So Many Events on Manufacturing Day 2016

With over 35 Manufacturing Day events planned in Southern Ontario between October 1^st – 7^th, and over 2,000 events across North America, it’s clear to see that the industry is alive and well and looking to recruit new talent. The direction manufacturing is moving demands more young minds able to train on new and emerging technologies in order to continue building on our manufacturing roots.

As manufacturers open their doors to the public for a candid tour and/or learning session, they are focusing their efforts on educating high school students who are about to enter college or the workforce. An education in this potential career path is an eye opening experience, and gives students and other interested parties a real world look inside multiple manufacturing facilities.

Learn about lean manufacturing and Green practices now at work in this important industry.

Just look at the results for the 2015 MFG Day survey: http://www.mfgday.com/resources/2015-event-survey-results

For where and when these events are taking place visit: http://www.mfgday.com/events

The age of the autonomous vehicle

AGV’s, or Automatic Guided Vehicles, have been providing solutions in the materials handling business for many years. With the advent of autonomous vehicles hitting our roadways in the coming years, the story of the AGV is an important one.

 

The very first autonomous guided vehicle was a modified towing tractor that was used to pull a trailer and follow an overhead wire in a grocery warehouse in 1953. In the 60’s towing AGV’s were in operation in multiple industries and by the 70’s they became widespread because of their multi-faceted abilities as a transportation device, work platform, and a link in the controls and information systems for the factory they were placed in.

 

Today AGV’s are everywhere in the handling industry often times replacing forklifts, tuggers and even people as the preferred means to move product through a warehouse or assembly-line. As the technology which drives AGV’s improves, it’s not hard to see that these applications have been imagined outside of the warehouse and onto our streets.

 

In the material handling industry safety has been a major consideration from the beginning and has only become more and more measured as liability and worker moral are taken into account. Ergonomics have also rewritten how employees are effected by the work they do. Autonomous guided vehicles offer both safety and ergonomics eliminating the pushing and pulling of heavy carts and when outfitted with lifting equipment AGV’s assist in alleviating unnecessary back and leg trauma by eliminating bending and lifting.

 

AGV’s are powered by powerful electric batteries, removing fossil fuels from the equation offering a cleaner environment for employees to work in. The Green angle is one that has been trending for years and AGV’s have lead the charge. The argument to employ an AGV system in your warehouse or manufacturing facility is only becoming more and more feasible with costs falling and safety on the rise where they are currently applied.

 

With laser guidance and motion detection as well as zero radius turning, programmable speeds and the ability to follow magnetic tape; AGV’s have never been more in demand around the world.

 

From that first imagined tow tractor on an overhead wire to fully autonomous driverless vehicles on our roads; the AGV has come a long way and is arguably one of the most influential ideas that will take us into a new age of safety everywhere, not just in our warehouses and manufacturing facilities, but in everyone’s daily life.

 

An interesting article on autonomous vehicles and the pros and cons can be found here.

Leadership over Management Makes Sense

Management is a learned skill, but leadership is bred in the bone. Handling Specialty knows how to pick leaders and leaders pick the right people for the right jobs. Leaders inspire great things and great things are exactly what happens at Handling Specialty.  Through exceptional leadership, diversification into broader and niche markets has kept the company creatively working with some of the worlds largest manufacturers and entertainment agencies across multiple industries.

Leadership in every department continues to influence the company’s direction and drives employees to be their best. Employees who know their company believes in them find purpose in their day to day and with purpose comes creativity.

Creativity is an ongoing process at Handling Specialty where unique designs for specific applications from aerospace manufacturing to underwater stage lifts for the entertainment industry have become the norm.

So, to say: the people who influence you the most are those who believe in you, is a true statement where Handling Specialty is concerned. Where this very quote is embedded in the company culture, strengthening the employee-centric attitude, which is prevalent when you meet the professionals within its walls.

You'll see the difference in the work they do for you.

The Automatic Locomotive wheelset turntable

Handling Specialty specializes in locomotive maintenance equipment design and manufacturing, and whether standard or custom, wheel-set turntables are no exception. These automatic locomotive turntables are used to automatically rotate a single wheel-set as part of an automated wheel re-machining center.

To view and inquire visit our Automatic Locomotive Wheel-set Turntable page