rollouts
Taking care: Lift truck
maker Raymond Corp. has
introduced CustomCare, a
tailored package of solutions and services to help
companies optimize their
warehouse operations and
achieve greater throughput,
productivity, and uptime.
Available only through
Raymond and its authorized
sales and service centers,
CustomCare combines technology, expertise, and
resources from trained
material handling professionals to meet the specialized needs of individual companies, regardless of the brand of
trucks the clients may be using.
Designed to reduce the overall cost per pallet moved,
CustomCare solutions are tailored from a range of customized
service offerings, including warehouse optimization solutions,
consulting and auditing services to ensure the right mix of
material handling equipment is utilized, and the full line of
Raymond lift trucks. Other options include Raymond’s
iWarehouse fleet optimization system, the Raymond Asset
Protection service, OSHA-compliant lift truck operator training,
custom engineering, and parts and service. (The Raymond
Corp., www.raymondcorp.com)
Waste not … The Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG), a
not-for-profit organization that helps companies operate at peak
performance, has published Recommended Business Practices
for Long-Distance Supply Chains, a comprehensive set of guidelines to identify waste, errors, and miscommunication across
intercontinental ocean-going supply chains.
“Companies expect global shipments will be late, so they build
waste and inefficiency into their operations to compensate for a
bad process,” said J. Scot Sharland, executive director of AIAG.
“AIAG volunteers … have proven that it doesn’t have to be that
way. They have developed an affordable, easy-to-deploy system
that will let companies reduce parts inventories and premium
freight shipping costs, and dramatically reduce the time employ-
ees spend tracking shipments.”
The guidelines are based on the findings of AIAG’s Material
Offshore Sourcing (MOSS) project, which studied ocean-going
supply chains, including order, transport, and customs processes,
to identify the root causes of errors that lead to shipping delays.
The new AIAG guidelines, developed by a team of 11 supplier
and solution provider organizations led by Honda of America
Manufacturing Inc. and General Motors Co., are built around a
trade collaboration system that uses a cloud-based Internet solution with common message templates. Essentially, every member
of a supply chain that adopts the guidelines will have visibility
into a shipment at any point in time, and will be able to communicate with other participants via a secure Web portal using
standardized forms.
The publication can be purchased through the AIAG website,
www.aiag.org.
