On Time in Full

In this podcast with Designed Conveyor Systems, John Knudsen, Project Director, Designed Conveyor Systems, discusses lead times with equipment. Knudsen covers supply chain issues of material handling equipment, extended lead times, mitigating efforts, and late or missed deliveries. He then moves into interim planning, specifically covering understanding goals, planning installation, and the importance of doing so before you need it. Knudsen finishes off the episode by offering his insight for interim solutions, such as space/storage interim ideas, picking ideas, outbound ideas, and other operation ideas. Tune in to learn more!

In this episode of On Time In Full, Tyler Kern spoke with Matt Greene, Vice President of Life Cycle at Designed Conveyor Systems. Greene oversees the company’s 24/7 client support program; operations and maintenance training; spares and warranty customer service, and various lifecycle projects including expansions and retrofits.

Greene discussed various best practices in maintaining system uptime for material handling including an insightful opening into whether to host applications on sight or in the cloud. In discussing the decision-making process to host applications locally or in the cloud Greene noted that although cloud hosting is not new, it has been growing quickly with ever-increasing capabilities.

He continued to discuss the decision-making process which came down to latency problems with cloud hosting. “Typically, what we see is a hundred millisecond threshold. So, how fast do you (clients) need your decisions? And, if it’s faster than a hundred-milliseconds then we say you know you should probably be hosting locally. You probably don’t want to go with a cloud solution.”

What does this mean for somebody who is trying to put in a new material handling system?

In reality, the most frequent need for decisions under a hundred milliseconds comes in playing during scan and sort operations, high-speed sortation of products. Then, it makes sense to host locally. “In most other instances, there is a cloud-based solution that will work with manufacturer’s needs,” stated Greene.

Greene and his colleagues at Designed Conveyor Systems take a consultative approach to meeting client needs when it comes to deciding the best practices in material handling. System downtime is costly so ensuring clients have the right systems in place to meet their specific needs is critical. Listen in to learn more about what factors need to be considered in maintaining your material handling system uptime.

In this episode of On Time In Full, Tyler Kern spoke with Matt Greene, Vice President of Life Cycle at Designed Conveyor Systems. Greene oversees the company’s 24/7 client support program; operations and maintenance training; spares and warranty customer service, and various lifecycle projects including expansions and retrofits.

Greene discussed various best practices in maintaining system uptime for material handling including an insightful opening into whether to host applications on sight or in the cloud. In discussing the decision-making process to host applications locally or in the cloud Greene noted that although cloud hosting is not new, it has been growing quickly with ever-increasing capabilities.

He continued to discuss the decision-making process which came down to latency problems with cloud hosting. “Typically, what we see is a hundred millisecond threshold. So, how fast do you (clients) need your decisions? And, if it’s faster than a hundred-milliseconds then we say you know you should probably be hosting locally. You probably don’t want to go with a cloud solution.”

What does this mean for somebody who is trying to put in a new material handling system?

In reality, the most frequent need for decisions under a hundred milliseconds comes in playing during scan and sort operations, high-speed sortation of products. Then, it makes sense to host locally. “In most other instances, there is a cloud-based solution that will work with manufacturer’s needs,” stated Greene.

Greene and his colleagues at Designed Conveyor Systems take a consultative approach to meeting client needs when it comes to deciding the best practices in material handling. System downtime is costly so ensuring clients have the right systems in place to meet their specific needs is critical. Listen in to learn more about what factors need to be considered in maintaining your material handling system uptime.

In this episode of On Time In Full, Tyler Kern spoke with Matt Greene, Vice President of Life Cycle at Designed Conveyor Systems. Greene oversees the company’s 24/7 client support program; operations and maintenance training; spares and warranty customer service, and various lifecycle projects including expansions and retrofits.

Greene discussed various best practices in maintaining system uptime for material handling including an insightful opening into whether to host applications on sight or in the cloud. In discussing the decision-making process to host applications locally or in the cloud Greene noted that although cloud hosting is not new, it has been growing quickly with ever-increasing capabilities.

He continued to discuss the decision-making process which came down to latency problems with cloud hosting. “Typically, what we see is a hundred millisecond threshold. So, how fast do you (clients) need your decisions? And, if it’s faster than a hundred-milliseconds then we say you know you should probably be hosting locally. You probably don’t want to go with a cloud solution.”

What does this mean for somebody who is trying to put in a new material handling system?

In reality, the most frequent need for decisions under a hundred milliseconds comes in playing during scan and sort operations, high-speed sortation of products. Then, it makes sense to host locally. “In most other instances, there is a cloud-based solution that will work with manufacturer’s needs,” stated Greene.

Greene and his colleagues at Designed Conveyor Systems take a consultative approach to meeting client needs when it comes to deciding the best practices in material handling. System downtime is costly so ensuring clients have the right systems in place to meet their specific needs is critical. Listen in to learn more about what factors need to be considered in maintaining your material handling system uptime.

Supply chains have been a key topic of conversation over the last few years. As huge disruptions occurred, it became a focus in the news and content all around the world. Companies will need new, adaptable strategies when determining future business processes. Discussing best practices for those, “On Time in Full” Host Tyler Kern spoke with Mark Kidwell, Director of Supply Chain consulting for Designed Conveyor Systems.

