Trash and recycling containers and dumpsters??are typically located near trash compactors and bailers deep inside underground parking garages or in designated areas on the plant floor. These heavy containers must be maneuvered around equipment or vehicles across crowded floors or parking garages to designated collection sites or to the outside curb for access by??waste haulers. Due to the heavy, unbalanced loads they contain, trash and recycling containers and dumpsters can be extremely awkward and difficult to move and maneuver, particularly around obstacles. When performed manually, the task of pushing and pulling these containers across long distances and up underground slopes to street level puts workers at high risk for expensive and debilitating musculoskeletal injuries.

DJ Products’ ergonomically designed dumpster mover eliminates the pains and strains associated with manually pushing heavy carts and wheeled equipment. Its compact design allows this dynamic cart mover to maneuver easily through tight spaces such as hallways, aisles, doors and crowded parking garages. A powerful 36-volt motor makes this heavy-duty??tug capable of muscling dumpsters and containers weighing 500 to 10,000 pounds. The new DJ Products dumpster mover turns a three or four-person job into a??quick and easy one-person operation. This powerful battery-operated waste mover can easily push or pull heavy dumpsters or trash/recycling containers up sharp inclines, over asphalt and even through snow and ice.

Visit the DJ Products website for more information on??our new??battery-powered dumpster mover and to see this amazing ergonomic tug in action. Call 1-800-686-2651 or contact us online to talk to one of our engineering specialists about arranging a free demo trial of our new dumpster mover.???

“The economic developments of the last two months made it clear to businesses that demand for goods and services in the U.S. is declining, and businesses are responding by aggressively slashing their payrolls,” said Levanon in an interview published in Manufacturing & Technology eJournal. “Unfortunately, it seems this environment will persist for several more quarters and business leaders will continue reducing their workforce.”

Published monthly by the Conference Board, a global non-profit business organization that monitors and forecasts economic trends, the ETI is a compilation of eight labor-market indicators:

• percentage of workers who find jobs “hard to get”
• initial unemployment insurance claims
• percentage of companies with job openings
• number of temporary hires
• number of part-time workers working for economic reasons
• number of job openings
• industrial production rates
• real manufacturing and trade sales

Whether we like it or not, in a recession most businesses are forced to trim labor costs in order to survive. It’s happening in every sector of U.S. economy. From retail sales to office workers to manufacturing, layoffs are occurring, workforces are being downsized and retiring workers are not being replaced. This means fewer workers must shoulder greater burdens if production quality and output are to be maintained.

Ergonomically-designed equipment easily enables a single worker to do a job that may previously have required two or more workers when performed manually. By transferring physical effort from the worker to the equipment, ergonomically-designed carts and equipment movers allow business owners to effectively reduce their workforce without taxing their workers.

Ergonomic equipment is designed to prevent the expensive and debilitating musculoskeletal injuries that plague manual pushing, pulling and lifting tasks.?? The introduction of ergonomic equipment and ergonomic practices into the workplace have been shown in countless studies to immediately reduce worker injury, decrease associated medical and insurance costs and improve worker morale and productivity.

To find out how ergonomically-designed equipment can help you maintain production values with a depleted workforce, talk to the ergonomic experts at DJ Products.

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.

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

Prior to its election break, Congress passed legislation providing $25 billion in government-backed loans to automakers to help them retool for the production of more fuel-efficient vehicles. Since then, the Big Three and United Autoworkers officials have asked for an additional $25 billion to keep the automakers afloat and a further $25 billion to fund future healthcare payments to 780,000 retirees and their dependents. Legislation currently being written in the House and Senate is expected to severely limit executive compensation and demand vigorous federal review in exchange for bailout funds.

Critics say Detroit is suffering from decades of short-sightedness and poor decision-making. In iterating the missteps that have led automakers to the edge of bankruptcy, critics cite the auto industry’s failure to invest in new products, failure to aggressively pursue fuel-efficient cars, failure to meet the competitive challenge of Asian imports and failure to take on growing union demands.

“There’s been 30 years of denial,” said Noel Tichy, a University of Michigan business professor, author and auto industry consultant. “They did not make themselves competitive. They didn’t deal with the union issues, the cost structures long ago, everything that makes a successful company.”

