Is handling in your DNA?

I have been in industry for 39 years. Early in my career I received excellent training in materials handling analysis. Unfortunately, I don't think young people entering this field have the same opportunity. Much of what I see in today's publications and college courses emphasizes hardware

In my experience with many manufacturing companies, I've seen thousands of industrial engineering hours and dollars spent on choreographing the direct labor person's every move while, on the other side of the storage rack, the forklift driver sits reading the newspaper. One company I was with had 100 IEs on direct labor standards. We had only one materials handling specialist, and his job was to buy and maintain the forklift fleet. There was no benchmark of whether we had too many or too few.

I believe with all the systems now available, we are approaching a time when we can begin to schedule and control major parts of the materials handling discipline, much as we do direct labor. Some companies are doing this to varying degrees. However, too many places in my experience have just allocated materials handling costs to overhead without making a concerted effort to control or manage those costs.

Warehousing and distribution operations are keenly aware of those costs because it's in their DNA. Manufacturing operations need to make these costs part of their genetic code.

Materials handling represents a golden opportunity for many companies to make significant improvements. The tools and techniques are available. All we need are modern thinkers to employ them and achieve the “Industrial Improvement Stardom” they deserve.