Tech,triumph,trailers & Twitter
June 1st 2011 I was at the Warehouse Technology Group open day in Manchester last month and it was very impressive. There was a good range of products and solutions on show, plus it’s always interesting to chat to warehouse professionals.
I was impressed by how business savvy they were and how keen they were to improve their operations by taking on new ideas and seeing how other companies work. They didn’t see warehousing and materials handling as some geeky discipline divorced from the business. Every product and solution was assessed, not just it terms of how it worked, but also how it would add to the business.Will it save time? Will it save space? Will it cut out waste? Will it lead to a tidier warehouse? Will this impress visiting clients? Will this feed back into sales?
We recognise that you are passionate about your business, but not necessarily passionate about warehousing and logistics. For most, it is a means to an end. But it is no less important for that. It still must be accomplished and done so effectively.
That’s why we are bringing the great and the good of the latest handling and storage solutions to you. This issue includes articles on automated transport in the warehouse, powerful new specialist trucks, and intriguing improvements in delivery efficiency.We hope our articles can help to prompt discussions among your staff about products and solutions that will deliver real benefit to your business.
FLTA Awards
We also recognise the importance of a trusted quality mark for products and that’s why we are delighted to be the new media partner for the Fork Lift Truck Association (FLTA) Awards. The awards given to outstanding products are known as ‘Archies’ and are a clear benchmark of quality. The next awards take place in February 2012, so keep an eye out for the products that are shortlisted towards the end of the year. These are sure to represent the pick of the year’s most innovative products.
Longer trailers
The Government is coming to the end of its consultation on longer trailers and we have comment on this subject in this issue from regular columnist Geoff Dossetter and Paul Sanders from the Association of Pallet Networks.
My take is simple. I reckon it’s a question of horses for courses. For trunking along A roads and motorways from DC to warehouse and back, I don’t see why larger vehicles can’t be used. As long as they don’t try to take a detour through some little village.
Smaller vehicles will always be more appropriate for local delivery work. It’s not for nothing that many retailers with national scope have taken a cross docking approach to supply of stores. That is, they trunk into cross-docking centres from the DC and then unload and reload on to vans and smaller lorries to go to stores. But as Geoff Dossetter observes, convincing the public of the need for longer, or indeed heavier, lorries is no easy matter.
Also be sure to follow us on Twitter - we’re under @HSSmagazine.We’ll be tweeting regularly and, as there are lots of information sources that are relevant to warehousing and logistics on Twitter, it’s relatively easy to set up a feed of information to tap into. This could well help guide you in buying decisions, for example. Of course, Twitter also gives you the opportunity to chip in a few comments yourself.
Simon Duddy, Editor More articles from Handling & Storage Solutions: | 