Tichy says the auto industry’s problems started in 1980s when Toyota and Honda mastered the production of reliable, fuel-efficient cars. Detroit, unfortunately, failed to see this as an omen of future trends. Cheap gas and a strong U.S. economy made Detroit blas?? about the public’s fledgling interest in ecology and “green” lifestyles. Driven by high profits and consumer demand, the Big Three automakers continued??to invest in the traditional “bigger is better” model, flooding the American market with luxury vans, trucks, SUVs and the ultimate example of overindulgence, the Hummer.

By the 1990s, Detroit had effectively ceded the small and midsize car markets to Toyota and Honda. When fears of global warming, pollution and high oil prices began to gain affect public opinion and buying habits after the millennium, U.S. automakers were caught unprepared. Skyrocketing fuel prices over the past year sent sales plummeting and sealed their fate. Coupled with a recessive economy and tight credit, failure to address future trends??has driven the U.S. auto industry to the brink of extinction.

Next time: Hope for the future: Changes that will redefine the U.S. auto industry

“We’re going to have a government that makes sure workers aren’t put at unnecessary risk,” Obama said while stumping on the campaign trail this summer. It seems likely that increased federal emphasis on the development and implementation of ergonomics standards and legislation will be part of the Obama administration’s plan to revitalize and improve U.S. industry. In numerous studies, ergonomics has been proven to significantly reduce workplace injuries and improve worker health and safety.

While workplace health and safety policy changes may not be immediate — president-elect Obama will, after all,??have his hands full with more pressing problems in the first few months of his presidency — a solid Democratic majority in Congress makes it likely that tighter ergonomic standards will see quick passage in the near future. Some industry experts believe that a return to the OSHA standards of the Clinton administration could easily be enacted by Congress within the first six months of the new Obama administration.

The sweeping OSHA ergonomics changes ushered in by the Clinton administration in 2000 were quickly repealed by Republicans when George Bush took office in 2001. OSHA’s scaled-back ergonomics plan of 2002 revised the controversial Clinton-era regulations to focus primarily on the reduction of repetitive stress injuries. During his 2004 Senate campaign,??Obama said he supported reviving the more comprehensive Clinton OSHA ergonomic standards. During his presidential campaign,??Obama has repeatedly promised to renew the government’s commitment to improving the health and safety of all American workers.

Critics fear that a return to Clinton-era OSHA ergonomics standards would place an additional onerous burden on struggling American businesses. Tighter ergonomics standards could necessitate retooling and restructuring of production tasks. Training programs would have to be developed and executed. Increased record-keeping of repetitive stress and musculoskeletal complaints and injuries would also add to time-consuming paperwork and reporting demands, critics charge.

Despite industry fears, ergonomically-designed equipment and work procedures have the proven capacity to increase production efficiency and substantially cut injury rates. Results are both immediate and long-term, resulting in instantaneous and sustained reductions in medical, insurance, workers compensation and lost work hours while reaping considerable gains in worker satisfaction, production efficiency and improved product quality and customer service.

For more information on??how ergonomically-designed equipment can improve your business, talk to the experts at??DJ Products.?

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.

In building awareness of job opportunity in the material handling industry, we will need to update our image with school counselors, students and the public at large. Our efforts to attract new workers are burdened by the outdated perception of material handling workers as unskilled manual laborers lagging at the??bottom of the payment and benefit scale. Times have changed. Material handling jobs offer good pay, good benefits??and a growth industry, an appealing triumvirate, particularly during the current economic downturn that is forcing many industries to lay off workers.

Of added benefit is the ability of material handling to offer jobs across the educational spectrum.??While college grads and MBAs increasingly populate our industry, there is still great appreciation for the individual who moves right into the workforce out of high school, determined to work hard and make something of his life. It’s how many of today’s leaders in the material handling industry got their start, and we haven’t forgotten. The increasing emphasis on automation and??system integration in our industry should appeal to the computer-savvy teens and 20-somethings poised to enter the workforce. Material handling jobs can offer young people the opportunity to reap immediate reward from their prodigious self-taught computer skills. And many employers will help workers increase and improve both their technical and business skills through educational assistance programs. The “you learn while you earn” approach can be particularly appealing during a tough economy.

