This Month in Modern: 70 years of continued momentum

This year marks the 70th year that Modern Materials Handling has been published. Needless to say, Peerless Media is proud to be the steward of this venerable brand that long served as the foundation of the late Norman Cahners’ publishing empire, one that helped to shape the direction of all B2B media.

I was paging through a few leather-bound collections of issues from the mid-1940s in my office, and I guess I wasn’t too surprised to find that many of the article and advertising themes haven’t strayed very far from the issues and equipment that’s still relevant today.

Headlines from the mid-1940s range from “Conveyor types and uses,” “Idle stocks earn no profits,” “Hoist maintenance,” and of course “Pallet round-up.” The ad pages touted lift trucks, batteries, gravity conveyor, totes and hand trucks.

In fact, you can argue that the fundamental need for a safe, economical, calculated process of moving goods from point A to point B inside the walls of a warehouse or distribution center will never change. But, what took me by surprise was learning a little more about Cahners’ early philosophy on the broader role materials handling should be playing across a reader’s organization.

In a February 1947 column Cahners wrote: “The trend toward refinement and modification of material handling equipment will receive further impetus from industry’s growing awareness of the economies which can be effected through inter-company co-ordination of handling operations.”

I’m happy to report that this “impetus,” this continued momentum, Cahners predicted so many years ago has never ceased.
Over that time, the more aware U.S. companies have become of the “economies which can be effected” through a more orchestrated approach to materials handling, inventory and the alignment with transportation, the more they’ve been able to revolutionize their business.

If Cahners could read Modern’s coverage today, I believe he would be pleased to see the level of “refinement and modification of material handling equipment” that’s taken place over the years. In fact, this month I’d direct him to associate editor Josh Bond’s Best Practices story “What’s in store for e-commerce operations” to get a look at just how far “inter-company coordination of handling operations” has come.

“I think Norman would have smiled from ear to ear if he could see the role equipment and technology are playing in omni-channel fulfillment,” says Bond. “In fact, in retail even store fronts are adopting technology and processes from the DC, with many having inventory and fulfillment systems integrated back inside the DC.”

And, in some of the ideal omni-channel scenarios Bond highlights this month, there’s now full visibility from production to DC operations to store shelf, creating a “supply web” that blends best practices from all elements of the supply chain and operable from a mobile tablet.

“In many cases,” adds Bond, “Norman would see that his predication has not only been realized, but the awakening to ‘inter-company coordination of handling operations’ has made e-commerce possible.”