During the course of working on this issue (April) of The MHEDA Journal, a common element that kept coming up was the importance of customer service. To be sure, customer service has always been a hot topic of conversation among MHEDA members. They know the value of the service they provide and its importance in separating themselves from the competition.

As MHEDA focuses on how “The Rules Have Changed” during their 2010 Convention, it’s interesting that quality customer service is one thing that isn’t changing. Time and again, MHEDA members are telling me that “we’ll still provide the same service” or “servicing the customer is more important than ever” or “they’re not buying, so it’s important to focus on servicing what they’ve already got.” Comments like these have been common during our 2010 Industry Forecast and since.

As one distributor says in repsonse to the question of whether the explosion of Internet selling is bad for distributor relationships, “We are not burying our heads in the sand and are using the internet more and more frequently to market our goods and services. contracts will be tested, but customer service disappears with low margins and value can still be sold.”

Today I received a newsletter from a consultant who bemoaned the state of customer service from his newspaper delivery person: “I haven’t seen my paper on my porch in years.” Fixing that is a small step in fixing the newspaper industry’s struggles in general, he argues.

It’s a lesser example, but I keep seeing it all around. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Is it just me, or has their been an inordinate number of earthquakes lately? A 7.0 in Haiti on January 12, the 8.8 monster in Chile on February 27, the what-would-normally-be-considered large 5.5 in Turkey on March 8, and then another 7.0 rocker in Chile today. The devastation and despair these have caused have been well-documented and I don’t want to go into detail about that here. (Though I would be remiss not to once again mention the American Logistics Aid Network, of which MHEDA is a major contributor. Click the link above to learn more.)

I’m thinking about it more in terms of building codes. A colleague of mine mentioned earlier today how it’s times like these when those annoying building codes that sometimes seem so frivolous don’t seem so bad after all. Hearing the stories of crumbling, cheaply made buildings in some of these places makes you glad, at least for the short-term, that we have codes and requirements in place.

Now, I don’t know what sort of building codes, if any, are in place in Chile, Haiti and Turkey. Maybe the damage would have been the same — granted, an 8.8-magnitude quake would likely do pretty severe damage even to a strong, secure building. But it does make one realize that those codes are there for a reason. Up here in usually-earthquake-free upstate New York , here’s hoping that I don’t need to ever find out.

For more info on building codes in material handling, read this archived article in The MHEDA Journal Online.

photo courtesy of Plug Power Inc.

I had the pleasure to interview Warren Brower, product marketing manager at Plug Power Inc., a Latham, NY-based manufacturer of hydrogen fuel cells, last week. Mr. Brower was fomerly the marketing manager at Raymond Corporation and joined Plug Power in 2007.

I knew a little bit about hydrogen fuel cells before speaking to Mr. Brower, but now I feel like almost as much of an expert as he is. (I’m not, though…not even close.)

One of the things I found interestng was the go-to-market strategy for his company:

Our intention is not to go out and replace every lead-acid battery out there. We understand that a hydrogen fuel cell is not for every application. The key with fuel cells is to focus on specific applications and specific opportunities in high-volume and high-throughput applications.

Such a strategy is important for distributors to know. Do you have customers out there who are eyeing this technology? Do they fit the “high-throughput” description. If not, they may not be a good candidate for hydrogen fuel cell forklifts.

Another interesting excerpt from our interview:

You’re going to see other applications start to surface where fuel cells make sense instead of using diesel generators, backup lead-acid batteries or whatever. So I think in the next couple to three years, you’re going to see a major push within this field.

So, apparently we’re just scratching the surface with this technology. Although it’s been “a few years out” for more than a few years now, it’s something to continue to keep an eye on.

Anybody out there doing anything interesting with fuel cells? I’d love to hear about it!

In my last post, I told you about a MHEDA Convention speaker who will be talking about promoting your dealership. Well, that’s only one of many topcis that will be covered at this year’s Convention, taking place May 1-5 in Marco Island, Florida. It’s still two months away, but I wanted to let folks know some more about it to allow ample time to make travel arrangements if you desire.

One of this year’s keynote speakers will be Peter McLaughlin, whose speech is title “Break Through The Monkey Traps.” If you’re like me, that title confused you at first. But let me clear things up for you. In the upcoming issue of The MHEDA Journal, McLaughlin writes in an article of the same title about the value of thinking creatively to break through the “monkey traps” that businesses get caught in.

Statements like, “There’s not much we can do until the economy turns around,” and “That’s not the way we do things around here,” are monkey-trap phrases. Often, we’re in a rut and don’t know it. A rut is just like a monkey trap—nothing is keeping us stuck except our inability to recognize that we’ve trapped ourselves. To change, we must start with ourselves. As Pogo once said in the famous comic, “We have met the enemy, and they are us.”

