65 Years of Innovation: The Future of Storage and Material Handling

What’s Next for Warehouses?

For the past 65 years, Industrial Shelving Systems has helped customers improve the way they store, organize, and move products in their warehouse or facility space. From where we began in automotive parts storage to today’s warehouse solutions, we’ve noticed how the industry never stands still.

The challenges that facilities have faced in the past are different from those that they face today. Labor shortages, higher customer expectations, quicker fulfillment requests, and increasing inventory demands are still changing. This means, storage and material handling solutions have had to evolve, which means ISS is evolving with them.

As we celebrate 65 years in the business, we’re looking ahead to what the future brings for this industry, and how we can ensure that we’re able to provide what our customers need next.

How Material Handling Has Changed Over the Years

Back in 1961, our main focus was on static storage and providing automotive parts departments with the automotive storage solutions that made sense for them. Over the past 65 years, we started seeing a rise in distribution centers, the adoption of warehouse management systems, and a larger increase in the need for efficiency.

Now more than ever, we’re seeing automation become more accessible for a range of facilities. Instead of the huge distribution warehouses or manufacturing facilities being the only businesses able to integrate automation, we’re now seeing small to mid-sized business finding ways for automation to fit into their workflows.

For many, improving their storage density was always the goal, but today, we’re seeing facilities focusing on optimizing their workflows, and targeting bottlenecks in their operations.

The Trends Driving the Future of Material Handling

Labor Shortages

Nowadays, facilities are facing labor shortages, and companies are struggling with finding and retaining good warehouse workers. As a result, companies are trying to find other alternatives along with ways to better retain workers, which can include:

• Creating safer work environments
• Reducing repetitive tasks
• Improving employee productivity

Rather than replacing workers entirely, material handling technologies are being integrated into workflows to help existing teams work more efficiently.

The Demand for Quicker Fulfillment

Customers more and more are expecting quicker delivery times. This means warehouses are having to change their workflows to account for:

• Higher inventory visibility
• Faster picking operations
• Efficient order fulfillment
• Improved inventory accuracy

Facilities find that they need to accomplish more with the same space that they have, so they’re turning to material handling to help them.

Warehouses Are Using Their Clear Heights

With facilities needing to accomplish more with the same space they have, they have started to use their vertical space more. Instead of entire building expansions, which are costly, we’re seeing warehouses turning to solutions that make the best use of their vertical space, like Mezzanines paired with Vertical Reciprocating Conveyors and Vertical Lift Modules.

Using existing space can be extremely effective when done right.

Data and Technology Are Improving Accuracy

With many things to account for, facilities have turned more to technology to keep them on track. Things like:

• Warehouse Management Systems (WMS)
• Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
• Inventory Management Software
• Automation Controls

help businesses make informed decisions.

The Growing Role of Automation Solutions

Material handling solutions are some of the most major shifts we’re seeing in the storage solutions world. These solutions are helping with scalability, efficiency, and accuracy. Common examples that ISS Material Handling has worked with include:

• Vertical Lift Modules
• Pick-to-Light
• Conveyors
• Vertical Reciprocating Conveyors
• Cranes

Why ISS Has Expanded into Automation

At ISS, we’ve always stayed true to ourselves and our goals, and that means helping our customers find the most efficient storage and material handling solutions. To do this, we’ve had to evolve with the industry and expand our offerings.

While we still offer static storage, and that remains a pillar of who we are, we also have expanded into material handling capabilities. With these solutions, we’re able to help our customers create scalable and organized operations while providing the trusted service and expertise that we’ve built our reputation on.

Our goal is to best understand our customer’s challenges and recommend the best solution that will support long term growth.

The Future Of ISS

The future of material handling isn’t about replacing proven solutions or replacing your workforce. It’s about finding the right combination of technologies to create safer environments, address slowdowns, and create more efficient operations to support customers’ needs.

65 More Years!

After 65 years, our offerings have expanded, while our philosophy remains the same. The material handling industry is still evolving, and we’re still committed to helping our customers navigate changes with innovative storage and material handling solutions.

We’re excited to help our customers take the next step!

If you’d like to learn more about where we’re going and what we can offer, reach out to your account manager, contact us here or give us a call at 1-800-875-6201.