Many thanks to event sponsors ARPAC, Cascade, Pivot Training & Williams Machinery. Also many thanks Larry Robertson at Hi-Cube Storage Products who called in minutes before the announcement of total money collected to add $500.00 to the pot!

Also many thanks to Brad Zimmerman and the East Penn team for grilling up the Smokies on the BBQ.

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Event Sponsors

First time attendees to the AGM may mistake our “efficiency” as a lack of respect for the official process. I can assure you nothing is further from the truth. The expedited AGM reports the society’s status to members while acknowledging the attendees are more in the mood to party (as you will see by the pictures soon to be posted to the website).

Throughout the year Directors meet for approximately 2 hours every 4 to 6 weeks to review the society financials, events, and society management. Annual reports are filed with the Ministry of Finance and meeting minutes, society articles, bylaws and related documents are on file at the legal firm of Cohen Buchan Edwards in Richmond, BC. The society is better managed and under tighter control than at any time in my 20+ years with the CMHDS.

The 2012-13 season was highlighted with tours such as Gordon Food Service and GENCO, the signing of the BC Safety Charter, our 2nd Annual Christmas at the RiverRock event, the Home Depot Safety Culture Breakfast and becoming a Supporting Association of the Cargo Logistics Canada Trade Show.

I appreciate and thank the Board of Directors and work they have done. For their ongoing counsel I have to specifically thank Ryan Parry our Vice President and Brian Devereaux our Treasurer. Of course the Society could not run without the ongoing professional management we receive from our General Manager, John Gilder.

On behalf of the Board of Directors I would like to thank all members for supporting our events and efforts. We have some great tours on the horizon for next season so look out for 2013/2014! We are in a position to provide you with some tremendous opportunities to fulfill our motto “Knowledge through Networking.”

 Have a great summer!

Dan Beer
President – CMHDS

Dan Beer (right) CMHDS President signs the BC Safety Charter with Phil Vernon (left)
of WorkSafeBC and Chris Webber (center) of FIOSA-MIOSA.

On Thursday March 7^th, 2013 CMHDS members gathered for a breakfast meeting to discuss safety culture and CMHDS President, Dan Beer took the opportunity to follow through on a motion passed the previous week by the CMHDS Board of Directors and sign the BC Safety Charter on behalf of the CMHDS.

This Charter represents commitment from industry and organizational leaders in British Columbia to create a culture and adopt practices that value health and safety. It is founded on the principle that the effective management of health and safety is essential to long term success, profitability and sustainability. By supporting this charter senior executives commit themselves to working towards the goal of being corporately sustainable and demonstrating leadership in their communities.

Mission – Engage Senior Executives in becoming corporate leaders where health and safety are valued as critical elements of their businesses.

Vision – To have all BC business leaders and their organizations adopt the mission of this Health & Safety Leadership Charter.

By signing this charter, leaders commit:

1. To lead the establishment of sound health and safety culture and practices in their own organizations.
2. To provide a workplace that protects the health, safety and well-being of employees, contractors, clients, customers, visitors and the communities in which we operate.
3. To provide a work environment with the internal capacity that enables and engages all employees and stakeholders to participate collaboratively, promoting and improving health and safety.
4. To commit to lead and promote the highest level of health and safety culture and performance within their organizations, to be accountable for measuring health and safety performance and to take personal responsibility for continuous improvement.
5. To participate in future leadership initiatives and helping foster overall improvement in health and safety performance for all businesses in British Columbia.

The Board of Directors encourages all CMHDS members to learn more about the BC Safety Charter and support this initiative. You can find out more by visiting www.BCSafetyCharter.ca.

Join us for breakfast on Thursday March 7th, 2013 when we welcome Denesh Maharajh, the Environmental, Health & Safety Manager for Home Depot Canada who will be speaking about “Safety Culture, the Home Depot Perspective”.

Safety Culture which relates to a full range of safety critical behaviors from the wearing of PPE (or not), the quality of delivery of a tool box talk – or the seriousness with which safety is discussed at a high level meeting has also been described simply as “the way we typically do things around here”.

