Material Handling

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A surge in the popularity of electric lift trucks means DC managers now must cope with the 3,000-pound acid-filled batteries that power them. That's sparked a lot of interest in safe battery handling equipment.

The story's quickly becoming familiar: DC managers identify a problem or bottleneck. They figure out what they need to solve it. Then comes word that the project's been put on hold until the economy turns around.

Plucked out of the private sector by the Department of Defense, Roger Kallock was brought in to help bring order to supply line chaos. What he discovered was that the business world could learn a thing or two from the military.

Where once DCs chose forklifts on the basis of productivity, they're now looking for features that will ease the drivers' pain.

We call them rainmakers, but they're far more likely to be found on the sunny side of The Street. These eight leaders have achieved unparalleled business success and still found time to give their time and energy back to the profession.

Conveyors originally built for defunct online grocer Webvan now serve a new master: a large pharmaceutical company.

Sophisticated machines are quickly mastering the science of picking and packing. They'll never replace humans, but they could make the DC a pretty lonely place to work.