Tag: Future Trends

Part 2: How DJ Products Can Help You Be a Survivor

Recently, we’ve been talking about the recession, workplace initiatives and increased regulation expected from the incoming Obama administration, and what it will take to position your business to survive the rocky road ahead. A tight grip on expenses, the willingness to embrace innovative ideas and technology, and the flexibility to take advantage of opportunities as they present themselves will be the hallmarks of companies that rise above the competition to succeed.

Many powerful issues will confront American business owners in the days ahead. Cost effectiveness, worker safety, healthcare issues, energy and environmental concerns, immigration and a changing workforce are among the challenges that we will face. Business owners who are proactive in addressing these challenges will position themselves to succeed. A leader in the design and manufacture of innovative, cost-effective, ergonomically-designed carts, tugs and movers, DJ Products can help you successfully meet the coming challenges. Continuing our Wednesday post, here’s how DJ Products can help you move ahead of the competition:  

  • Energy and environmental concerns are expected to take center stage with the Obama administration billing itself as the “green team.” Alternative energy products that decrease our country’s dependence on oil will receive increasing support as will products that decrease the nation’s environmental footprint. DJ Products’ battery-powered electric carts, tugs and movers use clean energy and have the staying power to work a full shift without recharging.
  • Changing workforce patterns are expected to create new challenges for businesses and industry as immigrant workers comprise an increasing portion of our country’s labor force. Language and cultural issues are expected to impact work environments and job efficiency. Intuitive ergonomic controls on DJ Products’ powered movers and carts make them easy to operate and control, bridging any potential language barrier. Our customers report an extremely brief and highly satisfactory training curve when our products are introduced into the workplace.

For complete information about DJ Products’ ergonomic carts, tugs and movers, visit our website. On our website, you’ll find a helpful Ergonomic Load Calculator that can help you or your company’s safety and health specialist estimate the amount of force necessary to move loads in your workplace. The program considers a number of variables specific to your work environment and makes product recommendations that can be used to improve both workforce and production efficiency.  Contact one of our industry experts today to find out how DJ Products can help you be a survivor.

Sustainability Takes “Green” to Next Level

Everyone is “going green” these days. Concern for the environment sparked “green” businesses, but skyrocketing fuel prices have ignited those efforts, pushing environmental practices ever more quickly toward sustainability.

What is sustainability? Sustainability takes environmentally-friendly practices to the next level. It improves upon the protection and husbandry of the world’s natural resources by utilizing processes that reclaim and reuse the products and byproducts of industry. Production comes full-circle: resources are used to create products which are then used and, at the end of their life cycle, recovered and reused to create new products.  The ultimate goal of sustainability is to complete the cycle without creating unusable byproducts or waste and without polluting the environment.

Supply Chain Sustainability and Green Sustainable Supply Chain are the coming watchwords in the material handling and logistics industries, said Patrick Penfield of Syracuse University’s Whitman School of Management in a 2007 article for On the MHove, a MHIA publication. Growing concern over environmental pollution and dwindling natural resources are driving the push for sustainability.  “Humankind has inherited a 3.8 billion per year store of natural capital. At present rates of use and degradation, there will be little left by the end of the next century,” authors of the book Natural Capitalism warned in 1999. Less than a decade later, scientists are concerned that the crisis point could be reached far sooner.

Despite the Bush administration’s failure to embrace global environmental efforts (and there are many valid arguments on both sides of that issue), European legislation restricting pollution and hazardous substances presage the future. Experts predict that the world will be unable to support its populace if the global community — including the U.S., China, Brazil, India and developing countries around the world — does not embrace environmental protection and work quickly to implement sustainable industry.

Next time: Supply Chain Sustainability

Making the Responsibility Revolution Work for You

Hand in hand with the “go green” movement, the “responsibility revolution” is changing the way Americans shop. Everyone from the companies that supply your parts and materials to the end product consumer is watching how corporations use resources and interact — with the local community and the world at large. Ethical consumerism is on the rise and savvy business owners are paying attention.

An outgrowth of our raised consciousness about the interrelationship of environmental systems, people are paying more attention to how companies are interacting socially with their environment. It’s not enough these days to decrease your carbon footprint and lower your energy consumption, people expect a certain level of social responsibility from the companies they buy from and invest in. The marketplace is replete with examples of companies that have suffered for their lack of social consciousness. Nike attacked for unfair overseas labor practices. Wal-Mart boycotted for unfair labor practices at home. Rabid consumer groups have been quick to call attention to practices they find unethical, tarnishing corporate reputations, forcing management changes and even putting companies out of business.

