Look at What We’re Storing For You!

Kwik Ship Rack Stocking Program
Sometimes timing is everything. We’ve all made the best of plans that were blown out of the water when an emergency arose. Has that happened at your company recently?

Does your operation use racking? Do you have times when replacing a frame or beam becomes extremely urgent? Has a crisis called for a quick expansion and waiting for the typical production schedule seem not practical? Now you have a solution!

The Kwik Ship Rack Stocking program provides popular beams, frames, accessories, and wire decking at your beckon call. In stock and waiting for your phone call or email, this inventory of new material can either be picked up by your truck or shipped within 48 hours of ordering.

“Many clients tell us that having Interlake racking products on a quick ship program would be invaluable to them,” remarks Jim Green, President of Morrison Company. Sometimes circumstances dictate a quick response and time is of the essence. “We’ve made every effort to stock the most popular sizes and configurations”, said Mr. Green.

Taking advantage of this program can begin in any one of two ways. Clicking on the Morrison Company website, you’ll see the main navigation link. Once on the Kwik Ship program page, click to view and or print a listing of the available inventory. Not near the computer? Call 440-946-8505 and ask for the Kwik Ship Department. We’ll be happy to walk you through the inventory and pricing.

Perhaps you should bookmark the Morrison Company website and save it as a “favorite” on your browser. Next time an urgent need arises for racking, check out the Kwik Ship and Stocking Program.

You Do That?

Vertical Reciprocating Conveyors
Whether you're a distribution center with integrated mezzanines, a manufacturing facility with multiple levels, or an archive records storage facility with a balcony; Vertical Reciprocating Conveyors (VRC's), manufactured by Wildeck, Inc., are a cost effective, safe and easy means of transporting your materials from one elevation to another.

VRC's are not elevators, but are conveyors included under the scope of a national consensus safety standard ANSI/ASME B20.1 (Conveyors and Related Equipment). WilLift VRC's are safer than using a forklift truck or manpower to move materials between levels and are less costly to operate and maintain than elevators.

With WilLift electrical design capabilities, Wildeck can provide you with a complete customized VRC system that is either manually controlled, controlled by your conveyor controls or is fully automated controlling both the VRC and portions of your conveyor system.

Whether you need the simplicity of a single-level hydraulic model, or the faster, continuous operation of a mechanical multi-level unit, our complete line of WilLift VRC's will meet your specific load, height and speed requirements. Here are considerations for type of unit.

• Pros: Long service life. Roller chains last a long time
• Pros: Stops accurately, which allows multi-level use
• Pros: Synchronized chains permit extra wide carriages
• Pros: Faster speeds, typically 30 FPM
• Pros: High cycle rate. Great for automation applications
• Cons: Higher initial cost
• Cons: Higher installation cost, due to the additional wiring

• Pros: Lower initial cost
• Pros: Dual cylinder lifting systems provide redundancy
• Pros: Over-speeds are avoided by velocity fuses
• Cons: Greater maintenance, due to nature of hydraulics
• Cons: Units may begin to drift with wear
• Cons: Limited duty cycle rates of approximately 20 operations per hour
• Cons: Ground plus one stop service only

Test Your Knowledge

How to Curb Sexual Harassment in the Workplace
Harassment continues to be a widespread problem in this country. In fiscal year 2004, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) received 13,136 complaints of sexual harassment, according to the agency’s website.

Even more startling is the percent of complaints that go to trial and are adjudicated. Over 80% of complaints result in an award, which costs employers a minimum of $100,000 in damages and court costs.

Working the math, even if all of the awards are at $100,000, total damages cost US businesses over $1.5 billion dollars in 2004. Not everyone’s aware of it, but sexual harassment isn’t limited to unwelcome sexual advances. According to the EEOC’s definition, verbal conduct of a sexual nature also constitutes sexual harassment “when submission to or rejection of this conduct explicitly affects an individual’s employment, unreasonable interferes with an individual’s work performance, or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment.”

The risk of litigation aside, failure to crack down on harassment has another downside: it prevents employees from working to the best of their ability. Nothing divides an office faster than charges of misconduct. Don’t assume that sexual harassment is only a male to a female. A significant number of complaints are from men complaining about a female coworker.

What are some simple steps to follow that will minimize the risk for complaints and will set the tone that sexual harassment is not accepted? Here are five action items that should be a preliminary step while you contact your HR counsel.

• Establish a zero tolerance policy
• Encourage an atmosphere of camaraderie
• Ban sex, religion and politics from the workplace
• Clean up the bulletin boards
• Dismantle the “old boys” network

Want the details behind these five steps. Contact Morrison Company and request the “harassment bulletin” on the contact us page of the Morrison Company website.

Self Storage Market Celebrates 30th Anniversary

What Can we Learn from How This Industry Grew
The year 2005 marks the 30th Anniversary of the Self Storage Association (SSA), the premier national not-for-profit trade organization and official voice of the $15 billion (in revenue) self storage industry that currently numbers 46,883 self storage facilities nationwide. The SSA directly represents more than 2,750 member companies that own and operate tens of thousands of self storage and mini-storage facilities throughout the United States and in fourteen countries across the globe.

You may be asking yourself by now; I never realized there was a profitable business in self storage? According to the SSA, the reason for the growth in their association was the reliance on education and being aware of market trends. This article will focus on the responsiveness to business trends.

How many of you would correctly guess is the biggest reason behind this industry’s growth – the growth in small businesses!

