Lift truck makers celebrate National Forklift Safety Day 2018 with special offers and local events
Lift truck manufacturers, dealers, and providers of associated products will be observing National Forklift Safety Day on June 12, 2018. Here are just a few examples of the events, literature, and promotions they'll be offering around the country.
The main event for National Forklift Safety Day 2018 will be held in Washington, D.C., on June 12. But lift truck manufacturers, dealers, and providers of associated products and services around the country will be holding their own events to help customers improve safety in their warehouses and distribution centers. Operator training classes, information resources, and safety-themed community events are among the many ways forklift makers and local dealers will help their customers keep forklift safety top of mind.
Below are just a few examples; for more information about National Forklift Safety Day programs and events in your area, contact your local forklift dealer.
Faced with increasing productivity demands and a shortage of skilled labor, warehousing and distribution operations are looking for new ways to attract and train the next generation of lift truck operators. Learning tools that complement forklift training, such as the The Raymond Corp.'s Raymond Virtual Reality Simulator, a 2018 MHI Innovation Award Winner, can help. The first of its kind in the industry, the simulator allows an operator to enter a simulated warehousing environment using an existing Raymond forklift. In recognition of National Forklift Safety Day, Raymond is giving away FREE a limited number of sample views of a 360-degree video that showcases the technology while providing a similar virtual experience as the Raymond Virtual Reality Simulator. Quantities are limited. Register at www.raymondcorp.com/service/training/virtual-reality-simulator.
Barclay Brand Ferdon, the Yale dealer in central and northern New Jersey, will hold its third annual "Improving Safety Through Advanced Technologies" safety summit on Tuesday, June 12, from 9 a.m. - 2 p.m., at 2401 S. Clinton Ave., South Plainfield, N.J. This FREE event features expert seminars and displays designed to help end users ensure their operations run as safely and efficiently as possible. Seminar topics include:
Introduction to and FAQs on forklift safety
Safer ways to move product—robotics
Powering your fleet with safety in mind
Monitoring fleet safety wirelessly
Improving loading dock safety
Attendees can also view displays covering such lift truck safety topics as inspection and maintenance practices, operator training, industrial battery handling, aerial safety and fall protection, pedestrian safety in the warehouse, and dock safety. For more information, visit www.bbfyale.com/safety-summit or register at www.bbfyale.com/safety-summit-rsvp?view=form.
For the past four years Clark Material Handling Co. has celebrated Forklift Safety Day with a community event at its North American headquarters, 700 Enterprise Dr., Lexington, Ky. This year the company celebrates its fifth affair, on June 12, with a catered lunch, forklift rodeo for certified drivers, and a driving course for those who have never driven an industrial truck. Local radio station 98.1 "The Bull" will also be on site to add to the festivities. Prizes will be given out during the event. This FREE program is open to the public; attendees may register on site the day of the event. Additionally, that week Clark will be offering, at no charge, forklift operator training classes to several local businesses.
Each year, in honor of National Forklift Safety Day, Arnold Machinery Co., the authorized Hyster dealer in Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and parts of Idaho, Oregon, and Nevada, provides its customers with FREE forklift- and pedestrian-safety posters that are hand delivered. The purpose is to provide a review of safety best practices and ensure the instructional posters are posted to help support a safety culture year round. Arnold Machinery Co. safety representatives will drop by end-user locations within their service area on Tuesday, June 12, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. local time. To submit poster requests within the Arnold Machinery Co. service area, please visit arnoldmachinerymh.com/rsvp/. For all other customer requests, please visit www.hyster.com/safety.
