DJ Products, Inc.

The plight of the American automobile industry should serve as a cautionary tale for all U.S. manufacturers and businesses. To survive in today’s global marketplace, you must be flexible, embrace change, and constantly re-shape your business to meet future trends. Survival is as much about preparing your business for the future as it is about being competitive today.

Detroit’s problems are complex and have been exacerbated by a 15% sales drop as the economy has worsened, but at their core is the failure of U.S. auto executives to acknowledge the trend toward more fuel-efficient cars and to innovate. Rather than meeting the challenge posed by rising well-made, fuel-efficient Asian competition, Detroit continued business as usual, putting its efforts into advertising and Congressional lobbying to support bigger, better, fuel-guzzling cars. And until the rising cost of gas bit us in the wallet, the American public played along.

The sad thing is that back in 2000 Detroit did flirt with a program to push fuel-efficient vehicles but abandoned the effort as too expensive and unnecessary. It makes you wonder if the auto industry would be in cardiac arrest today if industry leaders had had the foresight to imagine the future and the courage to make the hard decisions necessary to prepare for it.

In the material handling industry, DJ Products faced this dilemma successfully. With the vision to spot new trends and the flexibility to act, DJ Products was one of the early responders to need for ergonomic material handling equipment. Well before the high price of repetitive stress injuries became a national cause, DJ Products saw a need to design material handling equipment that would reduce the potential for musculoskeletal injuries and improve the health and safety of workers.

DJ Products manufactures ergonomically-designed motorized carts and powered cart, equipment and vehicle movers that eliminate the pain and strain of manually pushing and pulling heavy carts and wheeled equipment. Our products are less costly, smaller, more maneuverable and more versatile than traditional material handling equipment used to move carts and equipment, such as forklift trucks, walkies and riding tugs. Forward-thinking business owners are revitalizing their operations and positioning themselves for the future by turning to ergonomic equipment to meet their material handling needs.

With an Obama administration expected to increase ergonomic standards and requirements in the next year, a proactive approach toward worker health and safety is a  smart business move. And it’s a decision that will have a positive impact on your bottom line. The cost of most ergonomic equipment purchases are recouped in the first year in savings on medical costs, insurance, workers’ compensation and lost work days. A move to ergonomic equipment also provides a substantial benefit in improved worker morale and increased productivity.

To find out how ergonomically-designed material handling equipment can help prepare your business to meet the challenges of the future, contact the ergonomic experts at DJ Products.

Despite harsh criticism, the President and Congress seem poised to throw a lifeline to America’s struggling auto industry. Critics say Detroit’s problems stem from 30 years of short-sightedness and poor decision-making. Failure to recognize future trends toward smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles compounded by failure to aggressively address budget-busting labor demands head critics’ lists of the poor management practices that have led to the U.S. auto industry’s financial woes (see our Nov. 12 post). Today, the auto industry defends itself.

U.S. auto industry representatives dispute their critics, saying critics oversimplify the issues and don’t credit automakers for the significant progress made in recent years. “In the last five years, there’s been more restructuring done in the automotive business than any other business in the history of the United States,” said Tony Cervone, General Motors VP of communications.

Auto industry spokesmen cite a decade’s worth of tough cost cutting measures, improved productivity and their switch to the production of more competitive, fuel-efficient cars as indications that Detroit has been working hard to reverse course and increase its competitiveness with popular foreign imports. They point out that their ability to compete is severely hampered by the demands of powerful labor unions and the strictures of multiple government regulations.

The recessionary economy and tight credit have placed additional burdens on automakers. New car sales are down, in part, because consumers aren’t spending. Across the economic board, consumers are harboring their financial resources and taking a wait and see attitude about the nation’s economic future. Adding insult to injury, the tight credit market has made it nearly impossible for people who want to buy a new car to get financing. Burned by the mortgage meltdown, banks have reined in lending practices and raised loan requirements.

The news isn’t all doom and gloom, however. Capitalizing on fuel-efficient designs initiated in 2000, Detroit is finally rolling out cheaper, competitive alternatives to the Asian-designed vehicles that dominate that sector of the market. Financial pressure is forcing the industry to consolidate and streamline production practices. President-elect Obama’s reminder to the American people that we will all have to sacrifice if the country is to weather the current economic crisis could play out in more reasonable labor contracts. And that Congressional lifeline is likely to come with lots of strings attached that should give Detroit the needed incentive to redefine itself more competitively.

Next time: Lessons to be learned from the auto industry meltdown

This week we’ve been talking about the growing worker crisis that faces the material handling, manufacturing, warehousing, logistics and related industries (see our Nov. 3 post). By 2010, American industry will face a 50% shortfall in its material handling workforce. Attracting workers to material industry jobs is one of the biggest challenges of our industry (see our Nov. 5 post), particularly with worldwide growth in our industry expected to remain robust over the next several decades. Developing and instituting a comprehensive ergonomic plan in your company is an excellent way to attract new workers and retain your current workforce.

Ergonomics is the science of designing equipment and planning work tasks with the goal of eliminating workers’ risk of musculoskeletal injury. Equipment and tasks are designed around the capabilities of workers and seek to make it possible for workers to perform tasks with a minimum of physical strain and effort. A comprehensive ergonomic plan combines the use of ergonomically-designed equipment with ergonomically-planned task procedures to make it possible for workers to perform tasks more efficiently with a minimum of potential injury-causing motions.

Any time a worker has to bend, stretch, reach, push, pull or lift, he runs the risk of serious musculoskeletal injury. These injuries cost U.S. businesses more than $150 billion a year. More than 13 million American workers suffer non-fatal injuries each year, and 6,500 people die from workplace injuries. Workers’ compensation costs U.S. businesses $60 billion annually, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. More than 25% of those claims are for back injuries caused by repetitive lifting, pulling, pushing and straining. Back injuries alone affect more than 1.75 million workers a year, costing American businesses more than $12 million in lost workdays.

When you implement a comprehensive ergonomic plan, you send an immediate message to your employees that you respect their contribution to your business and value their health and safety. That, in turn, engenders worker appreciation and loyalty. The ability to offer a safe, ergonomic work environment is a powerful inducement in attracting and retaining your workforce.

DJ Products is an industry leader in the manufacture of ergonomically-designed electric and motorized cart pushers. Our equipment is less costly, smaller and more maneuverable than traditional equipment used to move carts and equipment. Ergonomically-designed equipment increases worker efficiency, thus improving production efficiency. In most situations where ergonomic equipment is introduced, businesses recoup purchase costs within the first year in medical, insurance, workers’ compensation and lost work-days savings alone. An investment in ergonomic equipment is a win-win situation for both businesses and their workers. DJ Products’ ergonomic specialists can help you assess your equipment needs and explore custom applications to benefit your business and your workers.