Smart corporations are working to demonstrate to consumers that they care about the planet and the people they share it with. Implementing a strong ergonomic program and switching to ergonomic equipment that protects the health and safety of your workers is one immediate step companies can take to show their concern for others. Many Americans are looking for improvement and changes in their own back yards. Using local suppliers, contracting with local transport firms, supporting local events and charities, improving the lives of the people you hire — both on the job and off — these actions speak louder than words. They show people that you are a responsible corporate partner in their community and an asset in their daily lives.

Introducing New Hospitality Applications for Motorized Carts

Business owners must constantly be preparing for coming changes and watching for new trends and products. That’s the reason this blog devotes space to those issues, as we have in the past week. As the country’s leading manufacturer of ergonomically-designed motorized material handling carts, we’ve learned that staying competitive in U.S. industry requires not only the flexibility and willingness to embrace new ideas, but the innovative thinking to see new applications for your products in the workplace. Innovative applications of DJ Products’ ergonomic carts originally developed for health care and manufacturing markets have opened new opportunities in the hospitality industry. When you visit our website, you’ll find a new product category for Motorized Carts for Hospitality, Hotel, and Industrial Environments. 

DJ Products has found that many of the same tasks performed in hospital and industrial settings are also performed by employees at hotels, motels, resorts and casinos. All must push heavy carts filled with dirty linens or cleaning supplies. All sometimes need to move heavy equipment, whether it’s an EKG machine or a one-armed bandit. All need to move materials and supplies from one point to another, usually through narrow and crowded hallways. And all have to haul trash. With the click of your mouse, it’s now easy to find and examine all of these commonly used material handling products in one place by clicking on the new link to Motorized Carts for Hospitality, Hotel, and Industrial Environments from DJ Products home page.

Our expanded listing of motorized powered carts and equipment for the hospitality and hospital industries includes: housekeeping carts, dirty linen carts, wire carts for clean linens, powered and electric flatbed carts, a motorized dump hopper for trash and debris, and more heavy-duty motorized industrial carts and powered movers for handling bigger, heavier, more unwieldy loads. We even offer a motorized cart retro kit that can be adapted and installed on any cart, turning your old carts into money-saving models of ergonomic efficiency.

All of DJ Products’ material handling products are built to maneuver economically and safely in confined spaces. The ergonomic, walk-behind design of all of our products provides clear sight lines, ensures easy maneuverability and protects the health and safety of operators. Forward-thinking business owners who recognize coming trends are already embracing ergonomics as the wave of the future. To find out more about DJ Products’ ergonomically-designed powered carts and movers, visit our website and talk to one of our ergonomic engineers. At DJ Products, the future is now!

Business Survival Strategies that Work

This week we’ve been talking about what it will take to survive in today’s challenging economy. We’ve shared marketing ideas from industry experts and our own playbook that have allowed companies to not only survive past economic downturns but thrive in highly competitive markets. The secret to survival in a bear economy is to develop a corporate attitude that is innovative enough to envision new applications for your products, flexible enough to act quickly when a new opportunity presents itself, and customer-oriented enough to anticipate customer needs and respond quickly to customer requests. Our ability to succeed in these areas has made DJ Products a nationwide leader in the innovative design and manufacture of ergonomic motorized carts and powered cart movers.

Through the example of our own company’s experiences, we’d like to demonstrate how businesses can apply the principles of innovation, flexibility and customer service to survive today and position themselves to thrive tomorrow.

Innovation. Innovators in the material handling field, DJ Products realized the value of ergonomic design before it became a popular cause. We realized that ergonomics was likely to become increasingly important as a worker health and safety issue with the power to drastically reduce health care, insurance, disability and workers’ compensation costs. But beyond that, we saw in ergonomics the potential to improve the speed and efficiency of production across a broad range of business environments.

Flexibility. DJ Products has exhibited the flexibility to imagine and develop new markets for products originally designed primarily for industrial settings. The most compact, light-weight versions of our CartCaddy movers are employed daily in health care and hospitality settings. Their small size and easy maneuverability in tight spaces makes them perfect for crowded hospital corridors and hotel hallways. We’ve found applications for our motorized car/truck pushers in the boating industries and recently designed a specialized version for use by auto racing pit crews.

