MATERIAL HANDLING ACADEMY

Part I. Lesson 1. The Profession.

DRIVING QUESTION Whose problem am I actually here to solve?
PART I | LESSON 1: THE PROFESSION

The Call

VOICEMAIL | DANA MERRILL, RIVERSIDE DISTRIBUTION CO.

"Hi, my name is Dana Merrill. I am the Director of Engineering and Technical Operations at Riverside Distribution Co. We are a third-party logistics provider out of the mid-Atlantic region. We have a real problem with our outbound operation and I have been told your firm knows conveyor systems. I would like to set up a meeting. Please call me back at your earliest convenience."

PART I | LESSON 1: THE PROFESSION

The Players

PART I | LESSON 1: THE PROFESSION

The Job

Analyze. Communicate. Design. Defend.

A solutions professional analyzes the operation, communicates with the people who run it, designs a system that fits, and defends every decision in that design.

PART I | LESSON 1: THE PROFESSION

The Standard

"The right answer is the minimum system that solves the real problem cleanly."

"Riverside doesn't need the most complex sorter on the market. Riverside needs its misdirects to stop and its dock to stop choking during a wave release."

PART I | LESSON 1: THE PROFESSION

Where You Fit

WHYCustomers buy judgment, not steel. Anyone can read them the catalog. They pay you to know which page to turn to and which to skip.
WHENYou're the first technical person in the room. Discovery is yours before anyone draws a line or prices a part.
WHEREBetween the customer's problem and every downstream trade: controls, install, maintenance, finance. Each of them works from your calls.
NOT WHENYou're taking the order as written. If the customer names the product and you just quote it back, they didn't need you in the room.
FAILURE IF IGNOREDTwo systems have already died on Riverside's floor. You'll see what killed both of them before this program is done.
PART I | LESSON 1: THE PROFESSION
STOP AND THINK

Dana used the word conveyor exactly once, and only to say what she heard our firm sells. She never said she needs one. Read her message again and write down what she actually described. Every item on your list is a symptom. Not one of them is a machine.

PART I | LESSON 1: THE PROFESSION

The MHA Way

  1. The customer is usually describing symptoms. Find the problem.
  2. Products don't care about catalogs. They obey physics.
  3. Flow comes before equipment.
  4. Draw before you specify. The drawing is the plan.
  5. Simple solutions are harder to design.
  6. If you can't explain it, don't propose it.
  7. Think like the package. Then think like the person running it.
  8. Calculators are step five, not step one.
  9. Document it now. Future you is a different engineer.
PART I | LESSON 1: THE PROFESSION

Riverside

RIVERSIDE PROJECT

Before you call Dana back, write down the one question you most need answered first. Just one.

Next: How does a warehouse actually work?