DC Velocity - May 2013

Exercise is great, but in today’s sprawling warehouses and DCs, some employees might be getting too much of a good thing. Workers whose jobs require them to travel throughout the building can walk miles each day, ending their shifts fatigued and racking up hours of unproductive travel time over the course of a week.

To cut down on walking time, warehouse operators are employing a variety of personnel carriers. Golf cart-style vehicles are the most popular, but bicycles, Segways, and electric three-wheeled “personal mobility vehicles,” like those used in law enforcement, are also becoming common.

Hallmark, the maker of greeting cards and gift items, has come up with yet another solution: electric scooters. In a bid to cut walk time at its 300,000-square-foot DC at Sub Tropolis, an underground business complex carved out of limestone on the outskirts of Kansas City, Mo., General Manager Lona Smith bought five electric GoPet scooters manufactured by Mighty Lift Inc. Along with the scooters, Hallmark purchased optional trailers, which can haul up to 350 pounds of total weight, front baskets for carrying small packages or other items, and seats.

Now, supervisors and other employees scoot around the DC, using the vehicles for everything from supervision and site surveys to researching inventory and production issues, transporting paperwork, and expediting shipments from the facility. Smith estimates that each scooter saves up to 10 miles per day total in walking over the course of the company’s three-shift operation. ; Now, scoot!

Marks of excellence

Floor markings can be used for many purposes: to identify or outline areas for inventory placement, zones for forklift traffic, facility entrances and exits, step landings, and much more. When these zones are highly visible and clearly delineated, it’s easy for warehouse employees to quickly recognize where to go and what areas to avoid, making operations safer and more efficient.

As a new publication from Graphic Products points out, effective floor marking is not simply a matter of slapping some bright-colored tape on the warehouse floor. The company’s free “Floor Marking Best Practices Guide” explains the applicable OSHA standard for floor marking as well as industry standards for floor marking colors. The 16-page guide also provides information on floor marking applications, choosing the best floor marking tape, and how to conduct a facility floor marking inspection. Of course, since Graphic Products makes floor marking products (including the DuraLabel product line), the booklet also includes information about the various types of floor marking supplies available.

To download an electronic version or order a print copy, go to www.duralabel.com. ;

inbound

Mitch Weseley, CEO of the newly launched software vendor 3Gtms, apparently believes the third time’s a charm. The venture marks the third time Weseley has started a software company in the transportation management system (TMS) space. In 1992, he founded Weseley Software Development Corp., which he sold to McHugh Software International (later RedPrairie) in 1996. In 1999, Weseley founded Global Logistics Technologies Inc. (G-Log), a TMS developer that he sold to Oracle in 2005.

Some of Weseley’s colleagues also seem to think good things come in threes. Several members of the 3Gtms management team have worked with Weseley in his previous ventures. Vice President of Logistics J.P. Wiggins, for example, worked at Weseley Software and was a co-founder of G-Log. Other former co-workers who have been reunited include industry veterans Chris Haarmeyer, vice president of development; Dawn M. Salvucci-Favier, vice president of product management; David Sapienza, vice president of sales; and Chris Taurence, vice president of client services. The new firm also retained three executives from Transite Technology, a developer of specialized TMS that recently merged with 3Gtms.

According to a company spokesperson, the developer’s focus will be on creating a “ third-genera-tion” TMS (“3G” refers to “third generation”) designed for shippers that use LTL, TL, pool distribution, and zone skipping services. The company will specifically target small and mid-sized players that do not need the sophisticated features found in most TMS systems. ;