UNEX Manufacturing Posts Second Consecutive Year of Record Growth

UNEX Manufacturing, Inc., the trusted industry leader in innovative order picking solutions, celebrates its second consecutive year of record business growth in 2017, adding dozens of new products and solution patents, major industry awards and global sales throughout North America, Central America, Europe and Asia. UNEX now employs over 100 people, making the company one of the largest employers in Ocean County in New Jersey.

“UNEX is a family owned and operated business since 1964, yet we have established ourselves as the worldwide leader in innovative order picking solutions that maximize space usage, increase pick rates and improve ergonomics at the point of pick,” said Brian C. Neuwirth, VP of Sales and Marketing, UNEX Manufacturing. “Our growth can be attributed to our hard-working people who work closely with clients to determine the best solutions we offer to improve processes and speed fulfillment. Another year of strong growth is a testament to our team’s dedication to serving our customers above and beyond their expectations.”

In 2017, UNEX was awarded several prestigious industry awards, including:

• 2018 Most Valuable Supplier Award from MHEDA for 3^rd consecutive year
• Food Logistics FL100+ for 3rd consecutive year
• SDCE 2017 Provider Pros to Know Award
• Food Logistics Top 100 Green Supply Chain Provider Awards
• Chosen as Finalist in New Jersey Manufacturing’s MJMEP 2017 Manufacturer of the Year Award
• SDCE Green Supply Chain Award for 3^rd consecutive
• UNEX President Named to Board of Directors for MHEFI

UNEX has invented dozens of products and solutions in response to customer needs, for which the company has been awarded patents. UNEX is the pioneer of Span-Track®, a universal flow track system that easily drops into any supporting frame or pallet rack. UNEX continues to define the current gravity conveyor marketplace with additional modules and features for Span-Track, making it one of the most durable, flexible, made-to-order picking solution available. UNEX Flow Cell®, Roller Rack®, Shelf Track®, Pallet Track®, Pick Shelves and Gravity Conveyor are made of durable steel materials that eliminate hang-ups on tracks and carry more weight and products than competitors. UNEX products speed throughput up to 150%, carry a 7-year warranty and increase space utilization by up to 50%.

One recent invention includes the UNEX Pick-Plank, a mechanical order picking device that affixes to a pallet and converts each pick slot from a static to a dynamic storage position, allowing all items on a pallet to be accessible from the aisle. It is suitable for case picking less than full pallet from a man aboard order picker, eliminating the need for the picker to have to reach or crawl into the storage position. UNEX Manufacturing introduced industrial carts recently as well, used to move materials, parts, boxes and components from one location to another within assembly operations. Carts are available with open shelving or racks to hold cartons or parts, improving picking operations and boosting productivity.

UNEX Manufacturing helps manufacturers and assemblers boost productivity, improve ergonomics, eliminate waste and maximize space with their lean, modular workstations. Our lineside storage solutions improve picking operations within assembly. When customization is high in an assembly operation, having the ability to store additional SKUs in the assembly area means pickers don’t have to travel to find the right part, speeding fulfillment rates. Efficiencies and productivity are increased as well.

 

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source http://www.unex.com/unex-manufacturing-record-growth/

UNEX Adds Sales Veteran as Western Regional Sales Manager

Lakewood, NJ – December 18, 2017 – UNEX Manufacturing, Inc., the trusted industry leader in providing innovative order picking solutions, announces sales veteran, Jerry Cabello, as the Western Regional Sales Manager. Jerry will be focused on strategic growth in the Western USA, Mexico and Latin America. Cabello has over a decade of experience in distributor and technical sales and customer service with proven success in increasing sales, both in the US and internationally.

In a strategic move, Chuck Doty will transition from UNEX Western Regional Sales Manager to become UNEX’s Span-Track® Product Manager. Doty has over 24 years working in UNEX sales and management functions. As Span-Track Product Manager, Chuck will provide engineering leadership for continuous development and growth of the Span-Track product line, working closely with engineering, sales, marketing and client support to ensure revenue and customer satisfaction goals are achieved.

