DJ Products, Inc.

2009 seemed like the year that would never end. For manufacturers, the bad news just kept on coming. But hope seems to have finally struggled above the horizon. From the depths of last winter’s discontent, 2009 has risen to end on a high note for material handling manufacturers and, indeed, most U.S. manufacturers. Reports indicate that U.S. manufacturing has finally turned the corner, and we can expect 2010 to be a far more productive and more profitable year. Break out the champagne!

The fourth quarter of 2009 saw strong manufacturing growth. With the job market showing signs of stabilization and housing prices beginning to climb toward normal, November brought a cautious increase in consumer spending. Manufacturing benefitted from increased orders for durable goods during the fourth quarter as customers started restocking their shelves. While durable goods orders in November were less than robust, they were twice the amount forecast by economists. Overall, the U.S. economic picture looks hopefully optimistic for the first time since the recession hit.

“We are seeing progress in a number of areas, from increases in consumer spending and business spending to growth in exports,” Brian Bethune, an economist at IHS Global Economics told the Associated Press last week. “It all adds up to a recovery that is gaining some momentum.”

Bethune and other economists are predicting a 4% annual rate of economic growth (as measured by gross domestic product) for the final quarter of 2009. In addition to durable goods, particularly a growing increase in high ticket items, industrial growth into the new year is expected to come from increased equipment and software purchases. Ergonomic material handling equipment sales are expected to increase as manufacturers and business owners seek out ways to increase worker productivity and decrease healthcare costs. Expected new regulatory requirements aimed at protecting worker health and safety are also expected to drive up sales of ergonomic carts and tugs.

Billed as YouTube for business, eCorpTV.com seems tailor-made for videophiles like DJ Products’ marketing department! As we’re sure you’ve noticed when you visit our website, we’re great fans of video. At DJ Products, we’ve found that while a picture may be worth a thousand words, a video is the next best thing to putting our product in the customer’s hand. Just as realtors have discovered that video tours draw home buyers, DJ Products has discovered that showing customers what our ergonomic powered carts can do is a highly effective way to sell our product.

That’s the idea behind eCorpTV.com. Businesses from Fortune 500s to small start ups can quickly and easily post their product videos on the site free of charge. As the site developers note, more than 68% of American workers aged 25 to 44 will watch online videos this year. Adding online video marketing to your advertising mix just makes sense. Online videos have the potential to attract not only customers, but investors, journalists and potential employees. Corporations don’t have to worry about competing with stupid pet tricks or humorous rants, eCorpTV.com accepts only G-rated legitimate business videos. They aim to become a quality service for the business community.

We think they’re on the right track. Watch one of the DJ Product ergonomic material handling product videos. We’ve found that no amount of text can show quite as effectively as a video exactly how tight a turn our CartCaddy power tug can make or just how our side-steer powered cart can be maneuvered. If you haven’t added video to your product website yet, it’s time to take a page from the future and start filming!

MHEDA, the Material Handling Equipment Distributors Association, has just launched wikiMHEDA, an excellent online resource for those of us who work in material handling, our customers and people who want to learn more about the material handling industry. Think of it as Wikipedia for the material handling industry. Just like the famous online encyclopedia, wikiMHEDA is an interactive Web resource written and edited by its readers, in this case people active in the material handling industry. However, unlike Wikipedia’s broad “every subject under the sun” scope, wikiMHEDA focuses solely on the subject of material handling.

According to website information, MHEDA intends its new wiki site to:

• serve as an educational resource for and about the industry
• provide an encyclopedia of material handling industry terms
• provide a news outlet for industry events, activities and developments
• be a resource for material handling product specification sheets
• serve as a library and distribution center for industry white papers
• provide a video library of material handling equipment and accessories
• provide a directory of firms that manufacture and distribute material handling equipment and accessories

We found searching for information about the material handling industry and its players easy on the new site, but — and we’re sure this is because it has just launched — information is sketchy in some areas and distributor lists are far less than comprehensive. For example, a search for “ergonomics” brought up an abbreviated definition with a cursory overview of OSHA activity, all generally related to the manufacturing industry. Because it is a wiki site, the new site does allow users to add content, and the process is fairly simple. Creation of an account and website registration are required before editing.Â