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October 01, 2008
By: CartPro
Category: Future Trends, Material Handling, Warehousing, logistics
Material handling offers good growth potential now and for the future. It is also becoming increasingly automated and technical (see our Sept. 29 post). So how can students interested in material handling as a growth career and current workers who want to move up position themselves to be in demand by employers today and into the future?
Industry experts agree that education is the key. While a high school diploma can still get you an entry-level job on the warehouse floor, it will take certified skills to maintain that job as the level of technology accelerates through the material handling, warehousing and logistics industries. Moving up the corporate ladder will increasingly require a bachelor’s degree. If you aspire to a management position, plan on putting in that extra year or two to get your MBA. Some colleges now offer concurrent bachelor/MBA programs and many offer night, weekend and online courses. Executive MBA programs geared to working business professionals provide an accelerated path to a higher degree by recognizing acquired experiential knowledge.
“Going into the future, not many people will have much success in their career progression without professional development of some kind,” warned Mark Ensby, director of Clarkson University’s Engineering & Global Operations Management Department. “The three most important credentialing letters today seem to be ‘MBA.’”
As automation and the global economy drive industry to greater integration, versatility and cross-industry knowledge will be increasingly valued. Students who combine material handling courses with industrial engineering, logistics, supply chain, warehousing, project management and computer systems studies will best position themselves for the future.
Partnerships between industry associations and universities are also expected to increase experiential learning. As it moves toward the future, material handling and associated industrial engineering industries will be looking for graduates with experiential learning, not just theoretical knowledge. “Associations like MHIA are going to play more and more of an important role in leveraging universities as the provider of skilled employees,” predicted Dan Boos, president of consulting firm Gorillas and Gazelles.
Mark Tomlinson, executive director of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, has called for public schools to place greater emphasis on manufacturing as a viable career choice. Industry pressure is expected to increase two-year technical training opportunities in manufacturing, material handling, and industrial engineering fields. Tech schools, some beginning at the high school level, are seen as a quick way of solving the looming worker shortage in these industries. “The challenge is there just isn’t going to be enough of anybody for what’s needed,” Boos said.
“Over their lifetime, many of them (high school grads) will earn more because they started working sooner than those who took four or five years to finish college,” Tomlinson pointed out. “So we’ve got to get away from a good job/bad job mindset and encourage people to get some training.”
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September 29, 2008
By: CartPro
Category: Future Trends, Material Handling, Warehousing, logistics
Particularly in a tight economy everyone wants to know where the jobs are and where they’re going to be for the next decade or so. Material handling and the related fields of logistics and warehousing are growth industries that offer good job potential now and into the future. International development is predicted to drive 5% annual growth in the worldwide material handling industry for each of the next five years (see our Sept. 22 post). In the U.S. retiring baby boomers are creating critical worker shortages in logistics and warehousing. However, automation and increasingly sophisticated technology are also creating a need for more highly skilled and more highly educated workers.
While the value of experiential education is still recognized, a bachelor’s degree is the new entre into a professional career; and a master’s degree, the ticket to climbing the career ladder, according to Mike Ensby of Clarkson University’s Engineering & Global Operations Management Department. “The three most important credentialing letters today seem to be ‘MBA,’” he said in a recent interview with Modern Materials Handling, particularly if you’re aiming for the boardroom.
Companies do still hire people right out of high school, and many professionals who began their own careers that way seem to place greater value on certified skills than college degrees. But material handling is in a state of transition. Industry experts say the drive to automation and integrated systems will increasingly demand a workforce with advanced technical skills. Tomorrow’s warehouse worker is more apt to operate a computer than a forklift.
In the coming decade, high school grads may find themselves stuck in a career track that rarely rises above skilled labor, such as order fulfillment. “Going into the future, not many people will have much success in their career progression without professional development of some kind,” Ensby said.
Next time: What courses will catapult your material handling career to success? What will employers be looking for?
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September 26, 2008
By: CartPro
Category: Automotive Industry, Future Trends, Material Handling, Productivity Tips, Products, Safety and Ergonomics
The material handling industry is on the cusp of a major worldwide growth spurt. Increased automation at home and growing industrialization abroad, particularly in automobile production, are expected to increase worldwide sales of material handling products and systems by 5% a year for the next five years (see our Sept. 22 & 24 posts). Products that maximize worker efforts while decreasing the physical strain on workers will enjoy an ever-increasing share of the market. Particularly in the U.S. where a declining workforce coupled with escalating medical, insurance and workers’ compensation costs will drive a move toward more efficient material handling products, ergonomically-designed equipment and systems are expected to capture an increasing part of the material handling market.
DJ Products is well situated to help you meet the material handling challenges of tomorrow. We manufacture ergonomically-designed material handling carts and tugs designed to maximize work effort and safety. Our energy-efficient electric and battery-powered carts and tugs are less costly, smaller and more maneuverable than the traditional equipment used to move carts and equipment such as forklifts which kill 100 U.S. workers a year and result in 20,000 serious injuries.
All of our products are battery-powered walk-behind units that allow maximum operator control, even in tight, difficult spaces. The flexibility of our ergonomic equipment allows it to be used not only in manufacturing settings, logistics centers and warehouses, but in hospitals, hotels and motels, and in the retail industry.
We make a number of efficient vehicle pushers for the automotive industry, including some for use on production lines. Our vehicle pushers can be used to push vehicles down and assembly line or move them from station to station. Padded to prevent dents, scratches and cracks, our vehicle movers preserve the paint and integrity of vehicles during production and processing. From our handy car/vehicle pusher to our heavy-duty truck pusher which is capable of moving 10,000 pounds, we make versatile automotive material handling products useful in every aspect of the automotive industry.
For complete information, specifications and videos of our ergonomically-designed carts, tugs and movers in action, visit the DJ Products website.
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