25 Years Young – And More Relevant

Records Storage Business Here to Stay!
PRISM International will be celebrating the association’s 25th anniversary this year. With the growth of digital records, the rapid rise of confidential destruction and the pace of technology influencing all types of hardware, software and media, the industry stands on the threshold of a new age.

Businesses create more than 30 billion documents per year. That was an assessment made just five years ago. With recent government regulations like HIPPA, this figure is apt to multiply quickly.

How have businesses responded? While companies should evaluate the cost of storing records internally, rarely does it cost out to. Talk to a records association insider and soon you’ll discover the hidden costs many companies ignore of forget. Many organizations when asked to review earlier assessments, and in almost every case the “in-house” costs were wither not honest or understated”. What is the solution?

In addition to cost being the driving cost driving businesses to outsourced records storage solutions, the following are real reasons to consider:

• Controlled Access


• Climate Controlled Environment
• Protection Against Disasters
• Around the Clock Service
• Delivery and Pick-up Service
• Special Media Service

Want to outsource but not sure where to turn? PRISM International (Professional Records & Information Services Management) can direct to you to an outsourced professional firm. They can be reached at www.prismintl.org.

Want to evaluate in in-house solution or expand an existing storage facility to efficiently store and retrieve documents? Morrison Company has 75 years experience helping clients with storage and retrieval solutions. They can be reached at www.morrisoncompany.com.

You Do That? - Racking

Storage Solutions for Every Application
No matter what kind of warehousing function, racking plays an important role in storing inventory or raw material for later use. There are a variety of configurations for storage rack, all which achieve a different level of selectivity and storage density.

Interlake manufactures a variety of rack configurations for your storage needs including selective, pushback and pallet flow rack. Although the following represents the most common configuration styles, talk to a rack professional about your particular environment and application. The basic configuration styles are:

• Selective Rack


• Drive-in, Drive-through, and Pushback Rack
• Pallet Flow Rack

This versatile choice provides 100% selectivity to every load. You can always access every pallet. However, they require numerous aisles and result in lower storage density than some other alternatives. For faster moving product, and the best access, selective racks are the system of choice.

Drive-in, Drive-through, and Pushback Rack

These systems are designed to store pallets two, three, or more deep. These kinds of rack systems offer greater storage density than selective racks, but less selectivity. They are "last-in, first-out" systems with reduced selectivity, and great product density. For items that will have longer life in storage, and don't require immediate access, these systems are an excellent solution.

Pallet Flow Storage Rack

Unsurpassed storage density is the key strength of flow rack systems. They are limited only by the size of your facility. Flow storage systems offer automatic "first-in, first-out" product rotation, an advantage with perishable and time-sensitive products.

Perhaps your operation has racking that may have damage. Whether obvious or not, damaged racking can lead to lost-time accidents and potentially a stoppage of work. Even if your racking has been evaluated recently, many companies are looking at expanding or renovating storage areas. Working with the racking professionals at Morrison Company will alley your fears about what might occur with damaged racking. An evaluation of your storage needs can also include an assessment of your rack integrity.

To request an evaluation, select storage facility review.

Test Your Knowledge

Age Related Lawsuits
The number of baby boomers is growing, and so is the prospect of age-related workplace disputes and hefty settlements. Workers 40 and older are protected by federal law from being singled out for hiring, firing, promotion or benefits because of their age. And the law is gaining in importance, as workers age 40 and older comprise about half the nation’s work force.

What’s more, as employers trim staffs to cut costs in this tight economy, many older workers are on the chopping block. While there is nothing illegal about reducing costs, the truth is that a lot of companies target older workers for job reductions during so-called ‘economic layoffs’.

Companies that rely on objective measures when deciding who stays and who goes will be much better off than those that rely on subjective measures. Lawsuits over so-called “disparate impact policies” might increase this fall after the US Supreme Court hears a case meant to clarify whether workers can claim age discrimination when any work place policy has a disproportionate impact on older workers, even if the effects are unintentional.

The best advice for employers to heed is to be prepared:

• Publish the company’s discrimination policy in the employee handbook and post it.


• Train supervisors well. Often the actions or words of managers and supervisors are the basis of age-related claims. Train them on what language and acts might constitute discrimination.
• Keep job descriptions updated so that if someone is not qualified for the job, company officials have a basis to say so
• Be conscious of employment policies and training programs that might lend themselves to age bias claims. Be wary of words like “young aggressive people.”

Making Mail Work

Follow a Few Basic Principles
Direct mail is still is very valuable lead generation tool for companies looking to reach specific target markets. It's a cost-effective way to reach multiple decision-makers within organizations with personalized, specific messages - especially effective when you're trying to generate leads and build brand awareness for your products and services. And because it's relatively easy to analyze, direct mail continues to provide a high level of both accountability and measurability.

Many companies rely on direct mail as a foundation upon which they build the majority of their lead generation activities. To provide even greater return rates, direct mail can easily and effectively be integrated with almost every other marketing medium.

Direct mail can still be an effective way to generate leads. However, in today's economy it requires almost perfect development and execution. Here are a few proven direct mail ideas and techniques that will help make your direct mail work:

• Integrate your web marketing with your direct mail. The web is also a great place to put multiple offers - allowing you to further qualify the lead based on their response.


