DC Velocity - May 2015

4 DC VELOCITY MAY 2015 www.dcvelocity.com inbound

Here’s our monthly roundup of some of the charitable works and donations by companies in the material handling and logistics space.

; Lynden Air Cargo put its L-100 Hercules aircraft to good use flying emergency relief supplies to Vanuatu after Tropical Cyclone Pam devastated the South Pacific islands on March 13. Lynden partnered with Digicel Fiji and the World Food Programme (WFP) to bring supplies from neighboring Fiji and Australia, including food rations and technical equipment for the repair of communications towers.

; Engineers from Jervis B. Webb Co., a subsidiary of Daifuku North America Holding Co., stepped into the classroom recently to share their expertise with first-year mechanical engineering students at Lawrence Technological University. The students have also planned a visit to Webb’s demonstration center in Wixom, Mich., to see live demonstrations of automated material handling equipment for warehouses and DCs.

; The Raymond Corp. donated 16 pallets of nonperishable food and personal care items, valued at more than $14,000, to the Addison Community Switchboard (ACS). Based in Addison, Ill., ACS is a nonprofit organization that provides emergency assistance to local residents.

; Crowley Maritime Corp. is continuing its record of helping Haiti recover from a devastating 2010 earthquake. The company is now providing shipping services to The Blood Alliance of Northeast Florida as the groups cooperate to deliver a retired bloodmobile to the Caribbean island. The large bus will be used as a mobile health clinic serving more than 3 million people.

Logistics gives back

The loading dock can be one of the most dangerous and inefficient parts of a bustling warehouse, with safety hazards and work interruptions causing expensive delays.

Despite the dangers, warehouse managers may be wary of investing in costly improvements. But now, Lantech—the company that makes many of the stretch wrap and secondary packaging machines found in DCs nationwide—has compiled a list of effective, inexpensive tips in a free eBook, The Lean Loading Dock: 5 Tips You Can Use Right Now to Improve Your Warehouse Safety and Workflow. Among the problems addressed in the publication are loading dock injuries, long wait times and backlogged work, product damage caused by bad stretch wrapping, labor delegated to the wrong areas, and high employee turnover.

Following the maxim “The loading dock may be the last step, but it’s as
important as any other in manufacturing,” the book shows warehousing
executives how to avoid accidents and optimize work flow. Methods include
using consistent load unitization to reduce damage and using technology to
spot problems early and smooth out traffic flow. For instructions on how to
download a copy, go to www.lantech.com and click on “Press Releases.”
To most of us, globalization is
a good thing. Dave Joyce has a
more nuanced view. At the 31st
Annual National Logistics Forum
organized by the National Defense
Industrial Association, Joyce, who
is president of GE Aviation, offered
an interesting take on globalization
and its consequences.

In Joyce’s world, there are global competitors and global collaborators. That fits with the traditional economic view, which holds that competition drives improvement and collaboration eases friction, ultimately creating ever-increasing global prosperity.

But Joyce doesn’t work for the world; he works for GE, a company whose slogan is “Imagination at work.” So it’s natural that he looks below the surface and thinks about innovation, a core competence for GE, and about how, exactly, globalization is affecting GE Aviation.

As supply chains increasingly go global, work flows to international locations, and along with that work goes a piece of the engine of innovation. In the long run, that loss compounds, and our domestic competitiveness erodes. Economists call that a vicious cycle.

Now, Joyce wasn’t arguing against globalization. Instead, he was issuing a call for action. U.S. industry cannot become complacent and just ride the wave of globalization. American companies need to be “capable, competitive, and ready for the future.” And that means we need a renewed focus on innovation.

To Joyce, “global competitiveness and national security are the same mission.” Think about that the next time you watch containers being unloaded at Long Beach.