Customer Service. We’re Old School in our belief that customer service must always be our first priority. We pride ourselves on our ability to customize our products to meet specific customer needs. We’re so convinced you’ll like our products, we offer a free trial program before you buy.

Take a page from the DJ Products’ handbook. Companies that emphasize innovation, flexibility and customer service will survive and can even thrive in these challenging economic times.

Light Glimmers at End of Tunnel

A light is beginning to glimmer at the end of the tunnel. Financial gurus are now predicting that the recession will ease by the end of the year. That’s the prognosis of financial experts assembled by Dow Jones Indexes to assess the effect of President Obama’s stimulus package and the government’s efforts to combat the economic recession.

Gus Faucher, director of macroeconomics at Moody’s Ecomony.com, told David Pitt of the Associated Press that he expects the economy to pull out of America’s longest post World War II recession by the end of the year, ending 24 months of trials and tribulations. Experts expect unemployment to peak at 10% by mid year, thanks primarily to the federal $787 billion stimulus package. Without government intervention, Faucher said unemployment increases would have continued throughout 2009, rising to 12% and possibly higher.

“That would take what is now a severe recession and actually turn it into a deep depression,” Faucher told the Associated Press. “We think the fiscal stimulus package is vital in turning around attitudes toward the economy.”

The assembled financial gurus also predicted a mid-year turn around in home sales with a slow rise in prices expected in the last quarter of 2009. While home prices are not expected to return to the inflated values of two years ago, prices will definitely improve from their current record lows. Home prices are currently running at 35% their average value.

As federal programs buy up toxic assets, banks and financial firms will stabilize. Financial experts expect credit to be available again by the third quarter of this year. While credit terms and standards will be tougher than during the feeding frenzy that led to the current collapse, credit will be obtainable by both businesses and consumers.

All of this is good news for struggling American companies and consumers. Of course, given the size of the federal debt it’s taken to stop the bleeding, we’ll be paying for this for years to come. But it is heartening to hear from the specialists that the patient will live.

At DJ Products, we’ve never doubted that America would recover. Sure, we’ve been as concerned as everyone else; but Americans are tough fighters. Sometimes it seems that we’re at our best when we’re cornered. A lot of businesses have had to cut back, lay off and make tough choices during the current crisis. But the worst is nearly over and it’s time to think about the future. As everyone gets back on their feet, we want you to know that you can depend on quality DJ Products’ material handling products and our superior customer service to help you get back in the game.

Bootstraps Still in Fashion for Budding Entrepreneurs

It’s heartening to hear that entrepreneurship is alive and well in America despite the dismal economy. A new business organization is growing in the heart of the American Midwest where it seems that bootstraps are still in fashion! The International Bootstrapping Association held its inaugural meeting in Columbus, Ohio this week. Its goal is to give budding entrepreneurs, known as bootstrappers, a leg up, help them get started, and teach them to survive on self-funding while the economy fights its way back to full recovery.  

“A bootstrapping entrepreneur has to solve problems with creativity and perseverance because they can’t buy the answer,” association co-founder Bill Troy told Margaret Harding of The Columbus Dispatch in an article that appeared on April 10, 2009. “They have to come up with some creative solution that doesn’t cost money.”

Most entrepreneurs don’t have the luxury of investment funding, particularly in the current economy. To keep American entrepreneurship alive, successful Ohio entrepreneurs have pooled their talent and resources to create a self-help organization by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs. The organization provides an opportunity for would-be entrepreneurs to learn from the start-up experiences of their already successful, experienced counterparts. The group hopes to create a model that could spark similar chapters nationwide.

The first meeting debuted with a panel discussion followed by work groups. “We really focus on experience, not advice,” Troy, president and founder of Troy Research, told the Dispatch. The group takes a real-life approach to problem solving during its discussions. “It’s what people have really tried and done in the situation, not people telling you what you should do,” Troy explained.

Concerned about the pitfalls of investor-driven business, as all too clearly elucidated by recent events, the Ohio group aims to give entrepreneurs the tools to survive on their own. Troy believes that to survive U.S. entrepreneurship needs to return to the perseverance and scrappiness that defined its early pioneers.

As innovators in the field of ergonomically-designed, battery-powered material handling equipment, DJ Products understands the challenges faced by today’s budding entrepreneurs and salutes the launch of the International Bootstrapping Association. 

What Is a Sustainable Business?