Illinois Material Handling and Wisconsin Lift Truck, both part of the Wolter Group, are offering FREE introductory virtual reality (VR) training on National Forklift Safety Day. Wisconsin Lift Truck and Illinois Material Handling are the first authorized distributors for forklift simulators developed by RVC, Really-Virtual Consulting LLC, a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned business that employs Navy and Army vets. The newly released forklift-simulator training program allows operators to train using real forklift controls in a controlled virtual reality environment. The system is especially suitable for providing supplemental training to new employees with little to no experience or for correcting old habits of experienced drivers. The session will be held June 12, 2018, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., at Illinois Material Handling, 490 W. North Frontage Rd. Bolingbrook, Ill. Attendance is limited to the first 25 people to sign up. For more information or to register, call (262) 781-8011 x3083 or send an email to operatortraining@woltergroupllc.com
Customers can sign up for no-cost forklift safety consultations at Toyota Material Handling's dealerships in honor of National Forklift Safety Day. The consultations, provided by authorized Toyota dealers in more than 230 locations in North America, can provide valuable insight about ways to reduce risk in the workplace. Consultations will be held on National Forklift Safety Day, June 12, 2018. For more information, contact your local Toyota Forklift dealer, or submit a request at www.toyotaforklift.com/request-a-quote?r=forklift-training. For more about forklift safety, visit www.toyotaforklift.com/national-forklift-safety-day.
UniCarriers Americas is observing National Forklift Safety Day by offering FREE forklift operator training at its factory stores in Hartland, Wis., and Woburn, Mass. Unicarriers is also celebrating with special parts pricing from its Aftermarket Department. Interested? Please contact Ralph Klute of Capital Equipment & Handling (Wisconsin) at ralphk@cehwi.com or Debbie Queen of New England Industrial Truck (Massachusetts) at dqueen@neit.com for more details about the factory store promotions.
On June 12 MCFA (Mitsubishi Caterpillar Forklift America Inc.) will partner with the Industrial Truck Association (ITA) to raise awareness of forklift safety and inspire stakeholders throughout the industry to help spread the message. Since many forklift-related accidents are attributed to operator oversight or operators being unfamiliar with their forklift equipment, MCFA has found it imperative to focus on the importance of proper training and certification. MCFA's "Engaged in Safety" campaign will reinforce the message that properly trained forklift operators are aware of the potential hazards associated with operating a forklift in their environment and implement the control measures necessary to minimize the risks associated with those hazards. For more information about the Engaged in Safety initiative, go to www.mcfa.com/nfsd2018.
In honor of National Forklift Safety Day 2018, Raymond Handling Concepts Corp. (RHCC), a material handling equipment supplier in Northern California and the Northwest, has announced that its "Safety Show Offs" contest is now live until June 30. RHCC wants to hear from its customers on how they promote a safe workplace. The winner of the contest will receive a catered lunch for up to 30 people, provided by RHCC. Submit your contest entry here. To qualify for the contest, you must be a current customer using any model of Raymond lift truck. To enter, customers must submit a photo or video of their forklift, write a statement about how they promote a safe workplace, and provide the number of days since their last forklift accident.
Crown Equipment, one of the world's largest material handling companies, is using National Forklift Safety Day to kick off an ongoing educational campaign designed to raise awareness of important forklift safety topics. The campaign is built around the availability of new safety resources and content on crown.com. Beginning on National Forklift Safety Day, a series of safety-related articles will be posted to Crown's blog. A new product safety-features guide will be available for download on Crown's safety page. The campaign also includes a series of educational safety posters that will be released sequentially for download so end users can display them within their facility. As part of the campaign, Crown will also be highlighting customer stories that feature safety best practices and impactful results.
It’s been an up and down year for the intermodal rail industry. Severe weather impacted operations early in the year. Yet the market absorbed those challenges and staged a modest recovery. By the end of the second quarter, total intermodal volumes had risen 7.9% year over year, according to the Intermodal Association of North America’s 2024 second-quarter report, released July 29. International containers, those 20- and 40-foot TEUs (20-foot equivalent units) coming into the nation’s ports, rose 13.3%. Domestic intermodal traffic, typically 53-foot containers, improved 5.0%, while trailers fell 20.6%.
“International volume provided the biggest lift,” noted Joni Casey, IANA’s president and CEO, who is retiring at the end of the year, in a news release announcing the report. “Domestic containers played a supporting role, especially important as the decline in TOFC [trailer on flatcar] moves continued.” Total IMC (intermodal marketing company) volumes increased 5.5% year over year in Q2, she added.