Kidwell has more than 40 years of experience in the material handling business, beginning as a truck driver to his current consulting role. “We’ve never seen challenges like this,” he said. “The risk of single source or reliance on sole providers, and the availability of human capital are weak spots in the supply chain.”

In addition to these main drivers of disruption, Kidwell explained that it’s difficult to get goods back in the U.S.

When Kidwell works with customers on building a supply chain strategy, the first thing he stresses is alignment with business goals.

“The analytics behind this are important, so we start there in assessing an operation. The question is, ‘What are you measuring and how?’ Then, it’s about the alignment of measurables to the overall company objectives,” Kidwell explained.

Kidwell noted that departmental goals could often be competing or conflicting. For instance, there may be an inclination to buy at volume when procuring raw materials; however, that could have large downstream implications for inventory management goals.

Today’s supply chain strategy includes lessons learned from the past few years. Kidwell explained, “There are some hard lessons learned about the reliance on headcount because labor isn’t always available. There’s also the fragility of some processes meant for certain activities but now need to be more flexible.”

Tyler Kern welcomed Satyen Pathak, an Account Executive at Designed Conveyer Systems (DCS), and they discussed the opportunities that exist within the material handling industry. Pathak started as an installer of letter-sorting machines, eventually moving to technical support and research in customer service and ultimately rising to his current job at DCS.

Pathak is thankful he’s had so many roles climbing up the employment ladder, which allowed him to gain a variety of experiences and travel throughout the U.S. Now at DCS, he manages one of the company’s key accounts.

“I think I built around different facets of differing roles,” Pathak explained about his career trajectory. “I certainly think that everything I’ve experienced and had exposure to has certainly kind of well-rounded me out to where I am in my career today.”

Pathak explained the various lucrative avenues that exists within the material handling industry, from inside the four walls of factories, to sales and business development, human resources, engineering and project management.

“There are obviously hundreds of roles that exist,” said Pathak. “A lot of key ones are very solutions or concept based. How can we do something different?”

Material handling is an industry that is rapidly expanding, so Pathak explained just how much room for growth there is for those considering this industry for their career journey. “Anyone who’s interested can definitely dip their toe in it and take off,” said Pathak.

There are many ways for someone to begin in the industry, be it as an intern, full-time employee or even a higher-level position with a post-graduate degree. Some companies are even aiding employees with higher education.

“Everyone has an opportunity,” explained Pathak.

Supply chains have been a key topic of conversation over the last few years. As huge disruptions occurred, it became a focus in the news and content all around the world. Companies will need new, adaptable strategies when determining future business processes. Discussing best practices for those, “On Time in Full” Host Tyler Kern spoke with Mark Kidwell, Director of Supply Chain consulting for Designed Conveyor Systems.

Kidwell has more than 40 years of experience in the material handling business, beginning as a truck driver to his current consulting role. “We’ve never seen challenges like this,” he said. “The risk of single source or reliance on sole providers, and the availability of human capital are weak spots in the supply chain.”

In addition to these main drivers of disruption, Kidwell explained that it’s difficult to get goods back in the U.S.

When Kidwell works with customers on building a supply chain strategy, the first thing he stresses is alignment with business goals.

“The analytics behind this are important, so we start there in assessing an operation. The question is, ‘What are you measuring and how?’ Then, it’s about the alignment of measurables to the overall company objectives,” Kidwell explained.

Kidwell noted that departmental goals could often be competing or conflicting. For instance, there may be an inclination to buy at volume when procuring raw materials; however, that could have large downstream implications for inventory management goals.

Today’s supply chain strategy includes lessons learned from the past few years. Kidwell explained, “There are some hard lessons learned about the reliance on headcount because labor isn’t always available. There’s also the fragility of some processes meant for certain activities but now need to be more flexible.”

Tyler Kern welcomed Satyen Pathak, an Account Executive at Designed Conveyer Systems (DCS), and they discussed the opportunities that exist within the material handling industry. Pathak started as an installer of letter-sorting machines, eventually moving to technical support and research in customer service and ultimately rising to his current job at DCS.

Pathak is thankful he’s had so many roles climbing up the employment ladder, which allowed him to gain a variety of experiences and travel throughout the U.S. Now at DCS, he manages one of the company’s key accounts.

“I think I built around different facets of differing roles,” Pathak explained about his career trajectory. “I certainly think that everything I’ve experienced and had exposure to has certainly kind of well-rounded me out to where I am in my career today.”

Pathak explained the various lucrative avenues that exists within the material handling industry, from inside the four walls of factories, to sales and business development, human resources, engineering and project management.

“There are obviously hundreds of roles that exist,” said Pathak. “A lot of key ones are very solutions or concept based. How can we do something different?”

Material handling is an industry that is rapidly expanding, so Pathak explained just how much room for growth there is for those considering this industry for their career journey. “Anyone who’s interested can definitely dip their toe in it and take off,” said Pathak.

There are many ways for someone to begin in the industry, be it as an intern, full-time employee or even a higher-level position with a post-graduate degree. Some companies are even aiding employees with higher education.

“Everyone has an opportunity,” explained Pathak.