Custom-lrade material handlin$

By Eamon Devlin Combilift

rnHE trend towards lean manufacturing has produced I productivity gains and cost savings industrywide. The material handling industry is no stranger to this concept and knows that keeping a close eye on dynamics such as customer demand, inventory supply, and customer satisfaction is important to ensure operations remain strong.

Customized solutions have emerged as one of the most effective ways for delivering operations savings. An operational solution customized to your workflow improves efficiency, increases productivity, makes your operations safer, and ultimately helps you make more money.

Forklift trucks are the pivotal point of every material handling operation and are involved at each stage of the operations: offloading raw material when it comes into a premises, storing and/or transferring it to production, and finally loading it again for distribution to customers when the product or load is ready. If you've got the right truck, moving in the right circumstances, you save money and resources. If not, you can waste time with multiple machines, you build a warehouse too big for your needs, and slow down your business getting from one location to another.

But it's not just about buying a truck that's the right size for your premises; it's about making sure that your truck is part of an overall customized solution. And that's the key-when looking to buy a forklift truck you should make sure it's part of an overall solution. Here's what you should expect of your material handling provider, how customized solutions can benefit your operations, and in most cases reduce cost and save you money.

First Things First

A good forklift provider will hrst of all want to find out what you are handling and understand your needs and your problems. A forklift provider should be your material handling consultant, carrying out a site survey and understanding the flow of materials. Customized material handling means that a machine is designed around the product and operations. The forklift manufacturer should ideally build a machine to your specifications and not just provide a standardized truck with limited options.

Customized material handling solutions also incorPorate making changes to the flow and layout of your operations to best optimize your material handling. Safety, time savings, and efficiency should be at the forefront of your providers thinking and questions. Optimizing your storage, accessibility, safety and efficiency while meeting your prG duction or distribution needs is critical.

Less Handling llleans Less Damage

The market is now moving towards the realization that less handling means less damage. In an attempt to maximize storage capacity, many companies block stack material, resulting time wasted digging for material and an increased possibility of product damage. Certain materials need to be rotated and, in this case, block stacking generally isn't suited. As the variety of inventory or SKU's increase, so does the need to move material unnecessarily, again, resulting in wasted time by the oPerators and increasing the likelihood of product damage.

Adopting a customized solution might mean that you move to a narrow-aisle storage system. With this method, companies can achieve greater product accessibility while maintaining some levels of product density. Nanow-aisle forklift equipment both for palletized loads and long loads is now changing how people organize their operations, store material, and save money.

Moving to a racking system and away from block stacking allows for greater accessibility to products and less chance of inventory having to be double or triple handled or even forgotten about. The forklift provider should not only understand the narrow-aisle equipment, but also the various racking and storage systems available to them. Narrow-aisle forklifts have a variety of options such as guide-rollers and optical guidance systems that enable them to work in the narrowest aisle possible without causing damage to the rack, truck or the material being stored.

A customized material handling solution should focus on optimizing space, ensuring safety, reducing product damage, and increasing productivity, all of which will save money in the long run.

Customized Layouts

Space is a premium, particularly in urban areas, so it's important to build the machine around the product that needs to be lifted. Doing this will result in the correct aisle size for your machine.

To maximize your storage space, a good forklift provider will measure your facility and/or request autocad drawings of your warehouse. They should come back to you with two or three suggestions for how you can get the most out of your existing space. An experienced forklift provider should provide you with a space-saving solution that will also meet your product accessibility requi rements.

More companies are realizing that having a condensed storage area or yard will eliminate unnecessary travel distances that results in lost productivity and a higher cost of operations. Thus, narrow-aisle forklifts and dense storage layouts are providing extra savings over the cost of the land in which they operate.

Moving Sideways

Engineered wood is one of the LBM industry's fastest growing products. In recent years, all major lumber companies and building supply companies have been handling more of this product. Engineered wood is manufactured in various long lengths, the most common being 48 ft. and 52 ft. long. Several products can be produced in excess of 66 ft. long. This size presents significant handling, storage and safety problems for conventional forklifts.

Traditional counterbalance forklifts are not designed to handle long loads, particularly those up to 66 ft. long and certainly not traveling with these loads raised high above the ground. To maneuver these extra-long wood products to storage sites, companies have no alternative but to raise lons loads over other materials, railcars, trucks and, in some instances, people. Like most companies that cannot afford to have aisles 70 ft. wide, the only alternative is to travel with loads raised high above the inventory on the ground. With high winds or rough terrain conditions, this is not only very dangerous but also inefficient; operators must travel slow as these long loads sway and can be damaged.