• Don't assume. When writing your copy, don't assume the reader knows anything about you, your company or your products and services.
• Start with the list. The single most important part of your direct mail campaign is your list. What's the best list you can use? Your in-house database list. If you don't already have one - start building it, today.
• Make it easy to respond. Allow companies multiple options to respond to your offer. Offer them the ability to visit your web site, as well as traditional response vehicles such as BRC's, fax-back forms, etc.
• Make sure your offer has value. Always use an offer or premium in your direct mail. And when doing so - make sure that offer has value to the reader.
• Integrate your direct mail. Direct mail is a great compliment to almost every other lead generating medium. Maintain the same look and feel throughout all of your activities and you'll not only generate more leads, you'll continue to develop brand awareness in your target markets as well.
• Mail to multiple decision makers. Not only are decisions almost always made by a committee, but multiple people within an organization may be involved in the initial product or vendor selection.
• Vary your packaging. It's impossible to know how your reader will react to your package. For every person that opens your direct mail piece because it's appealing and "eye-catching" another will toss it out as junk mail. By varying your packaging you have the greatest chance of getting your mailing opened by a specific target.
• Blind title mailings. Blind title mailings are a great way to expand your current mailing lists. After mailing to the contact name on the list, simply take out the contact name and substitute a generic business title (eg: Plant Manager, Controller, etc). When doing a blind title mailing it's extremely important to make sure your copy and offer are relevant to the title to which you are mailing.

Overhead Conveyor Application in Finishing Systems

Manufacturing Companies Rely on Conveyors to Keep it Moving
Inventory and production management, in today’s highly competitive world, is a strategic asset to have on your management team. Companies in leadership roles within any vertical market have a tight control on their costs. How do companies maintain a high degree of flexibility in their manufacturing operations?

In almost every multi-phase manufacturing process, some type of conveyor is used to transport components, sub-assemblies or even final assembly parts into and out of a final assembly stage or finishing system. Manufacturers of overhead conveyor systems have adapted to the demand for systems in almost every environment.

Whether the finishing system is paint, coating, heat treatment or bathing operation overhead conveyors can provide the solution to meet your productivity goals.

Ford, Bendix and Visteon are examples of a large manufacturing or final assembly company that has relied on overhead conveyor systems to solve their throughput challenges. Additionally, as an example within a vertical market, tier one and two suppliers to automotive manufacturers have also worked with Morrison Company to layout and implement overhead conveyor systems.

Whether your facility is an automotive tier one supplier or a company with a fabrication operation a Morrison Company is ready to provide a facility assessment that may confirm plans you may already have about an expansion or renovation.

For the past 75 years Morrison Company has led the way as the material handling industry has evolved. After hundreds of projects, the Morrison Company sales and engineering team is eager to take on your unique challenges. To set up an evaluation of your facility, select facility assessment.

Reducing Back Injury Claims

Tips Every Company Can Implement
Back injury claims are by far the most common and the most costly workers’ compensation claims for many companies. Various studies have put the frequency of back claims at 25% to 32% of all workers’ compensation claims, exceeding every other type of occupational injury. The problem of back injuries crosses all industry lines. Whether your company is involved in manufacturing, wholesale distribution, retail, construction, healthcare, a service business, or an office environment, back injuries are likely to be the most vexing of your compensation claims.

Over the past 50 years a wide variety of solutions have been tried by safety professionals and others to reduce the number and severity of back injuries. Some of the solutions used have been: training in proper lifting techniques, films/videos/brochures, "Back Schools", pre-employment strength testing and/or x-rays, back supports (back belts), exercise programs, ergonomic design of workstations, providing mechanical lifting devices, medical and claim management, etc. Despite these efforts, back injury claims continue to be a problem. Some of these solutions have been shown to be at least somewhat effective while others have been discredited and shown to have little or no effect on reducing injuries.

The question is can back injuries be "prevented". The answer is "yes" and "no". It is currently felt that preventing all occupational back injuries is not possible. In many cases there is no clear connection between the symptoms and the work or activity engaged in by the employee. Since studies have shown that a significant proportion of the population (60% to 80%) will experience low back pain at some point in their working lifetime, it is likely that in some cases the physician will relate the pain to the employee’s work activity and we cannot determine what we could have done to prevent the injury. This does not necessarily mean that the physician is wrong or that the pain or injury was not caused by the work activity.

On the other hand, it is clear that many occupational back injuries can be prevented. Some companies manage to have a very low frequency of back injury claims while another company in the same business and with the same exposures will have a serious problem with back injury claims. What is the difference?

Companies that have the back injury problem under control tend to use a comprehensive or multifaceted approach. They do not rely on one solution or approach. They don’t look for a quick or easy fix like "back belts" or an exercise program. They look at the causes of past injuries and at the potential causes of back injuries in their workplace and they eliminate or reduce the exposures as much as possible.

Some of the strategies that have found to be the most effective when used in combinations with one another are:

• Analyze past losses and potential loss causes:Review the back injury claims that your company has had over the past five years. Determine what caused the injury, if you can, and take action to eliminate or reduce the exposure. In some cases you won’t be able to determine a cause or a corrective action. That’s OK, work on those that you can. Take a close look at all manual lifting, carrying, and handling tasks in your workplace, determine what the potential loss causes are and take action to reduce or eliminate those exposures.


• Eliminate or reduce manual lifting & carrying, as much as possible:Much of the manual handling, lifting and carrying in any operation could be eliminated. You goal should be to eliminate it whenever possible. If employees don’t have to handle, lift or carry materials, they are less likely to suffer a back injury or other musculoskeletal injury. In some cases it is a simple as providing a hand truck or cart, having materials delivered to the location where they will be used instead of unnecessarily moving them multiple times, reducing the size of a tote or bin, storing the object at waist level instead of on the floor, etc. Many solutions will be low cost or no cost. In some cases it may require a more costly solution such as providing mechanical lifting equipment (hoists, lift tables, conveyors, etc.) or automating the process.

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