Still confused? Here’s some context:

In Southeast Asia, the natives have concocted a rather ingenious way of capturing monkeys, according to author Robert Persig in his book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. “A monkey trap consists of a hollowed-out coconut chained to a stake. The coconut has some rice inside, which can be grabbed through a small hole. The hole is big enough so the monkey’s hand can go in, but too small for his fist with rice to come out. The monkey reaches in and is suddenly trapped—by nothing more than his own rigidity. He can’t revalue the rice. He cannot see that freedom without rice is more valuable than capture with it.”

In other words, in business, as with the monkeys, it pays to see things beyond the short-term. The reward does not always outweigh the risk.  

It’s a bit abstract, but I, for one, am looking forward to hearing more from Mr. McLaughlin at the MHEDA Convention. Hope you’re there to join me.

In the next issue of The MHEDA Journal, we feature several articles from speakers at the upcoming MHEDA Convention (May 1-5 in Marco Island, FL). One such article is from MHEDA Member Barry Lauterwasser, president of Symbion Marketing, who has some interesting ideas about promoting of small distribution companies. Lauterwasser previously worked at a forklift distributor before venturing out on his own, and has some pretty interesting ideas about how to market a small business.

He says:

Often times, promotion has been viewed as an expense—some would say, “I spent $5,000 on a direct mail program and nothing happened.” That’s the equivalent of spending a day in the gym and assuming exercise is a waste of time because you didn’t lose weight. Products in our business are bought, not sold. You have to be there when a product or service is needed, or at least close to being needed. No one buys a lift truck simply because you have it on sale. There has to be a need for one, and if you’re continually pounding your messages home, you are much more likely to get that call, that opportunity, once the need arises (the payback).

To me, this was interesting. “Nobody buys a lift truck just because you have it on sale.” I’m guessing the same is true with any similar large capital investment, i.e. a conveyor system or large racking installation. That’s why marketing is more important than ever. You want to be on the tip of the buyer’s tongue as the go-to provider of a certain product.

Over the years, I’ve talked to many distributors who struggle with this issue. What is the right marketing mix? How much should they spend? What media is the best? What’s a good ROI? I certainly don’t know the answers to these questions, but you can find out at the MHEDA Convention.

In the February 15 issue of The MHEDA Connection, MHEDA’s e-newsletter, we posted a story called “China Decries Dumping Duties.” It was an update on the ongoing battle between U.S.-based wire decking manufacturers AWP Industries, ITC Manufacturing, J&L Wire Cloth, Nashville Wire Products and Wireway/Husky Corp. and the Chinese government regarding the cost of imported wire mesh decking.

In response, Steve Johnson, vice president of sales at Nashville Wire Products, and a member of MHEDA’s Manufacturers Board of Advisors, sent us the following letter from the counsel for the U.S. Wire Decking Coalition

Please direct any responses or comments to Steve at sjohnson@nashvillewire.com.

“Recently, the Chinese government expressed objection to the U.S. imposition of antidumping and countervailing duties of imports of a variety of downstream steel products, including imports of wire decking. The Chinese Government asserts that these measures are straining its economic relationship with the United States.

“What the Chinese Government neglects to mention is that the actions by the wire decking manufacturers in filing trade cases, and the imposition of duties by the U.S. government, are fully consistent with the international trade agreements China and the United States signed. The international agreements expressly permit the imposition of these duties when unfairly traded imports injure U.S. manufacturers. In response to petitions filed by domestic wire decking manufacturers, the U.S. government preliminary found that wire decking is being dumped, or sold at less than its fair value, in the U.S. market by huge margins ranging from 43 to 289 percent. The U.S. government also found that the Chinese government is providing  illegal subsidies to Chinese wire decking producers. Final decisions in these case are due in May.

“Similarly, in a preliminary decision, the U.S. International Trade Commission concluded that these unfair trade practices are injuring domestic wire decking manufacturers. The Commission found that the unfair imports from China significantly undercut U.S. prices and caused the domestic industry to suffer declines in production, shipments, employment and profits. In an already difficult year due to the nationwide recession, the increasing volumes of low-priced imports from China have decimated U.S. wire decking manufacturing operations and cost many workers their jobs.

“Moreover, the Chinese Government fails to mention the widespread practice by many Chinese industries of illegally circumventing the trade orders. Chinese exporters advertise to U.S. customers their willingness to transship merchandise or mislabel the country of origin of the product to evade the duties lawfully imposed.

