Bucket Elevators Can Take Materials to New Heights

Bucket elevators are a specialized type of materials handling equipment. They are most often used to lift bulk materials from one height to another. Bucket elevators resemble conveyor belts, except they move materials such as sand, fly ash, wood chips, animal feeds and others using buckets attached to a rotating belt or chain. The buckets … Read more

New Vehicle Paint Warehouse Has Zero Human Employees

A truck backs into a dock at the BASF warehouse in Breuil-le-Sec, France, just north of Paris. As the truck’s driver remains in his cab, an unmanned automated guided vehicle opens the truck’s gate and goes to work removing pallets of vehicle paint products. The AGV transfers the pallets to a conveyor system, which moves the … Read more

The 80/20 Rule and Warehouse Ergonomics

If you’ve been involved in business for any length of time, then you probably have heard of the 80/20 rule. What it means is that in anything a few (20%) is crucial and many (80 percent) is trivial. Business managers would interpret this as 20 percent of the work eats up 80 percent of time … Read more

Konecranes-Terex Merger Threatened by Chinese Takeover Bid

An announced merger between two of the world’s largest manufacturers of forklifts, cranes and other heavy-duty materials handling equipment is in jeopardy now that a Chinese company has company has intervened with a hostile takeover attempt. China’s Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science & Technology Co. has offered $30 cash for each outstanding share of Terex, which … Read more

News Analysis: ‘What’s the Deal with Dollar Stores and Safety Issues?’

News Analysis and Opinion (Editor’s Note: The following article reflects the opinions and views of the author.) A Dollar General store in Texas has received five citations from the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration and faces up to $162,800 in fines after inspectors found numerous safety violations, including emergency exits blocked with cases of … Read more

Welding Screens Help Protect Workers from Seeing Red

Welding screens are protective barriers that reduce the amount of UV light that workers are exposed to when welding operations are being performed. They typically are made of a colored, see-through material that allows welders to work safely while protecting other employees from being temporarily blinded by the light created by the welding arc. Welding … Read more