After the presentation we will have a question & answer session as well as a round table discussion on all points covered. All attendees will get the summary notes of the presentation and discussions.

Space is limited so sign up now!

Event Details

Date: Thursday March 7, 2013

Time: 7:30am to 9:30am

Location: ABC Restaurant, 7380 King George Highway, Surrey, British Columbia V4N 2N4

The inaugural Cargo Logistics Canada Expo & Conference (CLC) which will take place January 29 – 30, 2014 at the Vancouver Convention Centre West. CLC is a B2B platform to connect stakeholders in Canadian supply chains, fostering synergies between those that own freight and those that move it whether by sea, air, rail or road. This multi-modal scope will open new doors for collaboration on a regional, national, continental and international scale.

Partnerships

As the only event of its kind in Canada, CLC will bring together the broadest group of stakeholders in Canadian freight ever assembled. A diverse group of associations representing the entire supply chain spectrum in Canada are partnering with CLC. The Canadian Materials Handling and Distribution Society is one of more than a dozen important Supporting Associations:

“Cargo Logistics Canada will be the perfect forum to bring together all of the players in the Canadian Supply Chain under one roof. The CMHDS is excited to to be a supporting association and recommend all of our members take the opportunity to get involved.” – Dan Beer, President, Canadian Materials Handling & Distribution Society (CMHDS)

Canada’s Platform for New Innovations & Products

Leading suppliers from numerous freight, logistics, materials handling and supply chain sectors will exhibit to showcase the latest innovations, making CLC the platform for new product launches in Canada. CLC’s centerpiece will be a large and dynamic 50,000 sq. ft. exposition floor, featuring 150+ exhibits. Thousands of visitors, from Canada, The United States and abroad will attend the two-day event, to source the latest cargo services, equipment, systems and technologies.

Educating the Industry

As part of this multi-layer approach, CLC will offer a top tier collection of speakers and professional development relevant to the entire Canadian freight transportation industry. Featuring more than 40 seminars and up to 100 speakers during the two day event, the CLC conference schedule will allow industry professionals to build their own program without being tied to a costly one-size-fits-all conference pass. This cost-effective format will make CLC accessible to the market, setting a new trend in logistics conferences.

For further information on this event, please contact Show Director, Dave Tyldesley, Informa Canada at (604) 730-2033 or david.tyldesley@informacanada.com.

SCL is pleased to announce and provide a half-day program focused on maximizing your competitive advantage. This event will open with an address by British Consul General Rupert Potter, providing an overview of global trade today. Bruce MacKenzie will share his insights into current human resource optimization. We then delve into the Canadian SmartWay® program through a case study and presentations to demonstrate to show you how you can leverage the benefits of the SmartWay® program to improve your company’s fuel consumption and best practices, enabling you to create a distinct competitive advantage.

The SmartWay® program, now available in Canada, provides a central source for standardized sustainability tools to benchmark fleets, enabling year-over-year evaluation of your company’s progress and providing a mechanism for you to measure your company against other companies in this sector.

Event Details

** This is a Supply Chain Logistics (SCL) event – all inquiries should be directed to the SCL office **

Date: Wednesday March 6, 2013

Location: UBC Robson Square, 800 Robson St., Vancouver, BC

Event Schedule:

• 8:00 Welcome
• 8:10 am Rupert Potter – Global trade and the importance of global sustainability
• 8:30 am Bruce MacKenzie – Its not just price, its culture
• 9:30 am Networking Break
• 9:50 am SmartWay Program Introduction – Manjit Kerr-Upal, Chief, SmartWay
• 10:15 am SmartWay Case Study – Ryder and customer
• 10:45 am Volvo – The technology that can save you fuel
• 11:15 am Panel Discussion – Moderated by: Baila Lazarus, Features Editor, Business in Vancouver | Panelist: Ryder & Volvo
• 12:00 pm Event Concludes

CMHDS MEMBERS – USE CODE BCAFFMAR6 TO GET THE CMHDS AFFILIATE RATE

Marilynn is a relationship-orientated Executive Coach with accomplished communication, leadership, and possibilities thinking skills gained during her 37 years of work experience.

