Summit 2007 - CICMHE & MHIA


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Given the trends and challenges generated from the previous day, determine the impact of those trends and challenges

Day 2 began with an overview of the trends and challenges generated on Day 1 along with an overview of Day 2 activities and expectations. The participants broke out into four groups by category with the goal of identifying, quantifying and qualifying the top ten and top three most important impacts that the Day 1 findings will have on each group. The results of the first category-based session were then taken into a mixed-category breakout session. The goal was to consider the category impacts from the previous breakout session and identify, quantify and qualify the top ten and top three most important cross-category impacts. The participants then reassembled as a large group to report on each breakout group’s list and entertain questions from the audience with an emphasis on cross-category impacts.

Day 1 Impacts

The Top Three Impacts (tie for third)

Item	Points	Impact Description
1	95.1	Trends in demographics, labor and people affect MHL in multiple ways. The current blue collar and professional labor environments, with an aging and diverse workforce, have forced industry to do more with less, to become flexible and accommodating, which has led to increasing costs, but also to an opportunity to produce technology-related solutions. Attention to working conditions will get more important over time. The industry will have to get involved proactively in education, insuring adequate visibility and preparation at all levels. Furthermore, growing demographic concentration calls for deployment of smaller technology-intensive facilities in metropolitan areas.
2	70.6	Globalization hits the industry two ways. One, in the customer marketplace, the rise of global demand and supply chains increases the importance of logistics, in a strategic sense. It creates both threats and opportunities, and requires research and innovation to master the emerging complexity. Two, the competitive landscape for the industry and its stakeholders is going global, with pressure to be globally present and to be able to compete dead on with providers from low-cost countries.
3a	50.3	The MHL community, through proactive collaboration of all industry stakeholders (providers, users, consultants, academics), must show greater leadership in jointly driving innovation and new business models at all planning horizons, embedding leanness and agility, and meeting higher expectations for efficiency, cost and profitability from shareholders as well as for speed, flexibility and service from customers. The kinds of labor & technologies required to support these innovations and business models may be vastly different and more complex in the future.
3b	50.3	Security/Traceability/Visibility/Environmental/Green regulations, standards and social pressures will require great change from the MHL community, (1) promoting innovation in business models, technology, processes, packaging and products, (2) leading to investments and costs for additional measures, processes and products without direct value outcome and (3) requiring the industry stakeholders to proactively collaborate with government agencies and other stakeholders. The industry stakeholders must proactively design and implement sustainable systems throughout the global supply chain that address these issues.

Next Six of the Top Ten Impacts

Item	Points	Impact Description
5	40.6	The industry stakeholders need to invest and innovate in developing models and solutions for next-generation systems that are easy-to-use, interconnected, integrated with real-time decision making and optimization, and conceived from a multi-supply chain, cross industry, perspective. Innovation is needed to develop solutions that address growing system complexity and manage risk.
6	21.5	Failure to resolve problems in transportation infrastructure will result in poorly performing and unsecure supply chains with high cost, high inventory, high complexity and poor service, leading to potential business failures and shifting geographical deployment. Addressing transportation infrastructure extends beyond the material handling industry and requires collaboration with the transportation industry.
7	21.1	Unless all stakeholders reposition and better define the material handling industry, we will continue to suffer from an ill-perceived value proposition and will find it difficult to act strategically and to attract the talent needed to drive growth and innovation.
8	17.8	There is a growing conflict between globalization and fuel costs. It will challenge strategic decisions about sourcing, integration, location, inventory deployment and facility sizing. This will transform demand and supply chains and likely change the business models that work in an environment with growing turbulent fuel costs and accessibility constraints.
9	12.5	The current business model for research has led to irrelevance to the industry. There is a perception of a disconnect between research and industry problems. Research must become more inter-disciplinary and involve multiple stakeholders.
10	9.9	Margins are under pressure. This leads providers to differentiate themselves, trying to get out of the commodity trap, which works against standardization and integration. Margin pressures on clients may limit capital available for investment in material handling solutions or lead them to seek productivity improvements through material handling.