DC Velocity - April 2018

inbound

Logistics professionals put a lot of time and effort into finding the best tools for the job, but in many operations, one crucial element is taken for granted—the user.

On-road load handling equipment vendor Hiab is looking to address that oversight. This fall, the company will host the World Crane Championship, Hannover, Germany, on Sept. 22.

Contestants will use a Hiab X-HiPro

232 crane to move water cans from a
truck around a circuit of obstacles as
quickly and accurately as possible. The contestant with the fastest time and
fewest faults will be crowned the winner. The champion receives a $25,000
credit toward buying a Hiab crane and a $6,150 traveler’s check
Hiab, a part of Cargotec Corp., held the first crane championship in 2015
and says interest ran so high that it decided to make it a biennial event. “The
competitors take their entry into the competition very seriously,” Lotta
Sjöberg, the company’s global marketing manager, loader cranes, said in a
statement. “I have been told that some set up a replica course in their work
yards and practice on a daily basis to hone their skills.”

So you think you can operate a crane?

Logistics professionals know On Trac as a package delivery company serving the Western U.S., but the Phoenix-based firm may soon be known for delivering another important item—relief pitchers. On Trac recently announced that it would sponsor the Arizona Diamondbacks’ bullpen cart, a souped-up golf cart that carries pitchers from the bullpen to the field during home games.

The new cart, which is emblazoned with the On Trac logo, will renew a baseball tradition that dates back to 1950, when the Cleveland Indians first used a “little red wagon,” according to a history of the vehicle compiled by Major League Baseball (MLB). By the 1960s, the carts had become commonplace throughout the sport. But they eventually fell out of favor and by the mid-1990s had vanished from the scene.

“We have been working on this idea for several years, and there’s no
more appropriate time to bring back the bullpen cart than this season, as we
celebrate our 20th anniversary,” Diamondbacks team President and CEO
Derrick Hall said in a statement. “Fans of baseball in the 1950s, ’60s, ’70s,
’80s, and even the ’90s enjoyed watching their favorite players emerge from
the bullpen in various vehicles, and we’re excited for this special delivery to
come to Chase Field.”
You can see the bullpen cart at Diamondbacks home games this season. If
you can’t get to a game, you can still “follow” the cart on Twitter at https://
twitter.com/Dbacks/status/971041498790801410/photo/1.

New OnTrac vehicle delivers pitchers,
not packages

Supply chain professionals in Australia are grappling with a challenge that will sound familiar to logistics professionals on any continent—finding and developing the work force of the future.

To help create a pipeline of supply chain talent, educators at Melbourne’s Deakin University have partnered with some of the country’s best-known freight and consumer brands to launch a program that targets a group that’s been historically underrepresented in the field: women. The venture, which is being led by Deakin’s Centre for Supply Chain and Logistics, aims to address a workplace gender gap that sees some supply chain companies where women make up less than 10 percent of the work force and that have a gender pay gap of 21. 8 percent.

Funded by 13 corporate sponsors, the “Wayfinder: Supply Chain Careers for Women” initiative is a three-year project to bring new talent into the supply chain industry. As part of that push, organizers will hold a series of luncheons that connect women and girls across the community with inspirational women working in the industry as well as establish a program of research and graduate pathways to connect women with career opportunities, according to the center’s director, Hermione Parsons.

“New talent and skills are desperately needed, but currently we’re only accessing 50 percent of the talent,” Parsons said. “Ultimately, supply chain has an image problem. We must change how the community sees supply chain and understands its enormous significance to the national economy if we’re going to turn around a rapidly aging and male-dominated work force.”