Nevertheless, troubling signs are on the horizon that could derail the market’s newfound stability. According to the Institute for Supply Management’s “Manufacturing ISM Report on Business” for August, economic activity in the manufacturing sector contracted in August for the fifth consecutive month (as measured on a year-over-year basis). But compared to July, the August index was up slightly to 47.2, or 0.4 percentage points.
And while the overall economy continued its expansion for the 52nd consecutive month (after one month of contraction in April 2020), U.S. manufacturing activity remained in contraction territory, the report’s author, Timothy R. Fiore, chair of the ISM’s Manufacturing Business Survey Committee, said.
“U.S. manufacturing activity contracted slower compared to last month. Demand continues to be weak, output declined, and inputs stayed accommodative,” he said in a statement, adding that three key related indexes—New Orders, New Export Orders, and Backlog of Orders—“remained in strong contraction territory.”
One silver lining has been the U.S. consumer, who has kept spending at a positive yet measured pace, providing an underpinning for the overall economy. That’s been good news for intermodal service providers looking for a more sustained recovery.
WHAT’S AN OPERATOR TO DO?
Larry Gross, founder and president of Gross Transportation Consulting,has seen any number of market cycles over his decades of work in the intermodal industry. “There is a lot of churn, a lot of uncertainty in the markets right now,” he’s observed. A lot of freight moved earlier in the year as shippers took steps to pull forward inventory in an attempt to avoid potential disruptions from various issues.
Those issues include a potential East and Gulf Coast port strike, labor unrest with Canada’s railroads (workers are now back on the job while their contract is in arbitration), continued geopolitical hostilities, concerns over the upcoming election, and the prospect of future new tariffs on a variety of imports next year.
Worries over a disruption at East Coast ports in particular “have caused a swing to the West Coast in terms of TEUs coming into North America,” says Gross. “There has definitely been a diversion,” he adds, citing container volumes out of the Pacific Northwest that were up 83% in July over last year. “The PNW is getting really congested,” and that, Gross says, is part of the reason why the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports are seeing container volumes surge as well. “It’s a reversal of a long-term trend, which was west-to-east migration.”
Those trends also reflect routing decisions made months ago by shippers to avoid potential port strike disruptions, and which will take months to unwind, Gross points out. “Containers on the water today, headed to West Coast ports and eventually destined for transfer to intermodal trains, are based on decisions shippers made in the spring or before. They’re set in stone,” he says. So as intermodal operators look at that incoming traffic, they have to plan for and start repositioning assets to handle those volumes at those ports. And that takes time.
“August and September are typically the biggest months for international,” Gross adds. “October is the biggest month for domestic. The rail network, from all indications, is running smoothly. Trains generally have recovered [from earlier operating hiccups] and are running consistently, but it takes time for the system to fully reset,” he says, and it could take months for the system to balance out.
PLENTY OF CAPACITY
Intermodal rail capacity is not an issue, according to several reports. Whereas ample capacity and rate competition through most of 2024 caused shippers to move some freight from rail to road, “the bleeding has stopped,” says Gross. “The erosion of share from intermodal to truck” has subsided, and rail intermodal operators are working hard to “claw that traffic back,” he adds.
Of the overall volume of truckload freight moving 500 miles or more, excluding ISO container moves (moves of international intermodal containers coming off ships), domestic intermodal accounts for about 6% of the market, with truck accounting for 94%. During the pandemic, intermodal’s share hit nearly 7%. For the past six quarters, that share has returned to the more typical 6%.
“I am of the opinion that the market we are in right now with regard to freight is not that unusual,” says Gross. “We are not that far off” [from a more balanced market],” he adds. “[The railroads] have removed poor service as a reason for shippers to abandon intermodal. Now the door is open, and they have to close the sale.” For a shipper who is close to an origin and destination intermodal terminal, “it is almost unbeatable.”
Indeed, Class 1 railroads are making operational improvements, investing in capacity and infrastructure, and gearing up to aggressively go after more intermodal business as the year proceeds, buoyed by surging international import volumes, according to several industry sources.
At Union Pacific, which generated $5.6 billion in second-quarter revenue, “service levels and network performance for the second quarter remained strong, demonstrating our recoverability in the wake of major weather disruptions,” said Eric Gehringer, UP’s executive vice president of operations, in the company’s recent second-quarter earnings call. Freight car velocity was flat, as improvements in terminal dwell were offset by weather-related drops in train speeds.