“UNEX Manufacturing is pleased to add Jerry Cabello as our new Western Regional Sales Manager and to make Chuck Doty, a long-time UNEX employee, Product Manager of our patented Span-Track carton flow systems,” said Brian C. Neuwirth, VP of Marketing & Sales, UNEX Manufacturing. “Both bring years of expert experience in material handling and industrial product sales and support, with meticulous leadership skills for solving customers’ problems within their warehouses, distribution centers or assembly plants. With Chuck and Jerry in these management positions, our customers will gain faster fulfillment, increase productivity and lower costs with our innovative order picking solutions.”

Previously, Jerry Cabello worked as the Sales Manager for Bisco Industries, tasked with account management, sales and support within Latin America and European territory. Prior to that he was a Sales Engineer at I-Source Technical Services, Inc. where he was responsible for global accounts. He is a U.S. veteran and graduated from Fullerton College with an Associate’s Degree in Business Law and the University of Phoenix with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Management.

As Product Manager for Span-Track, Chuck Doty is responsible for defining the product strategy and roadmap for the complete Span-Track product line. Doty understands the material handling market – the key players, issues and challenges that customers face, and how to deploy UNEX systems to create successful implementations. He has decades of experience in the industry and has installed over 10,000 successful projects with UNEX.

UNEX Span-Track provides conveyor-like carton flow that doubles capacity. UNEX carton flow can be integrated into any structure, ranging from shelving to specialized pick modules. UNEX also designs and manufactures a full line of gravity conveyor products tailored to the order picking process. UNEX Flow Cells can be used as durable, modular and portable workstations for the manufacturing floor, boosting productivity and improving ergonomics.

 

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source http://www.unex.com/western-regional-sales-manager/

E-Commerce Order Picking in a Tight Labor Market

The results are in, and nearly half the industry now identifies the inability to attract and retain hourly workers as its top pain point. According to the 2017 Warehouse and Distribution Center (DC) Operations Survey, 49% of respondents said finding and keeping quality workers is their greatest challenge, up from 41% last year. Interestingly, 25% of respondents also cite lack of ability to find and retain quality supervisory staff as a challenge, a significant increase from the mere 11% who felt that way last year. The competition for good workers is stiff, and the demands of handling the growing number of small orders that e-commerce generates means the labor scramble is unlikely to abate any time soon. So, what to do?

As is often the case, it’s helpful to step back and take a look at the big picture from a different perspective. Let’s take another, broader look at the survey results:

The number two issue respondents identified is insufficient space, a problem for 40% (and last year’s number one complaint). Tied for third place (33%) is “outdated storage, picking, or material handling equipment.”

Are you starting to pick up on the possibility of an inverse relationship between labor and space?

When you have fewer workers on the line, it’s important to optimize the productivity of each individual worker in order to optimize the productivity of the overall process. Boosting worker productivity means eliminating operational inefficiencies, including wasted time, travel and effort, as well as mispicks and rework.  To cut idle time – anything that does not contribute to productively performing fulfillment tasks – the most logical way to start is by improving space utilization.

Why? Even if your warehouse happened to have unlimited space available for storage and staging (a thing that will never, ever happen), worker speed and accuracy would still depend on proper storage, picking, packing and shipping patterns. Giving workers easy, ergonomic access to inventory, along with visual item confirmation, helps them pick orders quickly and correctly. In the same way, proper inventory location, storage and retrieval processes optimize flow rates by improving proximity and accelerating lineside replenishment.

UNEX designs flexible, agile picking solutions that help you balance your workspace to your labor pool to optimize your capacity and productivity. As the industry leader, UNEX provides innovative education and equipment tailored to meet your unique e-commerce fulfillment challenges.

UNEX Manufacturing helps e-commerce businesses get their warehouses and distribution processes ready for increased demand from online orders, especially during the holidays. As the Pickability experts, UNEX brings order picking solutions to your business to speed fulfillment and improve storage usability.

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source http://www.unex.com/e-commerce-order-picking/

UNEX Wins Green Supply Chain Award For Third Consecutive Year

UNEX Manufacturing, Inc., the trusted industry leader in providing innovative order picking solutions, announces that the company has won the Supply & Demand Chain Executive Green Supply Chain Award for 2017. UNEX was selected for providing clients with cost-effective, flexible solutions that help their distribution operations meet green initiatives while keeping products flowing through fulfillment. Implementing environmentally friendly equipment can include no-noise, non-powered products, which lack any use of electricity, thus saving energy costs.

