logistics players make the A-list
If you’ve been following the financial news for the past year, you might be
excused for assuming that just about every business has been in the doldrums.
But as Inc. magazine’s annual list of the 5,000 fastest-growing private companies makes clear, quite a number have enjoyed notable revenue growth even in
the midst of an economic downturn.
We’re proud to say that AGiLE Business Media, publisher of DC VELOCITY and
CSCMP’s Supply Chain Quarterly, made the Inc. 5,000 for the third consecutive
year, coming in at 3,430. We were in good company: A number of logistics and
material handling players also appeared in the rankings. Kiva Systems ( 6),
maker of innovative robots that bring inventory to order pickers, earned a spot
in the top 10 (the magazine’s September issue included a “day in the life” profile of founder Mick Mountz). Also high on the list were Echo Global Logistics
( 49), a Chicago-based third-party logistics company; Triplefin (126), an order
fulfillment service in Cincinnati; and tiny Pallet Central Enterprises (148), an
Atlanta-based supplier of custom and recycled pallets.
The list included some other familiar names as well. Here are just a few (with
their specialties and rankings):
1,441: Intelligrated (automated material handling systems and support services)
2,497: Big Ass Fans (large fans for industrial and other applications)
2,595: M33 Integrated Solutions (third-party logistics services)
3,398: Logistics Management Solutions (logistics execution software)
3,782: SkyBitz (remote asset management)
3,930: Genco Supply Chain Solutions (third-party logistics services)
4,637: Associated Material Handling Industries (sales, rentals, and service for
material handling equipment)
We can’t include all of the logistics industry players that made the list here.
But you find the full rundown at www.inc.com/inc5000/2009/index.html.
Back in August, we told you about a contest to
locate the world’s oldest working bar-code device.
The contest, called “The Big Upgrade,” did indeed
turn up some dinosaurs—including several clunky
units from the era of shag carpeting and disco balls.
The oldest—and possibly the least attractive—entry in the contest was an
MSI 2100 portable data-collection terminal (photo) that is battery-powered
and relies on a cassette tape for memory. The unit, with its dull yellow outer
shell and plastic carrying case, dates back to the early 1970s, according to contest sponsors Ryzex and Psion Teklogix.
The grand prize winner was randomly selected from eligible entries. Tyler
Templeton of New Enterprise Stone and Lime Co. won a new handheld computer from Psion Teklogix to replace his old devices.
Although the contest’s sponsors injected humor into the proceedings, there
was a serious point to the search. “With this contest, we saw how people
stretched the life of their bar-code scanning devices to an extreme. This illustrates how hard it can be to recognize when equipment starts to cost a company more in maintenance and lost productivity than it’s worth,” said Chris
Glennon, vice president of sales and marketing for Ryzex, in a statement.
Photos of some of the entries can be seen at www.bigupgrade.com.
now that’s one ugly handheld …
inbound
“smart” heaters
help truckers beat
the chill
It’s that worrisome time of year
again … winter is coming on,
and you have cargo that has to be
protected from freezing while the
truck is parked in a yard or at a
rest stop. In the past, drivers simply left their engines idling to
maintain temperatures inside
trailers. But with states and
municipalities cracking down on
the practice, truckers have been
forced to find alternatives.
The obvious solution is a heating system that doesn’t depend
on the vehicle’s engine for power.
These independent heaters have
their own engines, which typically run on diesel or propane fuel,
and can keep the interior heated
for long periods. Shippers and
carriers like the independent
heaters not just because they
eliminate the need for idling but
also because they save on fuel.
Several companies make this
type of heater, including
Webasto, Clean Burn, Elston
Manufacturing, and Jonjo
Transport Refrigeration (yes,
they make heaters, too). How low
can these heaters go? One of the
newer units on the market, Clean
Burn’s diesel-fuel powered 45 TH
Transport Heater, can maintain
an output temperature of 100 to
160 degrees F in weather ranging
from - 40 to 140 degrees F, the
manufacturer says. And it
requires far less fuel than the typical heavy-duty truck engine.
Clean Burn says the heater, which
features a programmable thermostat with a “sleep” mode, consumes less than half a gallon of
diesel an hour.
