Brian J. Feehan is president of the Industrial Truck Association, the leading organization of industrial truck manufacturers and suppliers of component parts and accessories that conduct business in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
The journey started 10 years ago, when members of the Industrial Truck Association (ITA) had the following conversation: “As powered industrial truck (PIT) manufacturers, we collectively work to improve safety standards. The companies that use our products continuously strive to improve safety in their facilities. And we know that operator training is the bedrock of safety improvement. How can we as an industry spotlight safety to help our customers?”
National Forklift Safety Day (NFSD) was created to help answer that question and to highlight the critical importance of operator training. We are excited to host NFSD’s 10th anniversary event on June 13, 2023, in person in Washington, D.C., and streamed live online. Whether you are a member of ITA, work in the material handling industry or government, or come from the end-user community, we invite you to celebrate this important milestone with us.
The Industrial Truck Association is the not-for-profit trade association representing the interests of manufacturers of PITs and their suppliers that do business in Canada, the United States, or Mexico. In addition to sponsoring National Forklift Safety Day and hosting other industry forums, ITA serves as an influential industry voice for standards development, statistical information, and international trade; advances engineering practices to promote safer products; and partners with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to conduct compliance officer training and distribute workplace safety materials.
What started as a North American event 10 years ago has blossomed into a global initiative, with National Forklift Safety Day events taking place in Japan, China, and Europe. Australia, one of the first locations to hold such programs, continues to recognize and encourage forklift safety efforts. The PIT industry has supported National Forklift Safety Day by hosting open houses at various facilities, conducting operator training, and supplying free safety posters, among many other activities.
Safety remains paramount to ITA members and other material handling industry stakeholders as our products help businesses meet increasing demand. In the North American market, all truck classes (1–5) experienced strong growth in 2021 and maintained that position throughout 2022. The forklift market in 2022 recorded retail orders of 344,330 units, nearly mirroring the historic market activity of 2021, when 347,677 total units were sold in North America.
In 2021, electric products (Classes 1–3) showed the largest gains, primarily driven by continued demand for e-commerce and warehouse products. That year, electrics accounted for approximately 72% of the market, compared to 28% for internal combustion equipment (Classes 4 and 5). It’s important to remember that Covid-19 remained very prevalent and that the economy was still “reopening” throughout much of 2021.
The strong market continued in 2022 against a backdrop of inflationary pressure and continued supply chain constraints. Internal combustion sales rebounded well: Retail orders were up more than 30% for Class 4 and more than 10% for Class 5 compared to 2021. The overall split between power sources was 65% electric and 35% internal combustion.
While demand continues to rise, the U.S. is experiencing a very tight labor market, a situation that could result in many new employees, potentially including forklift operators, working in warehouses. Given the historic numbers of new units entering the market and the potential for many new forklift operators to operate that equipment, it is important for the industry to continue to promote operator safety and the continued need for operator safety training.
We hope you will join us for NFSD 2023, either in person or online, on June 13. Please check the ITA website (www.indtrk.org) for updated information. Thank you.
Brian Feehan
President
Industrial Truck Association
Supply chain planning (SCP) leaders working on transformation efforts are focused on two major high-impact technology trends, including composite AI and supply chain data governance, according to a study from Gartner, Inc.
"SCP leaders are in the process of developing transformation roadmaps that will prioritize delivering on advanced decision intelligence and automated decision making," Eva Dawkins, Director Analyst in Gartner’s Supply Chain practice, said in a release. "Composite AI, which is the combined application of different AI techniques to improve learning efficiency, will drive the optimization and automation of many planning activities at scale, while supply chain data governance is the foundational key for digital transformation.”
Their pursuit of those roadmaps is often complicated by frequent disruptions and the rapid pace of technological innovation. But Gartner says those leaders can accelerate the realized value of technology investments by facilitating a shift from IT-led to business-led digital leadership, with SCP leaders taking ownership of multidisciplinary teams to advance business operations, channels and products.
“A sound data governance strategy supports advanced technologies, such as composite AI, while also facilitating collaboration throughout the supply chain technology ecosystem,” said Dawkins. “Without attention to data governance, SCP leaders will likely struggle to achieve their expected ROI on key technology investments.”