“So, while China may ‘decry’ these duties, it cannot argue that the imposition of the duties is unwarranted or unlawful. In fact, the duties imposed are not punitive at all, but are merely intended to offset the amount of the unfair trading practices and to level the playing field for U.S. manufacturers. Enforcement of U.S. trade laws to protect domestic manufacturers and their employees from unfair trading practices is expressly recognized as lawful internationally and should not strain relations between countries. The Chinese government should be concerned with living up to its own trade obligations by ceasing illegal subsidies and cracking down on scofflaws who seek to circumvent U.S. trade orders.”

–  Kathleen W. Cannon, Kelley, Drye & Warren

Pretty heady stuff. You can leave a comment here or send it directly to Steve at sjohnson@nashvillewire.com.

In speaking with Audie Burgan, president of J.M. Equipment Company (Modesto, CA) earlier this week, I learned about an interesting method of parts distribution that his company is implementing. As part of their consolidation of two facilities into one, they have decided to take consignment inventory to the next level by setting up a series of “drop boxes” throughout their territory where customers can drop off and pick up parts.

I don’t know about you, but I’d never heard of this before and found it more than a little intriguing. Customers would be given a key to an 8×8x8 construction worksite-like box that would be stocked with certain parts. As needed, customers can leave and retrieve parts. Twice a day, a J.M. parts employee or driver will stop by the location and take care of whatever is waiting in the box.

J.M. has four branches in a territory that covers about 150 miles by 65 miles, so the alternate parts drop boxes would conceivably eliminate a good amount of back-and-forth drive times. As Burgan says, “This will help improve efficiency, lower costs and eliminate hassles for both customers and staff.”

Of course, not every parts and service claim is able to be taken care of in this way, but it does sound like an interesting plan. I don’t know all the details but you can read Audie’s article in the April 2010 issue of The MHEDA Journal to find out more.

As I’ve mentioned before in this space, the upcoming issue of The MHEDA Journal has the theme, “The Rules Have Changed.” The magazine will be full of articles from MHEDA distributor members. One such article is from Ted Springer, the president of Springer Equipment Company in Birmingham, AL.

In it, Springer says, “Diversity is something that people talk a lot about, but when it’s time to ‘put up or shut up,’ often it’s easier to stay the same.” He’s referring to product diversity, and what he means is that business onwers often espouse the values of diversification, but when all the numbers get crunched, you’ll find that it ends up being lip service.

Of course, his article goes on to talk about how his company has put those words into action (no spoiler alert needed…read all about it in April). But I thought this was a pretty provocative statement. It’s true in a lot of companies…initatives to change get started but, before long, people fall back to old habits. Or the person initiating the change gets moved to a new department and stops implementing the changes. Or maybe conflicting directives about how to implement the change come down and confuse people and stall things.

Whatever the case, there are many barriers to change. The companies that are best able to overcome those barriers are the ones that thrive, particularly in a down market where the old ways of doing business aren’t cutting it any more.

What do you think? How can these barriers be overcome?

Is “green” still a hot topic in material handling? A couple of years ago, it seemed that everywhere you turned, there was an article about new green technologies like fuel cells or LED lighting or something of that ilk. It doesn’t seem to come up as often anymore, so I’m wondering if it is a trend that has fallen by the wayside.

Green projects, for those who may not know, are those that are environmentally friendly, loosely synonymous with energy-efficient, alternative fueled, and/or able to be recycled. “To go green” was the oft-cited response to why customers should switch from IC to electric forklifts, or order a remanufactured part.

At the time, I’m estimating late 2007-2008, material handling wasn’t the only industry touting its green-ness. Automobiles, restaurants, manufacturers, and other businesses touted the benefits of reduced carbon footprints, natural ingredients and all that. I don’t hear about that as much anymore.

So here’s my question: Why? Have green projects been fewer and farther between now that everyone’s in a financial crunch (after all, green solutions often cost more)? Is green expected as a solution, so there’s no reason to market it that way anymore? Was that just a trendy marketing gimmick in the first place? Maybe I’m just not listening and the message is still there? Or another reason?

I’ll leave it to the experts.  What do you think?

Today marks the one-year anniversary of the passage of the American Reinvestment & Recovery Act (ARRA), commonly known as the Stimulus bill. Remember that?

One year later, has it stimulated anything? I’ve read many articles over the past 12 months about “shovel-ready” projects and highways and bridges and other infrastructure projects resulting from federal stimulus money. Did any of that bleed over to the material handling industry?

What has been the result of the federal stimulus for all of you out there? Particularly small businesses, how did the stimulus impact you?