Forklifts, conveyors get glam?

All of a sudden, material handling equipment is showing up on network television and in glossy mags.

By Toby Gooley

Maybe we're imagining things, but is material handling equipment becoming—dare we say it—hot? We ask because we've noticed that forklifts, conveyors, and the like are turning up in ads aimed at the average consumer. (OK, the average male consumer.)

The first indication that the forklift might be joining the pickup truck as a symbol of all-American toughness came when the July 27 issue of ESPN The Magazine featured the Minnesota Vikings' Adrian Peterson (dig those purple shoes!) standing on a plastic pallet as pallet and player are raised by a Crown Equipment forklift. (Caption: "Owner Operated: Fantasy pick-me-up Adrian Peterson")

Then we happened to catch a television commercial touting Sunday and Monday night football broadcasts on ESPN and NBC. In it, a driver in a nondescript package-delivery truck pulls up at a warehouse and unloads equally nondescript packages, which are deposited on a high-speed conveyor. The system sorts the packages and sends them down a chute, where the driver picks them up, tosses them in the back of the truck, and slams the roll-down door with a resounding clang. The message: The TV networks "deliver" the games you want to see.

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