The British logistics robot vendor Dexory this week said it has raised $80 million in venture funding to support an expansion of its artificial intelligence (AI) powered features, grow its global team, and accelerate the deployment of its autonomous robots.
A “significant focus” continues to be on expanding across the U.S. market, where Dexory is live with customers in seven states and last month opened a U.S. headquarters in Nashville. The Series B will also enhance development and production facilities at its UK headquarters, the firm said.
The “series B” funding round was led by DTCP, with participation from Latitude Ventures, Wave-X and Bootstrap Europe, along with existing investors Atomico, Lakestar, Capnamic, and several angels from the logistics industry. With the close of the round, Dexory has now raised $120 million over the past three years.
Dexory says its product, DexoryView, provides real-time visibility across warehouses of any size through its autonomous mobile robots and AI. The rolling bots use sensor and image data and continuous data collection to perform rapid warehouse scans and create digital twins of warehouse spaces, allowing for optimized performance and future scenario simulations.
Originally announced in September, the move will allow Deutsche Bahn to “fully focus on restructuring the rail infrastructure in Germany and providing climate-friendly passenger and freight transport operations in Germany and Europe,” Werner Gatzer, Chairman of the DB Supervisory Board, said in a release.
For its purchase price, DSV gains an organization with around 72,700 employees at over 1,850 locations. The new owner says it plans to investment around one billion euros in coming years to promote additional growth in German operations. Together, DSV and Schenker will have a combined workforce of approximately 147,000 employees in more than 90 countries, earning pro forma revenue of approximately $43.3 billion (based on 2023 numbers), DSV said.
After removing that unit, Deutsche Bahn retains its core business called the “Systemverbund Bahn,” which includes passenger transport activities in Germany, rail freight activities, operational service units, and railroad infrastructure companies. The DB Group, headquartered in Berlin, employs around 340,000 people.
“We have set clear goals to structurally modernize Deutsche Bahn in the areas of infrastructure, operations and profitability and focus on the core business. The proceeds from the sale will significantly reduce DB’s debt and thus make an important contribution to the financial stability of the DB Group. At the same time, DB Schenker will gain a strong strategic owner in DSV,” Deutsche Bahn CEO Richard Lutz said in a release.
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.
Serious inland flooding and widespread power outages are likely to sweep across Florida and other Southeast states in coming days with the arrival of Hurricane Helene, which is now predicted to make landfall Thursday evening along Florida’s northwest coast as a major hurricane, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
While the most catastrophic landfall impact is expected in the sparsely-population Big Bend area of Florida, it’s not only sea-front cities that are at risk. Since Helene is an “unusually large storm,” its flooding, rainfall, and high winds won’t be limited only to the Gulf Coast, but are expected to travel hundreds of miles inland, the weather service said. Heavy rainfall is expected to begin in the region even before the storm comes ashore, and the wet conditions will continue to move northward into the southern Appalachians region through Friday, dumping storm total rainfall amounts of up to 18 inches. Specifically, the major flood risk includes the urban areas around Tallahassee, metro Atlanta, and western North Carolina.
In addition to its human toll, the storm could exert serious business impacts, according to the supply chain mapping and monitoring firm Resilinc. Those will be largely triggered by significant flooding, which could halt oil operations, force mandatory evacuations, restrict ports, and disrupt air traffic.
While the storm’s track is currently forecast to miss the critical ports of Miami and New Orleans, it could still hurt operations throughout the Southeast agricultural belt, which produces products like soybeans, cotton, peanuts, corn, and tobacco, according to Everstream Analytics.
That widespread footprint could also hinder supply chain and logistics flows along stretches of interstate highways I-10 and I-75 and on regional rail lines operated by Norfolk Southern and CSX. And Hurricane Helene could also likely impact business operations by unleashing power outages, deep flooding, and wind damage in northern Florida portions of Georgia, Everstream Analytics said.
Before the storm had even touched Florida soil, recovery efforts were already being launched by humanitarian aid group the American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN). In a statement on Wednesday, the group said it is urging residents in the storm's path across the Southeast to heed evacuation notices and safety advisories, and reminding members of the logistics community that their post-storm help could be needed soon. The group will continue to update its Disaster Micro-Site with Hurricane Helene resources and with requests for donated logistics assistance, most of which will start arriving within 24 to 72 hours after the storm’s initial landfall, ALAN said.