“Using green supply chain technologies within distribution operations helps to lower energy costs and decrease the carbon footprint to address consumer concerns about sustainability, while saving costs,” said Brian C. Neuwirth, VP Sales and Marketing, UNEX Manufacturing. “UNEX solutions utilize gravity to keep products flowing and add zero emissions to an operation’s carbon footprint. We also help companies optimize space in their freezer areas to keep their energy consumption and emissions minimized. We are pleased to be given this prestigious award for the third consecutive year.”

“Honorees for this year’s award demonstrate that corporate social responsibility is a business imperative that transcends the company and extends throughout the supply chain, involving suppliers and customers,” says John R. Yuva, editor for Supply & Demand Chain Executive. “The number of entries only increase year over year, demonstrating how critical sustainability initiatives are within companies.”

The Green Supply Chain Award recognizes companies making green or sustainability a core part of their supply chain strategy, and are working to achieve measurable sustainability goals within their own operations and supply chains. The awards also recognize providers of supply chain solutions and services assisting their customers in achieving measurable sustainability goals.

UNEX clients can double productivity, improve ergonomics and gain a quick return on investment while improving visibility and accessibility at pick points. Flexible racks, creative aisle designs and flexible carton flow options maximize space for new and existing SKUs and ensure reliable product flow. Clients better utilize existing space by using the best storage medium for each product; some clients have eliminated entire pick lines while others have been able to take on a 50% increase in volume. UNEX boosts storage capacity and accessibility to storage areas, allowing companies to keep their same footprint, which reduces energy consumption.

“We congratulate this year’s honorees for their commitment to sustainability and recognize their tremendous achievements,” Yuva adds. “Our honorees serve as role models for supply chains globally to expand their CSR reach and impact.”

About Supply & Demand Chain Executive

Supply & Demand Chain Executive is the executive’s user manual for successful supply and demand chain transformation, utilizing hard-hitting analysis, viewpoints, and unbiased case studies to steer executives and supply management professionals through the complicated, yet critical, world of supply and demand chain enablement to gain competitive advantage.

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source http://www.unex.com/unex-green-supply-chain-3rd-year/

UNEX Wins Most Valuable Supplier Award

UNEX Manufacturing, Inc., the trusted industry leader in providing innovative order picking solutions, announces the company has earned the prestigious Most Valuable Supplier Award for 2018 from the Material Handling Equipment Distributors Association (MHEDA) for the third consecutive year.

To qualify for the Most Valuable Supplier Award, UNEX was required to meet a series of criteria in a number of areas important to the distributor companies who do business with them.  In addition to confirming an on-going commitment to safety and documenting a program that “gives back,” MVS Award winners have demonstrated an overall commitment to business excellence by documenting programs in the following areas:

• Industry Advocacy
• Distributor Advocacy
• Business Networking
• Continuing Education
• Business Best Practices

“UNEX is very pleased to once again win the Most Valuable Supplier Award from MHEDA for demonstrating our commitment to our dealer network, employees and community,” said Brian C. Neuwirth, VP of Sales and Marketing at UNEX Manufacturing. “This win is based on the hard work of the UNEX employees who assist our distributors and clients with the highest integrity, superior services and innovative solutions for improved order picking speeds and space utilization.”

“MHEDA’s Most Valuable Supplier Award winners represent a commitment to excellence in managing their business and in providing outstanding support to the distributor,” said Buddy Smith, MHEDA’s 2017 Chairman of the Board and CEO of CMH Services in Columbia, SC.  “MHEDA is proud of all the MVS winners.”

UNEX Manufacturing offers a full range of order picking solutions, including the patented carton flow solution Span-Track, which provides conveyor-like carton flow that doubles capacity. UNEX carton flow can be integrated into any structure, ranging from shelving to specialized pick modules. UNEX also designs and manufactures a full line of gravity conveyor products tailored to the order picking process. UNEX Flow Cells can be used as durable, modular and portable workstations for the manufacturing floor, boosting productivity and improving ergonomics.

