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Radiant Logistics opens a new Airgroup office in San Antonio
Airgroup operates as wholly-owned division of Radiant Global Logistics, Inc. and services a diversified account base including manufacturers, distributors and retailers through its North American network.
Radiant Logistics, Inc., a domestic and international logistics services company, today announced opening of a new Airgroup office in San Antonio, Texas which will operate as a new exclusive agent location and leverage the Company’s robust technology platform and global network to provide domestic and international freight forwarding and logistics services.
Sandra McDow has been chosen to Airgroup-SAT and she says, “We are very excited to be joining Radiant and the Airgroup network. As a group, the Radiant/Airgroup team has a real appreciation for the needs of the local owner/entrepreneur and a clear and achievable plan for building a world class logistics organization. The platform, in terms of people, process, technology and network is unique in the marketplace and represents a compelling opportunity for me and my team. We are looking forward to leveraging our own strengths along with the capabilities of the Radiant network to bring additional value to our customers while enjoying the benefits of participating in an organization that, through its status as a public company, gives us the ability to work as shareholders and participate in the value that we help create.”
Ms. McDow continued: “Through years of dedicated services, our entire San Antonio crew has developed some very strong relationships with our customers, vendors and associates around the globe. Our customers have always remained our top priority whether they were here in Texas or abroad and this philosophy has been the key to our success. As we look to keep pace with the needs of our customers, our service offering is extending beyond the physical movement of goods to include a robust information reporting capability that provides our customers with timely, accurate information around the world. Radiant’s technology platform is already proving to be a great differentiator for us in the marketplace as our customers are gravitating to the web-based transportation management and in transit visibility tools now available. This is only the beginning of our efforts to deliver heightened value added capabilities around our core transportation services.”
Radiant’s Chairman and CEO, Bohn Crain, remarked, “We are very proud to have Sandra and the rest of the San Antonio organization join the Radiant/Airgroup team. We are working very hard to drive continuous improvement across the Company and we remain keenly focused on attracting quality operations like our new Airgroup-SAT station which will continue to strengthen our overall network and help drive our continued organic growth.”
Subscribe to the comments for this postPosi-Plus unveils its articulated telescopic model, the 600-50-A
At the 2009 International Construction and Utility Equipment Exposition (ICUEE), Canadian manufacturer, Posi-Plus, took pride in unveiling its new and the biggest articulated telescopic model, the 600-50-A, which offers a huge material handling capacity, coming in at 2,000 pounds and being the company’s first articulated model.
The 600-50-A has an 8-degree slope certification, a 36.5-foot side reach, 400-pound single bucket capacity and an 84-inch jib with a 60-inch hydraulic extension. “It works well in low and high temps,” Bigras said.
The machine has the capacity to perform up to par in -40 degrees to 100 degrees Fahrenheit. It also features a fully proportional feather touch control, a 250-degree continually rotating jib, 55-foot platform height with a 60-foot working height and a 24-inch platform lift.
Speaking on the occasion, Normand Bigras, vice president of sales and marketing for Posi-Plus, reflected on the fact that material handling machines are in high demand for the company, accounting for 80-85 percent of sales. “They have a high capacity, are strong and durable and last up to 25 years.”
“We did a survey (with customers) to create this new unit,” Bigras said. “(Customers) wanted big capacity.”
The emerging trends in WMS systems
The warehouse has changed its form from a static storage facility to a unit which uses virtually real-time data to closely match supply to demand, eliminate the need to hold excess inventory, and increase the flow of goods throughout the supply chain. A such there is a greater need these days to have a warehouse management system (WMS) to manage company’s postponement strategy to delay the customization of products until after the products, or a set of common components, have left the manufacturing plant.
The software market for WMS has consequently become more and more competitive and as such the packages are competing with each other to address more and more customer needs such as more intricate advanced shipping notice (ASN)/radio frequency (RF) receiving, lot/expiration control, location/carton selection, wave building, labor planning, advanced kitting, wave templates, material selection, compliance labeling, picking/packing, cluster/batch picking, serial number capture, catch-weight capture, cycle counting, task management, replenishment, container tracking, cross docking, report generation, shipping paperwork, automated rule checking, carton selection, etc.
Now-a-days, a typical WMS solution has evolved from merely storage and retrieval of inventory to strategies which increase throughput and productivity by managing a full range of warehouse resources to effectively manage common warehouse business processes and direct warehouse activities. The typical functions addressed by a WMS system include the following:
1. The receiving function which encompasses the physical receipt of material, the inspection of the shipment for conformance with the purchase order [i.e., quantity and damage], the identification and delivery to destination, and the preparation of receiving reports
2. The put-away function which involves removing the material from the dock (or other location of receipt), transporting the material to a storage area, placing that material in a staging area and then moving it to a specific location, and recording the movement and identification of the location where the material has been placed.