So how can you help get the word out? Visit guidance counselors at local high schools, tech schools??and community colleges. Let them know what material handling has to offer their students and leave some brochures they can pass out to students. Volunteer to speak at career day programs. This is a great opportunity to talk directly to students. Invite vocational high school or community college classes on a tour of your facilities and explain job opportunities. Offer summer internships or initiate a co-op (work/study) program through local high schools, community colleges or universities.????This is time-honored way to give interested students a taste of the real work world, and many co-op students become full-time employees.

Attracting future workers to the material handling industry is everyone’s job. Get out there in your community and start spreading the word. Our future depends on it.

There’s a severe shortage of qualified industrial workers in America, particularly in material handling fields, that holds promise for job-seekers. The material handling industry is expected to be “50% short in terms of employees needed by 2010,” said Virginia Wheeler, executive director of the Material Handling Industry of America’s (MHIA) Education Foundation. The growing worker shortfall guarantees job security well into the next decade for people going into material handling jobs in warehouses, fulfillment centers, logistics operations, and factories.

“Our industry is begging for people,” said Dan Quinn, MHIA VP for education. He feels America’s high schools are undercutting the value of the trade jobs that built and continue to build??America. “A lot of schools measure themselves on the percentage of students who go on to college,” Quinn criticized. “Schools should embrace the concept that non-college-bound students are still valuable contributors to the economy and society.”

The reality is that many high school students are not interested in pursuing a college education for a wide variety of reasons. Many??simply??prefer hands-on, physical work to sitting at a desk. Many are anxious to get out on their own and lack the interest in four more years of schooling. Many do not have the financial resources to consider college but must provide for themselves immediately after high school graduation. As the recession deepens, finances are expected to play an increasing role in education/work decisions. Some high school juniors and seniors, like Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s future son-in-law,??have already been forced to drop out of school to help support their families. Some employers are offering their employees the opportunity to??complete their high school education through GED programs.

It’s unfortunate that many high school guidance counselors are so focused on college that they ignore the positive opportunities available in material handling industries. Raising awareness of job opportunities is one of the primary challenges facing the material handling industry, said Alan Howie, author of Fundamentals of Warehousing and Distribution. “. . . the essential problem is we have to get the message out there that . . . work in the material handling industry is much more than a manual labor job. It’s a career in a high-tech industry. Our challenge is to build awareness of all of this in the schools and colleges.”

In a bid to prop up troubled domestic automakers, governors from six states heavily??invested in the auto industry??– Michigan, Ohio, Delaware, Kentucky, New York and South Dakota — petitioned the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve for help. “The auto industry; their network of suppliers, vendors, dealers and other businesses; and the communities that rely on those businesses face unimaginable challenges — challenges we urge you to help address,” the governors wrote.

Over the past decade, U.S. automakers have been fighting a losing battle against??tough competition from foreign car companies, particularly Honda and Toyota. ??Faltering automakers General Motors and Chrysler are talking merger in order to stay alive, though financing could present a major stumbling block. Although tens of thousands of jobs would be lost in a merger, industry experts agree that a merger is preferable to the even greater disaster that would occur should either company collapse.

But automakers aren’t the only ones feeling the pinch. U.S. auto dealers are also struggling; and particularly in areas glutted with dealers, many are being forced to scale back or close their doors. Nationally, new car sales are down 13% from last year, with sales expected to continue dropping as people cut expenses and harbor their cash during the impending recession. The National Automobile Dealers Association has asked President Bush to consider issuing refundable consumer tax credits for new car and truck purchases or instituting a program that would entice consumers to upgrade their vehicles.

The bottom line is that all players in the auto industry, from monster auto makers to small-town dealers, are going to have to??make their operations leaner and meaner. Turning to ergonomically-designed, fuel-smart vehicle pushers specifically designed for the automotive industry can reap significant savings. Ergonomically-designed equipment is proven to reduce expensive musculoskeletal injuries and their attendant medical, insurance and workers compensation costs. And ergonomic equipment allows a single worker to accomplish a greater workload, increasing production efficiency and reducing personnel costs. Battery and electric-powered equipment also saves big bucks in fuel and maintenance costs compared to diesel or gas-powered vehicle movers. Studies show that ergonomic equipment pays for itself in a single year. After that, it’s all gravy!

To find out how ergonomic equipment can improve your bottom line, talk to the experts at DJ Products.