As a member of the International Coaching Federation, Associate Faculty in the School of Leadership Studies at Royal Roads University, and co-author leadership and group coaching programs, Marilynn’s areas of coaching expertise include leadership development; team building, transformational change, and helping people survive and thrive in toxic workplace environments. She utilizes these skills coupled with her passion for possibilities thinking in partnership with her clients to enable them to achieve and sustain their personal and professional dreams and goals.

In this interactive session you will discover:

• How coaching enables people to unlock their passion, explore possibilities, and unleash their personal power to achieve their personal and professional goals.
• How using the art of conversation and the gift of curiosity can unlock the door to growth and development for both managers and employees
• And more…

Enjoy dinner and mingle with your fellow Logistics/Supply Chain minded colleagues for the cost of $39.50.

Event Details

Everyone is welcome to attend!

Date: Thursday February 28th, 2013

Time: 5:30 pm – 8:30 pm

Location: Eagle Creek Facility 7600 Halifax Street, Burnaby, BC

Jeff Booth is the CEO and co-founder of BuildDirect, the leading online destination for heavy weight building materials. Jeff is a visionary leader who built an impressive team to reduce cost and simplify the building industry. Jeff is also an active member of Young President’s Organization since 2005 and is a frequent speaker to industry groups throughout North America.

Jeff will explain the Build Direct business model, how it developed, how it adds value in the supply chain and the core role of logistics in the development and success of the company. You will gain valuable insights on success factors in success factors for online business, the integration of marketing and logistics decisions, the role of information technology, and how market intelligence & data drive delivery, warehouse, inventory and overall supply chain optimization. You will see how this optimization is realized in Build Direct’s Warehouse Positioning and inventory consignment program.

Event Details

Date: Wednesday February 13, 2013

Location: UBC Robson Square – HSBC Hall, 800 Robson Street, Vancouver, BC

• 7:30 am Registration & Breakfast
• 8:15 am Presentation
• 9:15 am Q&A Session9:00 am Networking
• 10:00 am Event Concludes

• SCL Member: $25.00
• CMHDS Affiliate Rate: $35.00 (use code BCAFEB13 when registering)
• Non-Member: $45.00

Located on Annacis Island in Delta, BC the 350,000 sq.ft. facility employs over 850 people and has a storage capacity of 40,000 pallets. One of the main focal points for the tour will be how GFS has increased the accuracy of their scan/pick selection process though the implementation of a mobile bar code technology called Gladiators (pictured left).

Tour space is limited so sign up now!

* Please note pictures will not be allowed during the tour and attendees should bring safety shoes and hi-visibility vests if possible.

About Gordon Food Service

Founded in 1897 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, today Gordon Food Service is the largest privately owned foodservice distributor in North America, ranked in the top 100 private U.S. companies by Forbes Magazine. The company entered Canada in 1994 and purchased the Delta facility (formerly Neptune Foods) in 2002.

Tour Details

Date: Tuesday February 12th, 2013

Time: 3:45pm to 5:30pm

Location: Gordon Food Services Distribution Centre, 1700 Cliveden Avenue (Annacis Island) Delta, BC V3M 6T2 (Click here for map)

China and Japan – Backwards and Forwards

According to the Construction and Equipment Industry in China Report published in October, China’s materials handling sector has felt the pinch along with the rest of the world. The first quarter of 2012 saw a slowdown in both domestic and international demand, caused by the worldwide economic recession.

However, by the end of the year, total sales of forklifts were expected to be level with 2011 figures. Sales of IC forklifts continued to decline in 2012 by 7.6% but sales of electric forklifts, particularly electric ride-on forklifts, grew by 35.3% to 53,171 units.

Domestic demand for forklifts is expected to increase in 2013 with fierce competition from four major investors: large construction and automobile manufacturers searching out new investment areas, foreign-funded enterprises keen to expand marketshare, forklift manufacturers such as EP Equipment expanding existing product lines into the burgeoning electric forklift sector and lastly, established forklift manufacturers re-invigorating their core business in terms of technology, market and service.

