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1 week ago | 
mmh.com | Gary Forger
Rewind to early February 2025. Come on in. Sit next to me. We’re at a Modern editorial planning meeting and the next topic is the story about robots for the April issue. “I think we should do something on special-purpose robots.”“You mean something other than an AMR or robotic AS/RS?”“Yeah.”“Can you be more specific?” “Kind of.” And with that, the hunt for special-purpose robots was off and running.
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Jan 8, 2025 | 
mmh.com | Gary Forger
Time to suit up. We’re goin’ pickin’. But we’ve got some choices to make before we get out on the floor. Several, actually. On the ergonomic side are exoskeletal suits. This emerging option helps with the heavy lifting. And the suit is fitted to you individually. Your warehouse tailor, so to speak. Then you have a broad range of technologies and form factors for wearable devices that collect and manage data and routes. As a class, they make order fulfillment easier, faster and highly accurate.
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Dec 2, 2024 | 
mmh.com | Gary Forger
The other day, someone asked what’s going on with voice. And vision. In order picking. Wait a minute. Did I miss something along the way? Voice and vision together here? It was time for some calls. Turns out that not only are voice and vision teaming up with bar code scanners to pick items, confirm accuracy and fill orders, but there’s more. Autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) are emerging as a potential component of this new order picking technology cocktail.
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Nov 5, 2024 | 
mmh.com | Gary Forger
After more than 35 years, you might think warehouse management systems (WMS) don’t have much new to offer. But, you would be wrong. Here’s why. In a word: cloud. In many ways, the cloud has made WMS what it is today. Cloud has made it much easier to deliver the traditional benefits of WMS faster for fewer dollars. Meanwhile, it’s easy to think WMS capabilities have plateaued. They have not. Don’t be fooled.
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Nov 5, 2024 | 
mmh.com | Gary Forger
Every retailer hates returns, but consumers love the option. Just try taking it away, Mr. Retailer. Online men’s apparel and gear retailer Huckberry knew it had to find a better way to handle returns. “If we don’t solve this challenge, we will hear about it from the customer and see it on our P&L,” says Nick Meister, Huckberry’s vice president of operations.
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Oct 1, 2024 | 
logisticsmgmt.com | Gary Forger
With a 512-inch lift height and 5,500-pound capacity, Toyota’s moving mast reach truck increases productivity and operator visibility at full height. The combination of a transparent roof and mast design offers the operator excellent upward visibility with minimal load view obstruction. In addition, the tilting operator compartment allows easy fork tip visibility without requiring head movement by the operator.
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Oct 1, 2024 | 
logisticsmgmt.com | Gary Forger
When it comes to the state of procurement, perhaps Alexandre Gagnon says it best. “Procurement is fundamental.” It spans everything from “day-to-day purchases to measuring sustainability to future-proofing operations for long-term growth. It’s a wide spectrum of mission-critical responsibilities, spanning all business functions.”Gagnon, by the way, is vice president of Amazon Business Worldwide. Not a bad perch to evaluate procurement in big picture mode.
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Sep 23, 2024 | 
supplychain247.com | Gary Forger
Right now, artificial intelligence (AI) is probably the most misunderstood top-of-mind technology anywhere in the world. And by all indications, that is not going to change anytime soon. Many think AI is a black box of universal truth. However, as recent as four years ago, it was probably not as sophisticated as a 3-year-old. That has changed rapidly, and technology in general is now about as mature as a typical teenager. Maybe a 20-year-old.
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Sep 5, 2024 | 
mmh.com | Gary Forger
Right now, artificial intelligence (AI) is probably the most misunderstood top-of-mind technology anywhere in the world. And by all indications, that is not going to change anytime soon. Many think AI is a black box of universal truth. However, as recent as four years ago, it was probably not as sophisticated as a 3-year-old. That has changed rapidly, and the technology in general is now about as mature as a typical teenager. Maybe a 20-year-old.
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Sep 3, 2024 | 
mmh.com | Gary Forger
Let’s face it, as much as any of us would like to think of preventative maintenance as being fairly standard (every month, quarter, year), it’s more complicated than that. And if anything, it’s becoming even less standard. The reasons are many. Start with the constant waves of change in operations these days. They extend from a changing mix of materials handling equipment to a churning workforce and rapid cycling of SKUs.Oh, don’t forget about demanding consumer demand.
