MK ANNUAL CONFERENCE
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From Materials Handling to Pest Control
their annual conference at Harrogate last week the National Association of arehouse Keepers heard a full programme of seven addresses on a wide range ice. An authoritative survey of warehouse design and construction, together talk on fire prevention, were reported upon last week and five other talks mtnarized here. Several were accompanied with the showing of slides or films.
x main developments towards atic warehousing were discussed by J. H yam. editor, Mechanical lag. First, there was racking or r racking. Second. there had been velopment of stacking cranes percontrol within a data processing And third, there had been pro. in trucks with electronic guidance IS, involving use of a tape or d line on the floor or the type based magnetic device imbedded in the Hyarn claimed that a principle of als handling now emerging was igh stacking could be an advantage when floor area was not short or
ionally expensive. It had been that vertical movement of stackcanes or fork trucks was faster, and more economic than hodmovement and there was a trend from long, low storage buildines. a development could result in the truck giving way to more efficient rig cranes.
nmenting on the increasing versaof gravity racking, Mr. Hyam said as widely different products as and cookers were stored on it. ding pallet and container developthe trend towards standardization iass-produced pallets would reduce as would the increasing use of able pallets of cardboard and fibre
. A wide range of pallet con
s was now available to turn wooden into cage pallets which could be with castors or stacking supports.
Ty Dates conclusion Mr. 1-Iyams instanced omings in the mechanical handling ry. Delivery dates were too long; was little available data to guide uyer, particularly on fork trucks; ;w smallor medium-sized firms had qualified to evaluate such equip The British Industrial Truck iation should lay down a standard ach for data presentation, he said. control is a vital aspect of wareig and NAWK have as honorary r Mr, F. J. Snowden, of Rentokil atones Ltd., Fast Grinstead. In ucing two films produced by kil dealing with the ravages of pests their control, Mr. Snowden !rated the services mailable. Con tract work could be arranged for the control of rats, mice, insect pests and birds. Weed control and fumigation was also undertaken and treatment against woodworm and dry rot.
Regarding control of birds such as pigeons and sparrows, Mr. Snowden said that the official attitude was that such control was acceptable if the premises were enclosed. Moreover, there was a change in public opinion as to the need for such control.
Taking the mystery out of computers was the approach taken by Mr, Gordon Milton, northern district manager, IBM -United Kingdom Ltd.. in introducing his paper, Basically the computer process was similar to the procedure adopted by a clerk in an office when processing work from in-tray to out-tray_ But the main difference was that a computer could read 30 to 40 times faster than a fast human reader, whilst 10,000 customers could be recorded on disc file as compared with the limitations of a clerk's memory and his customer ledger.
Recording speed of accounting, a computer could abstract balances of 3.000 customers, add and produce individual and control total figures in 90 seconds. Similarly, it could write much faster than a clerk-600 to 1,100 lines a minute.
Applying a computer to warehousing, Mr. Milton started with delivery documents accompanying goods entering the warehouse, These would be edited and checked in the normal way and the information then punched on to cards or paper tape and certified. Such information necessarily would include the customer reference number and name and address if a new customer were involved. Then would follow a description of the goods and the quantity.
The location of the goods as stored in the warehouse would also be recorded so that a picture of the whole warehouse in the form of slot numbers could be built up within the computer. The reverse would apply on drawing goods from store. The dates and cost of storage would then be fed into the computer.
In addition to punch cards. optical reading .by computer of magnetic ink characters was now possible and. Mr. Milton added, it would not be long before normal handwriting could be read.
Wholesalers in America and Germany, in addition to applying computers to their warehousing, also used them to prepare invoices for renters of space to pass on
to their customers. Mr. Milton also claimed that experience in applying a computer to vehicle scheduling had produced an improvement of 10 to 20 per cent in operational efficiency. Determining the best location for a warehouse could also be a function of a computer.
Automatic warehouses controlled by computers were already operating. although at present limited to smallor standard-sized goods. Prior to their wider application Mr. Milton saw no reason why semi-automatic warehousing should not be developed soon.
The cost of a computer system suitable for warehousing requirements would be about £79,000, he said. Small concerns could, however, share a computer system with theit information being inaccessible to any other party. Because of the speed of computers no problem should arise in handling multiple requirements, Although a more powerful computer would then be used, sharing would reduce the cost to £20.000.
Trade with Europe In the opening session on the final day of the conference on Thursday of last week, Sir Archibald Gordon, formerly HM commercial counsellor at Washington stressed the significance of Britain's trade with Europe. He maintained that the record of the Common Market was remarkable, with the gross national product up by 50 per cent compared with less than a third in the UK and USA.
The final talk, illustrated by films, was given by the chairman of NAWK, Mr. H. F. Marks, who presided throughout the conference. Whilst American warehousing methods were not vastly different to those in the UK, observation OD recent visits by members and himself had stressed that the contrast in size of countries was reflected in their industry. Warehouses of 400,000 sq. ft. 'were common in USA, whilst top order pickers were earning £70 a week.
Mr. Marks recommended members to make greater use of teleprinters in their work. Telephoned messages were liable to error and invariably required written confirmation, he said. Teleprinters were used extensively in the States by warehouse keepers in handling, for example. 2,000 tons of merchandise a night from one warehouse. Realizing the vital necessity of being able to contact the right man immediately in large American organizations when urgently required, bound dossiers were built up of new customers with full descriptions of all their staff and respective duties.
S. BUCKLEY ASSOC T