Anhui Forkllift Truck Group and Zhejiang Hangcha continue to dominate the Chinese materials handling sector – accounting for nearly half of all China’s forklift sales in 2012.

In his speech at this year’s Industrial Truck Association’s (ITA) Presidential Forum held in October, Lu Daming, president of the Beijing Materials Handling and Engineering and Research Institute, said that the following three to five years may be the most difficult time for economic development in China as the country adjusts to a transitional economy. In contrast to the Construction and Equipment Industry in China Report, Daming envisions a continued slowdown of forklift manufacturing in China in 2013 and beyond until fiscal policy becomes looser and urban development is restarted. He believes that the logistics industry in China, particularly in rural areas, is still developing and will continue to support the materials handling sector as logistics networks develop.

At the same forum, Japanese Industrial Vehicle Association (JIVA) president Toshihiko Uratsuji spoke about Japan’s recovery after the Great Earthquake of East Japan in March 2011. Forklift production virtually stopped in the wake of the earthquake and sales plummeted. Since then, however, there has been gradual recovery and increased demand as reconstruction and equipment replacement began. This continued into 2012, only slowing down in June/July. JIVA expected a 5% increase in sales from 2011 figures.

In the first quarter of 2012, sales of internal combustion(IC) and electric counterbalance forklifts in Japan exceeded 12,000 units and electric walkers 5,000 units. Uratsuji believes that the future for forklifts lies in improving fuel efficiency, not only through technology but also by educating users. Supporting this view is market research group Freedonia’s recently published World Material Handling Products study, which advises that electric forklifts should expect to see solid gains in 2013 as end-users seek to cut costs.

Japan also provided the surprise merger of the year when Toyota Industry Corporation (TICO) announced a deal with Cascade Corporation of the USA in October. Cascade has been valued at USD759 million, despite the company’s earnings dropping by 8.8% in the second quarter of 2012. The merger will mean an opportunity for Toyota to expand its product range and its sales areas. The two companies believe that the move will create a “global materials handling business”, says Cascade president and CEO Robert.C.Warren Jr.

Europe and UK – It’s A Roller Coaster Ride

The words on everyone’s lips again this year were Euro crisis. The southern European countries of Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece continue to suffer, with the European Materials Handling Federation (FEM) president Dr Klaus-Dieter Rosenbach telling the ITA Forum that there had been a 25% decline in forklift market volume in Italy and Spain in 2012.

According to KION group intelligence, European demand for new industrial forklifts fell to 237,000 units, 6.2% down on the first three quarters of 2011. In the first nine months of 2012, demand in western Europe declined 7.4 % year-on-year to 196,000 units, owing to the weakness of southern European economies. Demand in the eastern European market remained static in the first three quarters of 2012 at 41,000 units.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) downgraded its more optimistic May forecast of the Euro-zone situation to expect a mild contraction of GDP of 0.1% in 2013 before growth picks up to 1.3% in 2014. However, all this is dependent on action by the central banks and co-operation on fiscal policy.

Other countries in the EU are on the upside of the rollercoaster ride. In Germany and non-EU Britain, forklift sales are almost back to 2007 levels. A number of materials handling companies in Germany, the UK, Ireland and the Netherlands have told Forkliftaction News that order books have been good this year and are full going into 2013. FEM believes that good sales in some European areas have been largely supported by stock replacement rather than by new sales, a trend which started in 2011.

Linde CEO Theodore Maurer believes his company’s decision to offer rental fleet options and financing has helped maintain a positive ledger in 2012. Simon Brown, managing director of Bendi, has also developed the rental side of his business but adds that service and an ability to supply parts have played a crucial role in keeping Bendi in the black. Brown is concerned over rising costs across the materials handling manufacturing supplier base and the plea from customers for prices to remain static. He believes that these will be serious challenges in 2013 and will mean companies will have to “resolve the issue by achieving more productivity out of costs”.

