Judging by the activity on Oct. 2 at its Greene, N. Y., headquarters, The Raymond Corp.—and seemingly the industrial lift truck business as a whole—missed the memo about
slowing U.S. economic growth.
The maker of manual and electric lift trucks chose Oct.
2, which was National Manufacturing Day, to unveil a
47,000-square-foot addition to its facility and a reconfigu-ration of manufacturing space. Raymond also hosted high
school students who the company hopes will pursue careers
in manufacturing and technology.
The new 32,000-square-foot Raymond Operations Center
includes a second level with office space for operations and
support, collaborative workspaces, and an employee fitness
center. The addition allowed the company to reconfigure
60,000 square feet on the manufacturing floor, which it
said would improve efficiency and production capacity.
Raymond also made a number of upgrades to its manufacturing technology, installing advanced automatic welding
and laser-cutting technology, and upgrading its warehouse
management software.
A long-time supporter of STEM (science, technology,
engineering, math) education in New York’s “Southern
Tier” region, Raymond hosted approximately 250 high
school students at the event. Among other activities, the
students toured the manufacturing plant and tested out
technologies like 3-D printers and a forklift driver-training
simulator.
TECHNOLOGY IMPACTS LABOR NEEDS
For Raymond, local outreach is critical because its rural
location makes it difficult to attract talent from beyond the
area. The company has hired more than 600 people since
the beginning of 2013,
and the population of
Greene doubles when all
of Raymond’s employees
are at work.
In an interview, CEO
Michael Field attributed
much of the increased
demand for his company’s products to the explosive
growth of e-commerce. The typical configuration of warehouses and DCs that handle e-commerce orders favors the
narrow-aisle electric reach trucks and man-up order pickers that are among Raymond’s top sellers.
One of the staffing-related challenges that Raymond
and other lift truck makers face is that manufacturing is
changing, and job requirements are changing along with
it, said Rick Harrington, Raymond’s senior vice president,
operations, during the student presentation. “Industry
4.0,” which he called the “next industrial revolution,”
allows machines to communicate and transfer data directly.
There will always be a need for fabricators, welders, assemblers, and similar positions, and demand for such skills is
growing, Harrington said. But changes in manufacturing
technology, as well as the more widespread use of lift truck
telematics, are creating a demand for “the next generation
of engineers, technicians, and corporate management” in
the material handling equipment industry, he said.
These professionals will need to understand not only
how to apply technology in manufacturing, but also how to
manage the human elements of collaboration and decision
making, Harrington said.
—Toby Gooley
newsworthy
Raymond showcases expansion, career opportunities on
National Manufacturing Day
Old Dominion Freight Line has opened a new service
center in Brownsburg, Ind. The facility, which is located
on an 18-acre site, has 63 doors. … Kenco, a provider
of integrated logistics solutions, real estate services,
and material handling equipment, has opened a new
300,000-square-foot distribution center in Kalamazoo,
Mich. … Swap.com, an online consignment retailer,
has leased a 361,000-square-foot distribution center
in Bolingbrook, Ill. … Supply chain management firm
Fidelitone has moved its Last Mile Delivery business unit
from High Point, N.C., to a new facility in Charlotte,
N.C., that will increase its warehousing square footage
by nearly 50 percent. … Logistics Plus has moved into a
new warehouse in Haslet, Texas, that has 180,000 square
feet of storage space. The company has also opened a
new general purpose warehouse and distribution facility
in the Erie International Airport Foreign Trade Zone in
Pennsylvania. … Regal Logistics is opening a new ware-
house adjacent to its existing DC at the company’s Fife,
Wash., headquarters, minutes from the ports of Seattle
and Tacoma. … Alba Manufacturing, which provides
roller conveyor and systems, has broken ground on a
facility expansion project that will increase warehousing
space by more than 30 percent.
ground breakers
