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After spending nearly a quarter of a century finding creative ways to get customer’s equipment, some of it dating back to Big Joe’s early days, up and running again, Big Joe’s original “Den Mother” Mary Jo “MJ” Tuohy is retiring.  She took time out from problem solving to spin a few yarns, impart some wisdom and take a fond look back at the trail she has blazed in an all-boys industry. 

Rapid growth at Big Joe and the Material Handling Industry in general has created an on-going need for salesforce training at dealerships across the Country.  Regional Sales Manager John Hicks draws on over thirty years of experience in the industry to keep sales reps engaged while building product knowledge and brand awareness.

Retailers face tremendous pressure to remain profitable, with restocking operations, inventory rotations and item access consuming tremendous amounts of worker time and effort.  Traditional tools including the rolling ladder and manual pallet jack present far too many opportunities for slips, trips, falls and repetitive stress injuries.  Replacing these outmoded items with innovative powered lift / access systems and powered pallet trucks can greatly reduce the incidence of employee injuries and worker’s comp claims, resulting in higher store profitability.

Risk Management experts and insurance companies have been looking for ways to replace the number one cause of pedestrian fatalities in the workplace, the riding forklift, for years.  Walkie stackers have long been considered an alternative, but were often dismissed due to the difficulties of turning a heavy load with manual steering.  The addition of miniaturized componentry and electronics commonly called “fly-by-wire” technology along with modern direct driven servo motors have revolutionized power steering systems for walkie stackers.  They are now truly viable systems that offer real performance advantages, while giving employees the benefit of dramatically improved workplace safety. 

Sometimes thinking big can cost you big, without delivering the real advantages your company needs in order to compete.   There is an industry trend to implement a bigger more complex and sexier solution to a problem when there may be a simpler, less expensive and uncomplicated answer available right off the shelf.   Two prime examples are automated parts carousels for inventory access and riding forklifts in mid-sized facilities.  In the right application, both can be incredibly powerful tools to help a business succeed, but in many applications the extra costs and complexities may not payoff in the short or even long term.