He sees opportunity to drive stronger terminal dwell performance “by removing unnecessary car touches across the network.” Results also benefited from a 6% improvement in locomotive productivity driven by better network fluidity and improved asset utilization. Train length improved 2%, with June marking the first month ever with a UP train length over 9,600 feet. “That’s a remarkable achievement by the team as they continue to generate mainline capacity for future growth,” Gehringer said.
Looking ahead, Jennifer Hamann, UP’s executive vice president and CFO, noted “a lot of the drivers that were present in the second quarter are going to be present at least into the third quarter. International intermodal is staying strong, [and] coal is weaker.” On the industrial side of the business, Hamann said, “while we have great business development opportunities, there’s a little softness there.”
Added Jim Vena, UP’s CEO: “We’ve got a great team. They know what the end goal is. So I see us optimizing the railroad and getting better at how we operate.” Yet what really will help improve UP’s operating margin, Vena believes, “is revenue growth. We are pushing hard on that piece by both bringing in volume at the right price” and managing pricing effectively to account for inflation and other cost challenges the railroad has endured.
A FOCUS ON SERVICE
At BNSF, the railroad is leveraging a $3.92 billion capital plan this year to, among other things, add main track miles, expand intermodal parking, add rolling stock, increase production capacity at intermodal yards, improve technology, and make “resiliency investments” to harden its network against extreme weather conditions, according to Kendall Sloan, BNSF’s director of external communications.
“BNSF’s reach is broader than any other Class 1 railroad,” she notes. The railroad operates 32,500 miles of track, providing “direct access to the country’s biggest … inland markets and multiple service options,” with particular attention to customer service.
One example she cites is the BNSF’s partnership with intermodal operator J.B. Hunt. Last fall, the two companies jointly launched Quantum, a new intermodal service “to accommodate the service-sensitive highway freight needs of customer supply chains,” she says. Citing as its hallmarks consistency, agility, and speed, Sloan says Quantum is averaging “up to 98% on-time delivery,” generally providing a service that is a day faster than traditional intermodal.
On the technology side, BNSF has been investing in and deploying new technologies to better leverage data to provide improved analytics and support safety improvements. Among those have been “brake health effectiveness detectors, drones,” and other advanced equipment, software tools, and systems, all designed to provide more timely and accurate data. On the labor front, BNSF as of Sept. 4 had reached tentative collective bargaining agreements with six of its labor unions, months ahead of schedule. The agreements will now need to be ratified by covered employees.
In preparation for the upswing in demand expected from this year’s domestic intermodal peak season, BNSF since early July has deployed additional train crews, locomotives, and railcars across the Pacific Northwest, California, and Texas. The railroad so far has seen a 40% increase in Inland Point Intermodal (IPI) volumes (IPI moves are cargoes going from a port to a shipper’s door in the interior of the country via a domestic or international intermodal container), handling a record number of on-dock railcar loadings from Southern California’s ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in the first half of this year.
What are intermodal customers asking for? Reliable capacity; safe, efficient operations; and consistent, reliable performance that meets expected delivery times at a reasonable cost. For Class 1 railroads, that means continued investments across the board. Among BNSF’s initiatives in this regard are a planned multibillion-dollar investment in its Barstow (California) International Gateway and a master-planned logistics hub in Arizona’s Maricopa County.
“We know that our customers always are looking for new ways to move their shipments as safely and quickly as possible,” notes Sloan. That’s the underlying incentive for both the rail’s billion-dollar investments in the network and its focus on safety, exemplified by the railroad’s finishing last year with “the fewest injuries in BNSF’s history,” Sloan says. “We continue to lead the industry in safety and are committed to continuous improvement.”
OPPORTUNITIES AHEAD
As the intermodal rail market settles back to prepandemic levels, there remain opportunities, yet the constant competitive tug of war between over-the-road trucking and intermodal shows no signs of abating. IANA’s Casey expects the industry to continue to deliver modest growth—a prediction that was borne out in July’s and August’s upbeat volume numbers—fueled by containerized import traffic returning to the West Coast, which has seen double-digit gains for most of the year.