Customized forklift providers present solutions such as forklifts that move in every direction to tackle these problems. Multi-directional forklifts mean that long loads of engineered wood can be rested on a platform close to the ground. And with the ability to travel sideways, 66 ft. long materials can be maneuvered safely through doors and aisles as narrow as I I ft. It eliminates the need to have wide aisles or carry products high up in the air. Not only does this save space, it tackles the very serious problem of safety.

Safer handling results in more efficient handling. When handling a product safely, your forklift operator moves more efficiently and productively. Time is money and safer practices add to your bottom line.

Customized Attachments

Adding a customized spreader bar to a multi-directional forklift allows four forks rather than two forks to support long products such as engineered lumber or decking-one of the most difficult product to handle in a yard.

Having a spreader bar provides extra stability and less risk of material hitting the ground when traveling. Added to this, using the spreader bar allows more product to be stored. It means that operators can move more quickly and efficiently throughout your facility, saving time and being safer. A spreader bar can easily attach on and off in seconds so you can handle shorter loads and even pallets. A multi-directional forklift can be customized to handle all products in your yard and, in some cases, reduce the fleet of forklifts needed.

Forklift manufacturers should also offer customized solutions and options such as chainsaw boxes, always working with the customer to better meet and anticipate their needs

The Bottom Line

The changing trend among companies in the market is to take a closer look at operations and overall material handling solutions. The good news is that companies have experienced huge operations savings when they analyze material handling and seek customized solutions to meet their needs. When your facility is well planned, you save time and resources, your operation is safer, and you are more efficient-that means more profits for you. Anybody can sell you a forklift, but very few can sell a customized solution.

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Engineered Wood Benefits

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' l1lrjlr,',,( i(,.1\( \. [.-ttsirtcclctl r\Lrrrtl'' .lLrr.rl.rlitr nrelrnr thlt it clrt |()tantiitll\ l.e Iett.e.i lttitll\ tilllcs 1()l l(ir ll\\ (rl k. r ]rili let.rittittg It\ \traight n.'': .tlrrl trrtr.lt. l:oI e()ntfriet()f\. tlll\ Itc,rn' lc" rr lr:li trlltl fc(luccrl llca!l l( rl. I elrl.i!elllclll lrtl lllr. 1:,;',,,1 it,,rt,illi( rittti ltr,ltlir::,,' ,(,\.'( r'( r'\. 1:llipcclc.i \\r)()rl aitlt lrJ \\(rlkarl Li\nt,! !ijntnt(rt't lrrrrl.. ittilLt.l ing standard saws and hammers. Past challenges such as difficulty in driving nails have been addressed through refinements in material composition and manufacturing. In addition, the materials are excellent at holding fasteners, helping reduce form slippage.

. Environmentally responsible choice: Engineered wood can be produced from logs that are not large or straight enough to be of structural value in conventional products. It also uses fibers from plentiful, fast-growing trees such as aspen and uses a high percentage of each log.

Benefits to Dealen

Engineered wood form boards, as well as other EWP, help dealers differentiate themselves with customers. Instead of selling only commodity products, dealers can offer pro's higher-performance options. The specialized characteristics of engineered wood allow dealers a way to better address the challenges that builders face. For example, as margins become tighter, builders are increasingly looking lor ways to trim construction cycle time and material costs. Engineered wood form boards can help speed the set-up of formwork and reduce costs, especially for contractors working on a high number of projects each year. Contractors value dealers who can work with them to tailor solutions that meet their needs.

In addition, many EWP are offered under strong national brands. Manufacturers often have marketing and advertising campaigns for their brands, which dealers can leverage to strengthen their sales. The result is that many builders will ask for premium-type building products by name.

Finally, a wide range of builders are familiar with engineered wood for use in home and light-commercial framing, but may not have thought of using such products for concrete form work. Dealers can tap into builders' knowledge of EWP in other applications and explain how the products can be used for concrete construction.

Selling builders on the benefits of engineered concrete form boards doesn't have to be hard. The key is offering a range of options and straightforward advice on how such materials can help them improve construction.

- Don Schwabe is the vice president of marketing-engineered wood products for iLevel by Weyerhaeuser, (888) 453-8358; www.ilevel.com.

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