Once housed in unsightly buildings on sites deemed unsuitable for anything else, self storage facilities, or "lifestyle managers", are now more likely to be in aesthetically pleasing properties located in areas of high demand adjacent to residential and commercial/retail areas.

There are many factors driving the growth of this sector, which is expected to continue well into the future:

Medium and High Density Housing

Driven by the land squeeze and the popularity of downsizing, the trend is towards apartment living. But most apartments have inadequate storage for larger personal belongings such as bicycles, surfboards, skis and golf clubs. The attractive locations and easy accessibility of self storage facilities mean they are becoming a viable alternative for household storage.

Downsizing

Baby boomers are getting older and many of them are moving from their large family houses to smaller, more manageable homes. As this trend gathers pace, self storage will play a vital role in accommodating their possessions.

The Construction and Small Business Sector

As the economy continues to expand along with the construction industry boom, the demand to store all types of business assets is exploding. Whether it is storing stock and equipment or business records, buying properties large enough for their storage needs becomes unrealistic, self storage provides the answer.

Are there opportunities for your business to cash-in on this growing market? Do you provide a product or service that might be of value to these segments of the population? If so, you may want to explore the association’s website for more factors that are driving the meteoric growth of this market. Check out SSA’s website at www.selfstorage.org.

Packaging Industry Overview

Industry Sees Growth in Back Injuries
The global packaging industry is approximately a $433 billion market. The domestic packaging market, which is the major focus of this report, represents approximately 29%, or $124 billion of the global market. The industry consists of four general segments classified by material type: paper and board, plastics, glass and metal. The largest segments of the industry are paper and board and plastics, which account for 36% and 35%, respectively, of the global packaging market.

While packaging companies serve a variety of markets, the largest end markets for packaging products are food and beverage. Food packaging accounts for approximately 40% ($175 billion) of all packaging applications. Beverages represent approximately 18% or $80 billion. These end markets are stable, non-cyclical, steadily growing markets that are consequently attractive, regardless of the economic climate.

Regardless of the market, the common material handling challenge is providing a safe environment for lifting. Back injuries account for 50% of all lost time incidents. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report for 2003 indicated a four-fold increase in back injuries.

What is driving the increase in back injuries? In the last ten years the amount of automation in most packaging companies has exploded. Foreign competition has driven companies to find even more efficient means of moving product. The application of conveyors, manipulators, vacuum lifting devices and lift tables has made their mark on managing the growth in back injuries. More assistance is needed.

The packing industry has launched an education campaign for its member companies. Focusing on employee fitness and good lifting techniques has shown promising results. Companies adopting similar educational measures, along with adding ergonomic lifting devices, have seen a dramatic reduction in lost-time incidence due to back pain.

A Morrison Company representative can conduct an ergonomic evaluation of your facility. A myriad of lift-assist devices are available to meet the needs of any industry. To request your evaluation, indicate lifting solutions on the contact us page of the Morrison Company website. For additional information on the packaging industry, select www.packagingtoday.com.

Management Practices – Affecting Change

Personal Change Management
Change happens. And while we can't control much of the world changing around us, we can control how we respond. We can choose to anticipate and embrace changes or resist them. Resisting change is like trying to push water upstream. Generally we're quick to point to others who resist change. It's much harder to recognize or admit to our own change resistance.

Some people call change "progress" and celebrate the improvements that it brings. Others curse those same changes and wish for the good old days. Same changes, different responses. The choice is ours: We can be leaders, or we can be followers. To embrace change, we need to concentrate on five areas:

Focus on a Vision

Our vision or imagination guides everything we do. Helen Keller once said, "Nothing is more tragic than someone who has sight, but no vision." We can't leave the incredible magnetic power of vision unharnessed. Our thoughts often pull us toward the reasons why we can't succeed rather than the many reasons we can. To increase our effectiveness, we need to consciously attract into our lives what we truly want. We need to ensure the picture of our future is what we prefer, not the dark images of our fears, doubts, and insecurities. Personal, team, or organizational improvement starts with "imagineering."

Choose Your Outlook

We reach another milestone in our growth when we accept responsibility for our emotions. We choose to lose our temper. We choose to become jealous. We choose to harbor hatred. It's much easier to give in to the victimitis virus. It's less painful to believe that anger, jealousy, or bitterness are somebody else's fault or beyond our control. But that makes us prisoners of our destructive emotions. We hold grudges, let resentments build, and become cynical. We stress ourselves out. We stew in our own deadly juices.

Seek Authenticity

To create something we must be something. For example, becoming a parent is easy; being one is tough. We can't teach our kids self-discipline unless we are self-disciplined. We can't help build strong teams unless we are strong team players ourselves.

Commit Ourselves With Discipline

A key difference between real leaders and those who struggle to get by is self-discipline. As Confucius wrote, "The nature of people is always the same; it is their habits that separate them." Successful people have formed the habits of doing those things that most people don't want to do.

Continually Grow and Develop

Most people see others as they are; a leader sees them as they could be. Leaders see beyond the current problems and limitations to help others see their own possibilities. It's a key part of their own growth and development.

Change forces choices. If we're on the grow, we'll embrace many changes and find the positive in them. It's all in where we choose to put our focus. Even change that hits us in the side of the head as a major crisis can be full of growth opportunities - if we choose to look for them.

The point is, change is life. Successfully dealing with change means choosing to grow and develop continuously. Failing to grow is failing to live.

© 2003 Morrison Company. All Rights Reserved.