Domestic container growth, however, has not been as strong “due to tougher year-over-year comparisons and competition with over-the-road trucking,” she notes. “Still, modest growth of industrial activity and transloads from West Coast imports have provided a tailwind.”
With peak season in full swing, she believes the industry can avoid the congestion issues experienced during the pandemic. “Fleet owners have signaled that container velocity continues to trend to prepandemic levels. The intermodal network appears to have [sufficient] assets in place. And there has been no mention of any chassis supply constraints,” she says.
Yet challenges are looming. Among the most worrying to shippers is the prospect of a strike at East and Gulf Coast ports. “This would be disruptive not only for those locations, but also for a good portion of the intermodal supply chain,” she believes. “That would force shippers to execute contingency plans.” Other concerns center on the upcoming election, the prospect of higher tariffs under a new administration, and other disruptive “black swan” events.
On the opportunity side of the ledger, Casey cites the growth of nearshoring and reshoring as companies move operations from Asia to Mexico, increasing opportunity for cross-border U.S.-Mexico moves. She also cites transloading and the potential for domestic intermodal growth as well as the accelerating demand for “sustainable” transportation driven by clean air initiatives.
At its core, in her view, the intermodal rail industry still has three primary advantages over highway truckload service: “environmental stewardship, service consistency, and cost savings.” And those are advantages that will continue to endure and deliver sustainable value in any market cycle.
Transportation industry veteran Anne Reinke will become president & CEO of trade group the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) at the end of the year, stepping into the position from her previous post leading third party logistics (3PL) trade group the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), both organizations said today.
Meanwhile, TIA today announced that insider Christopher Burroughs would fill Reinke’s shoes as president & CEO. Burroughs has been with TIA for 13 years, most recently as its vice president of Government Affairs for the past six years, during which time he oversaw all legislative and regulatory efforts before Congress and the federal agencies.
Before her four years leading TIA, Reinke spent two years as Deputy Assistant Secretary with the U.S. Department of Transportation and 16 years with CSX Corporation.
National nonprofit Wreaths Across America (WAA) kicked off its 2024 season this week with a call for volunteers. The group, which honors U.S. military veterans through a range of civic outreach programs, is seeking trucking companies and professional drivers to help deliver wreaths to cemeteries across the country for its annual wreath-laying ceremony, December 14.
“Wreaths Across America relies on the transportation industry to move the mission. The Honor Fleet, composed of dedicated carriers, professional drivers, and other transportation partners, guarantees the delivery of millions of sponsored veterans’ wreaths to their destination each year,” Courtney George, WAA’s director of trucking and industry relations, said in a statement Tuesday. “Transportation partners benefit from driver retention and recruitment, employee engagement, positive brand exposure, and the opportunity to give back to their community’s veterans and military families.”
WAA delivers wreaths to more than 4,500 locations nationwide, and as of this week had added more than 20 loads to be delivered this season. The wreaths are donated by sponsors from across the country, delivered by truckers, and laid at the graves of veterans by WAA volunteers.
Wreaths Across America
Transportation companies interested in joining the Honor Fleet can visit the WAA website to find an open lane or contact the WAA transportation team at trucking@wreathsacrossamerica.org for more information.
Krish Nathan is the Americas CEO for SDI Element Logic, a provider of turnkey automation solutions and sortation systems. Nathan joined SDI Industries in 2000 and honed his project management and engineering expertise in developing and delivering complex material handling solutions. In 2014, he was appointed CEO, and in 2022, he led the search for a strategic partner that could expand SDI’s capabilities. This culminated in the acquisition of SDI by Element Logic, with SDI becoming the Americas branch of the company.
A native of the U.K., Nathan received his bachelor’s degree in manufacturing engineering from Coventry University and has studied executive leadership at Cranfield University.
Q: How would you describe the current state of the supply chain industry?
A: We see the supply chain industry as very dynamic and exciting, both from a growth perspective and from an innovation perspective. The pandemic hangover is still impacting decisions to nearshore, and that has resulted in a spike in business for us in both the USA and Mexico. Adding new technology to our portfolio has been a significant contributor to our continued expansion.