About MHEDA
The Material Handling Equipment Distributors Association (MHEDA) is the only national trade association dedicated solely to improving the proficiency of the independent material handling distributor.  MHEDA represents close 650 companies in the material handling equipment business.  Located in suburban Chicago, the association provides services to companies seeking to improve their business through education, networking, benchmarking and best practices.  For more information, visit www.mheda.org.

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source http://www.unex.com/most-valuable-supplier-award-unex/

Thanksgiving Retail Sets Records

Retailers are pleased with consumer shopping so far this holiday season, with many achieving record breaking numbers for sales and order quantities.  The strong start strengthens predictions that this holiday season will generate over $6.6 billion in sales on Cyber Monday and e-commerce sales will rise by 16.6 percent.

Plus, many retailers are extending their traditional “Black Friday” discounts to other times than the Friday after Thanksgiving. Many retailers started discounting products earlier in November.

Some other interesting stats from the Thanksgiving retail spree:

• Orders exceeded 10,000 a minute on Black Friday—far surpassing the 2,800 orders per minute during the Thanksgiving holiday at its peak, according to Shopify. Shoppers purchased more than 600,000 apparel items, 360,000 accessories and 210,000 houseware products from Shopify merchants in a single day.
• Consumers spent more than $5 billion on Black Friday, 16.9% more than on that day in 2016, and a new record, according to Adobe Analytics.
• ICSC reported that retailers with a brick-and-mortar presence captured 75% of all spending over the Thanksgiving retail holiday.
• Thanksgiving Day online sales reached $2.87 billion.
• 42% of Black Friday orders were placed via mobile devices.
• Brick-and-mortar stores were visited by 145 million adults spending an average of $377.50.
• Big box retailers are impacting sales of niche, vertical retailers as consumers choose one-stop shopping over visiting multiple stores.
• Many retailers have pared down inventory levels for the holiday season resulting in less of a need to discount items.

With the rise in retail sales, warehouses have had to increase staff and streamline processes to keep up with orders. As more and more consumers order online, seasonal workers have been part of a hiring frenzy at warehouses around the country. Amazon said it would hire 120,000 seasonal workers in over 30 states this year.

To improve efficiencies and speed fulfillment, warehouse management should focus on improving order picking operations with carton flow and pallet flow solutions from UNEX Manufacturing. UNEX picking solutions come in a variety of configurations – from slanted shelves to roller racks – speeding the picking operation exponentially so that orders can be fulfilled on time. UNEX solutions are customizable, easy-to-build, movable and sturdy enough to support heavy weights.R

Need help keeping up with the holiday order fulfillment pace? Call your Pickability experts today – UNEX Manufacturing – and we’ll help you get orders from the warehouse to the doorstep.

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source http://www.unex.com/thanksgiving-retail-sets-records/

UNEX President Named to Board of Directors for MHEFI

UNEX Manufacturing, Inc., the trusted industry leader in providing innovative order picking solutions, announces that company president, Brian Neuwirth, has been appointed to the Board of Directors for the Material Handling Education Foundation, Inc. (MHEFI). Brian has been elected to serve as Vice President of the Board.

“UNEX has been very active in workforce development because there is a growing need for talent in the material handling industry,” said Brian Neuwirth, President of UNEX Manufacturing. “We have been supporting MHEFI, the New Jersey Manufacturing Extension Program (NJMEP) and other organizations with academic scholarships and equipment donations for years. I am honored to take this position on the Board to help promote this beneficial organization and to continue promoting the material handling industry to the leaders of tomorrow.”

The Material Handling Education Foundation offers scholarship award opportunities to students committed to studying material handling, supply chain and logistics during the 2017/2018 academic year. Scholarship awards range from $1,500 to $9,000.

Brian Neuwirth and the others elected with start their term on January 1, 2018. UNEX Manufacturing is a family owned business and trusted industry leader in innovative order picking solutions that maximize space usage, increase pick rates and improve ergonomics at the point of pick.

The Material Handling Education Foundation, Inc. is an independent charitable organization that was established in 1976 with a mission to promote the study of material handling, logistics and supply chains by exposing students and educators to the industry through financial support. Since 1976, more than $2.5 million in scholarships and grants have been awarded to students at colleges and universities located in the United States and Canada.

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source http://www.unex.com/brian-neuwirth-board-directors-mhefi/