FEM’s Rosenbach also predicted that the positive trend in eastern European markets would continue into 2013, with Russia as the main driver. Egon Strehl, managing director of Clark Europe GmbH, says Clark will be focusing on the needs of these emerging markets over the coming year. Strehl explains, “These markets differ significantly in their materials handling needs to countries in western Europe. The market demands simple, robust technology and a good price point ratio. In addition, there is a growing demand for on-site service, training and spare parts.”

Mitsubishi Caterpillar Forklift Europe (MCFE) used the current trend to electric forklifts to restructure its Dutch and Finnish operations in 2012. Vice-president of marketing and sales Bengt Carlioth sees 2013 as a year of changes for MCFE: “We are creating a centre for electric forklift development at our Finnish operation. The trend is clear – electric is becoming a mature product with more or less the same features and benefits globally,” he explains. “As well as our main R&D centre in Finland, we will continue our efforts in the year to come at our facilities in Japan, the US and Asia.”

USA – Looking Up The Slope

George W Prest, president of the Materials Handling Industry of America (MHIA), tells Forkliftaction.com News that his organisation is optimistic about the coming year. This view is supported by the Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation’s (MAPI) quarterly economic forecast released in November which presents a slightly rosier forecast than the one they released in August. US GDP is expected to grow by 1.8% in 2013 and by 2.8% in 2014. Final figures for GDP growth in 2012 could be 2.1% and manufacturing production 4.2%.

It is recognised that much of the forecast depends on the political response to the fiscal cliff. As Daniel J Meckstroth, MAPI chief economist, explains, “In order for the transition to moderate growth to occur successfully, there needs to be compromise on the ‘fiscal cliff’ issue; agreement on raising the debt ceiling early in 2013, and establishing a ‘grand compromise’ plan for meaningful long-term federal deficit reduction that phases in over several years.”

In the meantime, MHIA had forecast a growth of 8-9% for materials handling equipment in 2012 and 6% in 2013 to 153,500 units, up 1% on 2012 sales, with continued but modest growth in 2014. Prest says, “while conservative, this forecast would still result in a healthy position for the forklift industry and would be the ninth-highest volume year in their history.” However, MHIA’s long-time economist, Hal Vandiver, had an eye on Europe and China when he warned in Modern Materials Handling that “events in the export market aren’t good for us”.

NACCO Industries’ materials handling arm, Hyster-Yale Materials Handling Incorporated, released its third quarter results in November 2012, showing higher profits and lower sales. Hyster-Yale says the lower sales stemmed primarily from “unfavourable foreign currency movements mainly caused by a weakening of the Euro and Brazilian Real against the US Dollar and a decline in unit volume, primarily in Europe and the Americas. The favourable effect of unit price increases implemented in 2011 and early 2012, primarily in Europe and the Americas, partially offset the decrease in revenue.”

Going into 2013, Hyster-Yale expects global volumes to be slightly down on the previous year, but expects 2013 to see an overall increase in shipments and parts volumes in all markets, with the majority of this increase driven by the Americas. These sentiments are echoed by Prest, who believes that trends such as re-shoring manufacturing back to the US, the Panama Canal expansion and increased US exports are positive signs for the forklift industry and the US economy in general.

2013

There are continued concerns regarding forklift safety which are too often highlighted in Forkliftaction.com News stories and columns – and 2012 was no exception. The British Industrial Truck Association (BITA) points out that funding for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the UK’s independent watchdog for work-related health, illness and safety, has been cut by 13% since 2009. No doubt, other countries’ health and safety bodies are experiencing similar funding strictures.

And finally for 2013, the “global economy recovery still lacks energy, the economy grows at low speed”, says Lu Daming. Linde’s Maurer adds “the global industrial truck market is likely to fare slightly less impressively in 2012 as a whole than it did in 2011.” However, he forecasts a moderately successful 2013, “With the change of regime in China, the re-election in the USA and a gradual stabilisation in the Euro crisis, we can once again start the new year within a positive climate – so long as no severe economic events have an adverse impact on the industrial truck.

Reprinted with permission from Forkliftaction.com