DC Velocity - May 2016

4 DC VELOCITY MAY 2016 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.
b Seattle-based e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc. donated $10,000 to
the high school robotics team at Shakopee Senior High School in Shakopee,
Minn., during a visit by the students to an Amazon fulfillment center near
their campus.
b Indianapolis-based truckload carrier

Celadon Group Inc. has renewed its spon-
sorship of the March Madness-style online
fundraising tournament hosted by Brackets For
Good, an Indiana charitable organization.
b Global logistics service provider Deutsche
Post DHL Group is sending a Disaster Response
Team (DRT) to Manta in Ecuador to assist with earthquake recovery. The team
will provide pro bono logistics support at Ecuador’s Eloy Alfaro International
Airport to help coordinate incoming international aid shipments and prepare
the cargo for transportation to affected areas.
b Memphis, Tenn.-based logistics giant FedEx Corp. is teaming up with the
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) to protect and restore plants,
fish, wildlife, and habitats in communities across the nation for the seventh
consecutive year. More than 500 FedEx team members across 16 cities will
participate with local nonprofits to address pressing urban environmental
challenges.
b Ryder System Inc., the Miami-based commercial fleet management and
supply chain solutions company, announced a $25,000 donation to the Women
in Trucking (WIT) Foundation. The funding will provide student scholarships
and help educate the next generation of transportation professionals.
Logistics gives back

Thousands of logistics professionals from around the globe will travel to Hannover, Germany, at the end of the month for CeMAT, the biennial trade show for “intralogistics” (internal logistics) and supply chain management.

Running from May 31 to June 3, the trade fair will feature a vast show floor with more than 1,000 exhibitors. The keynote theme for 2016 is “Smart Supply Chain Solutions,” reflecting the importance of information technology (IT) in today’s increasingly digitalized and integrated supply chains.

For more information and to register, visit www.cemat.de/home.

Go on, admit it: You love forklifts and feel a little down in the dumps when you’re not in the warehouse watching them zip around.

If that describes you, here’s something that will lift your spirits and make your party the talk of the town: forklift-themed balloons.

One example is the custom “Dock’n Dude” Mylar balloon available from Café Press. The design, which features a cartoon of a shaggy-looking forklift operator falling off a dock, is also available on items ranging from coffee mugs and T-shirts to drinking glasses and pajamas. See them all at www.cafepress.com/dd/43524365.

And speaking of forklifts and balloons … a giant hot-air balloon in the shape of a driver on a Jungheinrich sit-down counterbalanced truck must be seen to be believed. The flight took place in Germany in 2012. Watch it on YouTube at www.youtube.com/ watch?v=zBifHW9mRMo.

CeMAT opens in
Germany on May 31
Look! Up in the sky!
It’s a … forklift?

Supply chain professionals are known for their dedication to their craft, so it came as little surprise last month when Baltimore, Md.-based Barcoding Inc. announced it had inked a deal to offer bar-code pattern tattoos to logistics aficionados.

As sailors and motorcycle riders can attest, there is nothing like a permanent skin decoration to prove one’s devotion to an exclusive club and to flaunt that membership when summer weather prompts them to shed their uniforms or suits for shorts and T-shirts.

The bar-code tattoos are more than fashionable; they are also functional. In tune with the company’s motto, “Be efficient, accurate, connected,” each tattoo is guaranteed to scan.

The mere fact that the April 1 press release was a hoax did not stop Barcoding Inc. CEO Jay Steinmetz from issuing a convincing pitch for the faux decorations.

“Over the years, we’ve gotten many requests through our website for bar-code tattoos for a variety of body parts,” Steinmetz said. “It seems we were already lined with expertise in this area. With the rise of IoT, AI, M2M, Bluetooth, etc., it only seemed fitting to open a tattoo parlor to serve our customers’ needs better.”