3. Order picking which includes selecting or “picking” the required quantity of specific products for movement to a packaging area (usually in response to one or more shipping orders) and documenting that the material was moved from one location to shipping
4. Staging and consolidated shipping which involves physically moving material from the packing area to a staging area, based on a prescribed set of instructions related to a particular outbound vehicle or delivery route, often for shipment consolidation purposes
5. Inventory cycle counting where inventory is counted on a cyclic schedule rather than once a year.
Thus, WMS applications traditionally automate activities that fall within the four walls of a warehouse, such as receiving, put-away, serialization, picking, packing, and shipping.
TriFactor to guide through ‘Critical Steps in Properly Planning a Distribution Center’
TriFactor, LLC, a leading provider of integrated material handling systems, is sponsoring a seminar focusing on the seven critical factors in successful warehouse and distribution center planning. Craig Bertorello, Vice President of Operations at TriFactor, with 16 years experience in designing and implementing material handling systems is presenting the seminar.
The seminar titled, “Critical Steps in Properly Planning a Distribution Center,” will benefit companies who seek to change the layout of their current warehouse or planning a new warehouse or distribution center. The topics to be covered in the seminar range from product storage to increasing throughput, process flow and slotting analysis, and more. Attention will also be given to determining storage and picking dominance by use of a seven-step process and a 10-point planning checklist.
Says Bertorello, “By focusing on a layout that fits storage and activity levels, you can reduce construction costs that occur from mistakes. This seminar will show how to position your company for projected future needs and to get the highest return on investment through efficient design. It is for those considering a new facility or re-engineering an existing building.”
The seminar will be held at two locations; Wednesday, October 21 at the Radisson Hotel, 4700 Salisbury Road in Jacksonville, FL, and Wednesday, October 28 at the TriFactor Learning Center, 2401 Drane Field Road in Lakeland.
Using Conveyor systems for movement of materials
In the material handling industry, one equipment which is undeniably the best choice for transferring load from one place to another is the conveyor system which helps expedite the movement of materials between people or automated equipment or between people to automated equipment. Be it wood, metal, cardboard or plastic, a conveyor system can be used efficiently to move every kind of material.
Right from warehouse operations to manufacturing, commercial and distributive applications, a conveyor system comes to help everywhere. The range of industrial sector where this equipment is widely used includes airport, cement, environment, manufacturing, sugar processing etc.
A conveyor system offers many advantages including better space usage, flexible product routing, reduced manual material handling, increased production output and reliable and cost effective solutions.
Depending on the materials to be transported, the application and the industry where it is used and different usages, there are various varieties of conveyor systems which can be classified as belt conveyor, gravity conveyor, hytrol conveyor, unit load conveyor, roller conveyor etc. These systems run on power or gravity and its major components include drivers, pulleys and belts.
For maximum productivity, one should choose the right conveyor system depending on the weight, form, width, and height of the product to be handled.
Gravity conveyors are low-cost options for industries
With the increase in mechanization and the rise of industrialization, industrial conveyor systems have become indispensable for industries in handling materials. These conveyor systems do away with human labor and can be synchronized with all major operations in an industry that require material handling. They can be used for a number fo activities, viz. unloading raw materials and delivering them to the stores or to the manufacturing section. After production, they can be used to move the finished products around for inspection, packing and dispatching.
Conveyor belts consist of two end pulleys and a continuous loop of rotating material moving through them. Conveyors are used to transport materials such as coal, ores and grains. There are various types of conveyor systems in the market. Some of them include belt conveyor systems, mechanical conveyor systems, chain conveyor systems, screw conveyor systems, bucket conveyor systems, and pneumatic conveyor systems.
Gravity conveyors are also very useful as an adjunct to powered conveyor systems, providing a packing or ‘accumulation’ area. Specially designed gravity conveyors address to the needs of modern industries better and can be of great help in process of material handling. They can be used to handle skids, totes, pallets, boxes, drums, parts and raw materials in varied processes involved in production. Besides being economical, they have an added advantage of being almost maintenance-free.
These conveyors are made up of a series of parallel rollers attached to a metal frame supported at intervals which can be inclined slightly for gravity flow, but objects and packages may also be rolled along manually. Skate wheels replace rollers in gravity-wheel conveyors, which are ideal for handling lighter loads.
Being a low-cost alternative to high speed conveyors they can be used in industries like packaging, agricultural, automotive, canning, computer, electronics, food processing, aerospace, chemical, bottling and print finishing.
Management of warehouses by purchase professionals
There has been a trend these days to make purchasing professionals responsible for management of the warehouse. This can indeed be considered a logical step given the similarities between purchasing and warehouse management.
To begin with, use of metrics is common both to purchasing professionals and warehouse performance, too. As a purchasing officer with the responsibility of warehousing, you can start with these metrics as pick lines per hour, orders processed per hour and the age of oldest unshipped order.
Similar to that in purchasing, you can adopt many practices in warehouse management too. Two of such practices can be effective slotting tools and bar coding.
