DJ Products, Inc.

The recreational vehicle industry is celebrating its centennial year. It’s been 100 years since Pierce Arrow rolled the first mass-produced RV off the assembly line in 1910. In the past century, RVs have gone from little more than primitive wooden boxes to sleek, luxurious homes packed with compact comfort. After a recession-caused dip in sales, new RV sales started been regaining traction in the last quarter of 2009. RV manufacturers have rehired laid off workers and even increased their workforce which employs more than a quarter million Americans. With the economy recovering and retiring baby boomers flocking to RV shows to indulge their wanderlust, the RV industry is poised to begin its second 100 years stronger than ever.

Big business in the U.S., RVs are an exclusively U.S. product, made by Americans in America. In fact, 60% of RVs are made in the Elkhart, Indiana area. More than 12,000 RV related businesses employing more than a quarter million people serve the RV nation which is growing every year. The Recreation Vehicle Industry Association (RVIA) estimates that one in every dozen U.S. families  — about 8.2 million households — owns an RV and an awful lot of them are travel trailers.

Every time those millions of recreational travel trailers are moved down the assembly line or across the factory floor and out to the storage lot or across a dealer showroom or in and out of a convention center for an RV show or around a repair service yard they have to be hooked up to a vehicle OR you could just use one of DJ Products’ handy TrailerCaddy trailer mover. Designed to maneuver full-size commercial cargo trailers, our versatile, compact, electric-powered trailer mover makes quick work of moving RV travel trailers, 5th wheels, toy haulers, pop-up campers and even RV park models. 

Visit the DJ Products’ website to find out more about our ergonomically-designed electric trailer mover.

The poor economy led to lower attendance at 2009 material handling shows but 2010 promises to be a better year. Companies trying to hold onto their bottom line may have skipped last year’s show or sent only a token delegate or two. With the manufacturing and peripheral industries finally starting to post small increases, material handling and related industries are anticipating better attendance at 2010 conferences.

Annual conferences and trade shows offer unique opportunities to see what’s new in the industry and what the future holds. Staying up-to-date with your industry enables you to better position yourself to meet future demands. National trade shows are an excellent place to network. They’re a good place to search for new talent to strengthen or rejuvenate your operation. They’re also an excellent place to form alliances with other company representatives that can lead to greater national exposure and increased product sales.

Continuing education classes and workshops provide information on innovative solutions to management and marketing problems. Round table discussions provide an opportunity to trade techniques and strategies with other industry professionals. Dealer and product give you an opportunity to learn about new products, increase your product knowledge, and discover products or services that can augment or revitalize your current product line.

The big national material handling conference/trade shows scheduled for 2010 include:

• NA 2010: Solutions that Make the Supply Chain Work sponsored by the Material Handling Industry of America (MHIA) will be held April 26-29 at the I-X Center in Cleveland, Ohio. The event will focus on positioning your business to take advantage of future trends. Click here for more information.
• 2010: The Rules Have Changed sponsored by the Material Handling Equipment Distributors Association (MHEDA) will be held May 1-5 at the Marriott Marco Island Resort & Spa on Marco Island, Florida. The conference will focus on providing insight into recession-driven maketing and economic trends. Click here for more information.

Scheduled for March 22-25, the 2010 Applied Ergonomics Conference (AEC) to be held in San Antonio, Texas is slated to be North America’s biggest and most impressive gathering of ergonomics experts, applications and equipment providers. What sets AEC apart from other ergonomic conferences is its emphasis on the practical application of ergonomic principles and discoveries to real world industrial problems. This is not an esoteric meeting of high-brow academics, though you’ll find the more practical of their ilk in attendance. This is a working man’s conference. A meeting of industrialists, ergonomic experts and others involved in day-to-day efforts to improve the health and safety of American workers through the application of ergonomics to real world problems.

 The 2010 AEC conference will be held at the Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort and Spa with early registration discounts available through January 15, 2010. Ergoweb is offering a special 50% discount to its followers until this Friday, December 18 on registrations for the conference and host hotel. (Click here for registration form and more information from Ergoweb.)

Keynote speakers scheduled include Y. Ian Noy, vice president and director of Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety, and Guy Fragata, senior advisor for Ergonomics Patient Safety Center of Inquiry. Multiple educational tracks and numerous informational exhibits by leaders in the ergonomics industry will also be featured at the conference.

As a leader in the design and manufacture of ergonomically-designed material handling equipment, DJ Products is intimately involved in solving daily ergonomics problems in a wide variety of U.S. industries including manufacturing and heavy industry, hospitality, hospital and health care, automotive and commercial retail. We understand the critical need for ergonomic systems and ergonomic material handling equipment that protects the health and safety of American workers. To find our more about our full line of ergonomic motorized carts and tugs, visit the DJ Products website.