The Earth’s natural resources are not infinite. As the world’s burgeoning population places increasing strain on those resources, sustainability has grown in importance. From maintaining environmental ecosystems to manufacturing goods from recycled materials to developing renewable energy sources, sustainability has become the modern watchword for efforts to meet mankind’s present needs without jeopardizing the survival of future generations. Perhaps because of the relative newness of sustainability in the social consciousness, defining sustainability in a business sense is still a bit of an abstract art.

Consensus is only just beginning to gel about what it means to operate a sustainable business. While some companies continue to define sustainability in terms of resources used and recycled, more businesses are taking a broader view. According to a 2008 report by the Institute for Supply Management, “The largest percentage of respondents (37%) indicated that their companies define sustainability as ‘the triple bottom line’ — the integration of social, environmental and economic objectives.”

The survey polled a broad section of U.S. supply professionals including manufacturers, government, transportation, finance, healthcare, utilities, service providers and other players in traditional U.S. supply chains. However, manufacturers made up the bulk (45%) of the respondents. Here’s the breakdown on how survey participants said their companies defined sustainability:

  • 37% social, environmental and economic issues 
  • 9% social and environmental issues only
  • 11% environmental issues only
  • 11% unsure of company’s definition
  • 14% company had no definition
  • 11% in process of developing definition 

While the ISM report indicates that considerable differences in individual perception remain regarding various components of sustainability, the ISM survey indicates that U.S. industry is moving closer to adopting Carter and Rogers’ 2008 definition of sustainability:

“… the strategic, transparent integration and achievement of an organization’s social, environmental and economic goals in the systemic coordination of key interorganizational business processes for improving the long-term economic performance of the individual company and its supply chains …”

While consensus is growing for the broader definition, the survey found that companies defined different elements of sustainability quite differently. For example, when asked to provide examples of how their company related “community” to sustainability, respondents replied their efforts were directed as follows:

  • 17% volunteerism
  • 17% supporting community through use of local suppliers
  • 25% financial value of sourcing through local suppliers

While the ISM report focused on sustainability in the U.S. supply chain, DJ Products would be interested to know how material handling firms and their customers define and utilize sustainability. Click “comment” to share your views.

Business Survival Requires Effort on Multiple Fronts

Survival is the name of the game these days. Savvy companies large and small are tightening up their production and accounting procedures, taking care of their customers and working to expand their customer and product base. As we’ve discussed this week, some companies are improving their market share through consolidation mergers. Last week we talked about the importance of innovation, flexibility and customer service in surviving in today’s highly competitive market. We’ve also discussed the need to broaden your reach by finding new market opportunities for your products and services. The bottom line is survival in a recessionary economy requires businesses to make a constant effort on multiple fronts. Survival requires continuous effort to maintain current excellence and constant innovation to explore and pursue new opportunities.

Through economic highs and lows DJ Products has maintained its standing as a national leader in the manufacture of ergonomically-designed motorized carts and powered cart movers by blending the old with the new. We have always maintained the highest quality production standards in the manufacture of material handling equipment, but we’ve introduced new, innovation, ergonomic designs to material handling that allow our customers to meet future challenges. Early on, DJ Products identified the growing concern about worker health and safety and the growing expense of ignoring musculoskeletal injuries. We predicted the increasing importance of these issues to employers and their workers as well as government and potential customers and worked to design innovative products that would meet growing demand.

Understanding the value of a satisfied customer, DJ Products has provided superior customer service. But we also understand that customer needs change as business changes. Our material handling products are designed with versatility and flexibility in mind so that they’ll be able to perform multiple functions to keep up with the changing demands of our customers. Lift kits and retrofit kits provide even more innovative flexibility to serve our customer’s needs. DJ Products also has the ability to offer our customers engineer-to-order material handling products to meet their specific needs.

DJ Products has been diligent in finding new uses for our ergonomically-designed material handling equipment. CartCaddies that were originally designed for manufacturing environments are now employed regularly in the healthcare, hospitality and retail industries. Our auto pushers are also being used at truck depots, RV sales lots and boat marinas. Working with our customers, DJ Products is constantly searching for and finding new uses and new markets for our innovative products.

How Did U.S. Automakers Get Themselves into This Mess?

President-elect Obama yesterday asked President Bush to throw a lifeline to the battered U.S. auto industry. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also called for “emergency and limited financial assistance” for auto makers and suppliers, introducing legislation to make the big three automakers eligible for help under the $700 billion Congressional bailout passed last month. The move followed disastrous third-quarter losses reported by Detroit’s Big Three: General Motors, Ford and Chrysler.

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 blasé 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