The blue lift truck moves methodically, picking up pallets of beverage boxes and loading them into a
makeshift truck trailer, two at a time.

"It can work around the clock, and there's no labor," said Jonathan Ball, senior vice president of the Jervis
B. Webb Co., which is demonstrating its new automated guided vehicle at an industrial show at the

International Exposition Center this week.

 

In the real world, the vehicle, dubbed SmartLoader, could be loading trucks at a beverage warehouse,
Ball said.

 

The robotic vehicle is the newest product for the Farmington Hills, Mich., company that has been making
conveyor systems and other material-handling equipment since the days of Henry Ford, one of its first

customers.

 

Ball said Webb, a private firm with newly acquired operations in Warrensville Heights, posted a 20 percent
sales increase last year, nearly mirroring the material-handling industry's 22 percent growth in new

orders. In 2004, the industry had sales totaling $125.8 billion.

 

Industry officials said the outlook continues to be positive as factories and warehouses move to cut
handling costs and run their operations more efficiently.

 

"Ever since 2003, the industry has been growing handsomely," said John Nofsinger, chief executive
officer of the Material Handling Industry of America. The Charlotte, N.C.-based trade association, with 700

member firms, is hosting the 2006 Material Handling and Logistics Show and Conference that runs

through Thursday.

 

Up to 20,000 visitors will see some of the industry's latest products and technologies. The total of 475
exhibitors is up 19 percent from two years ago, when the event was last held in Cleveland.

 

Nofsinger said the industry is in its fourth year of recovery. Orders for material-handling equipment fell
sharply in 2001 and 2002, a cyclical decline that was accelerated by the uncertainties following the 9/11

attacks. However, orders rose 30 percent in 2004 and 22 percent in 2005.

 

This surge in spending has been helped by strong corporate profits and tax incentives that allowed firms
to write off capital expenses more quickly, said Richard DeKaser, chief economist at National City Bank in

Cleveland. He also cited low interest rates and rising factory utilization rates. The nation's factories are

operating at 81 percent of capacity, versus 74 percent at the end of 2001, he said.

 

Nofsinger said some of this growth reflects a restructuring of manufacturing as more manufacturers spun
off the warehousing side of their business to firms that specialize in storage and distribution.

 

Unmanned or not, the devices all aim to make warehouses and factories more productive and safer.
Some equipment, hanging from above, helps workers lift heavy loads.

 

Other machines are designed to fit into smaller spaces, making better use of floor space. Hyster and Yale,
two lift-truck makers that are owned by Nacco Industries Inc. in Mayfield Heights, now offer models - still

driven by people - designed to operate in very narrow aisles with front forks able to rotate left or right.

Along with Nacco, more than 50 companies from Ohio had displays at the show.

In the show's biggest display, a rail-mounted linear transfer cart whizzes pallets back and forth at 20 miles
per hour, double the speed of conveyor systems, said Richard Young, director of technology at Celerity

Automation Inc. in Paintsville, Ky. The system borrows from the same linear motor technology that powers

amusement park rides such as the Wicked Twister at Cedar Point in Sandusky.

 

Material-handling sales also are being spurred by increased security measures at airports and the need to
integrate new tracking technologies such as radio frequency identification, or RFID. RFID technology,

which once was limited to keeping track of large objects such as rail cars, is now increasingly used to

track pallets and even individual items such as a bottle of aspirin or a disposable razor. Suppliers are

under pressure from large chains such as Wal-Mart and Target to adopt the technology, and prices are

coming down, Nofsinger said.

 

"It's starting to take hold," said Daniel Seger III, global OEM technical consultant for Rockwell Automation's
automation control and information group in Mayfield Heights.

 

At the show, Rockwell is demonstrating a conveyor system that includes a device that reads RFID tags on
each of six items inside a box. The reader is an example of integrating the new tracking technology with

Rockwell's traditional automation controls. Looking ahead, officials see continued growth for the material

handling industry, despite the loss of manufacturing jobs to offshore producers, rising interest rates and

the ending of those special investment incentives in 2004 .

 

"We still are consuming more as a nation, and whether it's made here or someplace else, it still has to be
received and distributed throughout the country," Nofsinger said.

© 2006 cleveland.com All Rights Reserved.