding those right keys was one of the goals at a webinar held in November by MHI Industry Group Ergonomic Assist Systems and Equipment (EASE), which addressed how companies can most effectively set up ergonomic workstations for the protection of their workers.