Q: Distributors were making huge tech investments during the pandemic simply to keep up with soaring consumer demand. How have things changed since then?
A: The consumer demand for e-commerce certainly appears to have cooled since the pandemic high, but our clients continue to see steady growth. Growth, combined with low unemployment and high labor costs, continues to make automation a good investment for many companies.
Q: Robotics are still in high demand for material handling applications. What are some of the benefits of these systems?
A: As an organization, we are investing heavily in software that will allow Element Logic to offer solutions for robotic picking that are hardware-agnostic. We have had success deploying unit picking for order fulfillment solutions and unit placing of items onto tray-based sorters.
From a benefit point of view, we’ve seen the consistency of a given operation improve. For example, the placement accuracy of a product onto a tray is far higher from a robotic arm than from a person. In order fulfillment applications, two of the biggest benefits are reliability and hours of operation. The robots don't call in sick, and they are happy to work 22 hours a day!
Q: SDI Element Logic offers a wide range of automated solutions, including automated storage and sortation equipment. What criteria should distributors use to determine what type of system is right for them?
A: There are a significant number of factors to consider when thinking about automation. In my experience, automation pays for itself in three key ways: It saves space, it increases the efficiency of labor, and it improves accuracy. So evaluating which of these will be [most] beneficial and quantifying the associated savings will lead to a “right sized” investment in technology.
Another important factor to consider is product mix. With a small SKU (stock-keeping unit) base, often automation doesn’t make sense. And with a huge SKU base, there will be products that don’t lend themselves to automation.
With any significant investment, you need to partner with an organization that has deep experience with the technologies that are being considered and … in-depth knowledge of the process that is being automated.
Q: How can a goods-to-person system reduce the amount of labor needed to fill orders?
A: In most order picking operations, there is a considerable amount of walking between pick faces to find the SKUs associated with a given order or set of orders. Goods-to-person eliminates the walking and allows the operator to just pick. I have seen studies that [show] that 75% of the time [required] to assemble an order in a manual picking environment is walking or “non-picking” time. So eliminating walking will reduce the amount of labor needed.
The goods-to-person approach also fits perfectly with robotic picking, so even the actual picking aspect of order assembly can be automated in some instances. For these reasons, [automation offers] a significant opportunity to reduce the labor needed to fulfill a customer order.
Q: If you could pick one thing a company should do to improve its distribution center operations, what would it be?
A: Evaluate. Evaluate the opportunities for improving by considering automation. In my experience, the challenge most companies have is recognizing that automation is an alternative. The barrier to entry is far lower than most people think!
Toyota Material Handling and its nationwide network of dealers showcased their commitment to improving their local communities during the company’s annual “Lift the Community Day.” Since 2021, Toyota associates have participated in an annual day-long philanthropic event held near Toyota’s Columbus, Indiana, headquarters. This year, the initiative expanded to include participation from Toyota’s dealers, increasing the impact on communities throughout the U.S. A total of 324 Toyota associates completed 2,300 hours of community service during this year’s event.
The PMMI Foundation, the charitable arm of PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, awarded nearly $200,000 in scholarships to students pursuing careers in the packaging and processing industry. Each year, the PMMI Foundation provides academic scholarships to students studying packaging, food processing, and engineering to underscore its commitment to the future of the packaging and processing industry.
Truck leasing and fleet management services provider Fleet Advantage hosted its “Kids Around the Corner Foundation” back-to-school backpack drive in July. During the event, company associates assembled 200 backpacks filled with essential school supplies for high school-age students. The backpacks were then delivered to Henderson Behavioral Health’s Youth & Family Services location in Tamarac, Florida.
For the past seven years, third-party logistics service specialist ODW Logistics has provided logistics support for the Pelotonia Ride Weekend, a campaign to raise funds for cancer research at The Ohio State University’s Comprehensive Cancer Center–Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute. As in the past, ODW provided inventory management services and transportation for the riders’ bicycles at this year’s event. In all, some 7,000 riders and 3,000 volunteers participated in the ride weekend.