Effective slotting tools include the placement of high-volume items close to the point of shipping, use of clear slotting information under each item on the shelf, using the same slotting information on pick documents, and sorting the slot numbers into a sequence that supports a “no-backtrack” path for the picker.
Bar codes can help ensure that the right incoming product is put in the right place and that the right outgoing product is picked in the right quantities. Bar code picking ensures a faster and an accurate picking. This leads to cost savings and the result in noticed in just about six months. Managing warehouse efficiently can lead to labor cost savings of 30 to 50%.
Advantages of electric forklifts over those powered by fuel, gas and others
Electric forklifts have some added advantage as compared to forklifts run by diesel, gas, batteries or fuel. Some of the advantages include emissions, fuel saving, better lifespan and so on.
Electric forklifts do not have emissions as compared to other forklifts. As such they prove to a better option when used indoors as the ones run by diesel or gas are quite unsuitable due to the emissions they generate. Although propane-fueled forklifts can operate inside, the area will need very good ventilation.
Again, electric forklifts turn out to be a cheaper option when fuel costs are considered. Also, this gives the benefit of free space in the warehouse as there is no need to store fuel as in the case of propane-powered forklifts.
Electric forklifts also last longer because they are usually used in cleaner environment than other types. In addition to their longer lifespan, these forklifts are easier to maintain.
Electric forklifts have few moving parts which enable less overall maintenance. Also, forklifts powered by internal combustion need to have their engines regularly maintained.
Last nut not the least, electric forklifts eases us from the loud noise of internal combustion engines. Electric forklifts are powered by a battery. Therefore, they will produce lower levels of noise. Being quieter, they again turn out to the better option when used indoors.
Companies facing safety issues in hazardous material transport through trains
2005- A train carrying chlorine used for purifying water in cities crashed in Graniteville, S.C., releasing a poisonous cloud over the town and killing 9 people and injuring hundreds of others.
2008- There were about 21 train accidents where some hazardous material was released injuring many.
2009- Just 50 miles from a Chicago suburb, a derailed freight train car carrying ethanol burst into flames killing a motorist who tried to flee.
Barrington Mayor Karen Darch saw her worst fears realized and said, “This is exactly the kind of thing we’ve been afraid of. Any community could find themselves in that situation.”
The most scary issue to be faced by the Government is the handling of safety measures in order to prevent derailment disasters of hazardous cargo shipments along the 140,000-mile U.S. rail network. There is also the danger of terrorists finding these chemical-laden tankers as easy targets.
This has led the Government to issue new federal regulations requiring that companies reroute trains hauling the most toxic materials away from big cities. Those rules apply to substances that can vaporize, like chlorine. Some other new federal rules that have been partially implemented require that new tankers be better fortified to lessen chances of spills or explosions. However, given the current recessionary times, it is a remote possibility that the railways buy many new tankers.
Says U.S. Rep. Edward Markey in support of the rerouting rules that the tankers amount to “hell on wheels rolling through our communities. In a catastrophic event, the Massachusetts Democrat said, tankers contain enough chlorine to kill 100,000 people in 30 minutes.”
However, since trains are the safest way to move hazardous material, there is a federal mandate dating back at least 100 years requiring railroads carry such cargo, whether they like it or not. Now, this is an extra burden for the rail companies as a major accident could bankrupt them and companies are demanding that the laws are either canceled or eased.
“Isn’t it a little unfair to both require railroads to carry this stuff, and then say they are fully liable?” Tom White, spokesman for the Association of American Railroads, the industry trade group, asked.
On the issue of re-routing White commented, “Rerouting can also substantially increase the distance a material travels and the amount of handling it requires. That in itself can increase the safety risk.”
Among 27 criteria railways are required to consider as they draw up rerouting plans is whether tankers pass by landmarks terrorists might want to hit. Some rail companies already are steering more trains onto lines that cut through villages, towns and suburbs to bypass chronic train-track congestion in Chicago, the nation’s premier rail hub.
The multiple benefits of Warehouse Control Systems
These days Warehouse Control Systems are much in demand which avoids conflicts and increases warehouse efficiency by automating the operations. Some of the benefits which can be associated to WCS are:
Helps in expanding options for equipment: It gives the company the option to choose the best equipment from multiple suppliers rather than having to depend entirely on one supplier.
Real-time interaction and flow: WCS helps in maintaining an efficient product flow as it interacts with the MHE controllers in real-time, thus getting up-to-date information from the material handling equipment enabling prompt adjustments to maintain an efficient product flow.
Quality control and elimination of mistakes: As WCS provides real-time order verification, it checks the weight of each order based on the items picked. Therefore, errors and discrepancy in quality can be checked.
Centralized control and monitoring: WCS provides a single interface by acting as a connection between a firm’s WMS/ERP to the material handling equipment.
WCS increases productivity through dynamic pick allocation as it can make a “last minute” decision based on the current activity and operational status.
WCS reduces transport and dunnage cost by selecting the smallest possible size container depending on the order. It can also choose the best shipping method at the last moment depending on the order.