Contributing Editor Toby Gooley is a writer and editor specializing in supply chain, logistics, and material handling, and a lecturer at MIT's Center for Transportation & Logistics. She previously was Senior Editor at DC VELOCITY and Editor of DCV's sister publication, CSCMP's Supply Chain Quarterly. Prior to joining AGiLE Business Media in 2007, she spent 20 years at Logistics Management magazine as Managing Editor and Senior Editor covering international trade and transportation. Prior to that she was an export traffic manager for 10 years. She holds a B.A. in Asian Studies from Cornell University.
Forget the old adage "silence is golden." If you want something changed, you need to speak up.
No doubt you've heard that sterling advice from parents, teachers, managers, and mentors. Now, you can add lift truck makers to that list. The designers and manufacturers of forklifts, reach trucks, and similar equipment genuinely want to hear your thoughts on how they could improve their products.
This is not just another feel-good "we listen to our customers" marketing tactic. They're soliciting feedback with some very specific goals in mind. For one thing, they're looking for information that will help them design products that are safer and more efficient. They're also hoping, of course, to boost sales.
Here's a look at how truck manufacturers collect information from users, what they do with it, and how they translate it into new and better equipment.
Inside the customer's mind
Lift truck makers employ a number of techniques to find out what their customers think of their products. Although each manufacturer's combination of methods is unique, they typically rely on the following four approaches to solicit feedback:
Customer surveys. All of the manufacturers we talked to use surveys to collect routine information. In some instances, it's a multistep process. That's the case at Cat Lift Trucks, which is part of Mitsubishi Caterpillar Forklift America Inc. Shortly after a truck is delivered, the manufacturer and dealer check in with the customer to ask about the delivery experience and the truck's condition upon arrival. Several months later, they conduct a follow-up survey, this time asking about the truck's performance.
"Voice of the Customer" research. A common tool is the Voice of the Customer (VOC), a complex research methodology that, in very simplified terms, involves cross-functional interview teams asking customers about their experiences and their needs. The method also prescribes ways to analyze and make use of the detailed information that is gathered. "Voice of the Customer doesn't always lead to a particular [equipment] feature," notes Fred Mallett, director of new product programs at Cat Lift Trucks. "Rather, it identifies a need the customer has that requires a solution."
On-site research. Lift truck makers consider field observation to be indispensable. For example, NACCO Materials Handling Group Inc., maker of the Yale and Hyster brand lift trucks, collects nearly all of its customer feedback via on-site visits or face-to-face meetings. Since last year, in fact, NACCO has employed full-time field product managers whose sole mission is to "capture the Voice of the Customer information and future product possibilities," says Jonathan Dawley, vice president, marketing.
Crown Equipment Corp. takes it a step further, sending specialists out to the customer's site for extended observation. "We do a lot of ethnographic research, which is also called 'ethnographic shadowing,'" says Mike Gallagher, vice president, design. "It's not doing surveys or focus groups; it's actually living with the user of the product. Designers and engineers work for a week or two in their operations to really understand their operational culture and how they actually work."
Toyota Material Handling U.S.A. (TMHU) also relies heavily on field research to obtain customer feedback. A year or so after a new model launch, product managers and engineers visit customers to get their assessment of the new model's performance. Then, prior to launching the next new product, TMHU visits again to confirm that the previous survey's findings are still valid and to identify any new issues that may have arisen. In the final step, selected customers test prototype forklifts that were hand-built in Japan. "We let them use the truck, and we gather their feedback. It's a last effort to weed out any potential issues before the truck rolls down the production line," says Martin Boyd, vice president of product planning and marketing.
Collateral research. Sometimes getting user feedback requires looking outside the immediate circle of customers and employees. The Raymond Corp., for example, also polls material handling consultants and suppliers of batteries and other collateral equipment, and sends its researchers to industry conferences to learn what buyers are interested in, says Susan Comfort, product manager, marketing, narrow-aisle products. They don't just talk to existing customers, either. "We look at sales [to try to identify] trends in configurations as well as lost orders. Why did someone choose a different path? We try to get to the root of the situation and learn from it," she says.
You asked for it, you got it!
What kinds of questions do lift truck manufacturers ask users? A few examples include: What do you like and not like about this truck? When using the truck, are there any activities you find to be uncomfortable, unnecessarily complicated, or overly time consuming? What trends do you see in your business that might require you to handle goods in a different way in the future, and that this truck might not accommodate? If you could redesign this lift truck, what would you change?
The answers to these and other questions often lead to design changes and even totally new products that improve efficiency, safety, accuracy, and driver comfort. For instance, narrow-aisle reach truck operators told Cat Lift Trucks that they couldn't always tell whether the fork tips high above their heads were level, which was hampering their operations. Cat responded by adding a sensor that determines when the forks are level and switches on a red light mounted on the head guard. Operators can easily see the light when they look up at the forks.
In another case, workers in cold storage facilities complained to the Raymond Corp. that they were losing productivity because of a pallet truck's safety feature. The trucks have an emergency reversing button that shuts the vehicle down when it hits something—including the strip curtains used in refrigerated facilities. After hearing their concerns, Raymond modified the truck to allow operators to temporarily disengage the button by activating the horn when driving through strip curtains.
Both safety and comfort were a concern for a group of operators whose jobs often require them to drive backward. Not only did they dislike having to twist their bodies to gain better visibility, but they also worried about having to take their hands off the safety handle in order to honk the horn. Toyota Material Handling U.S.A. solved that problem by designing a swivel seat that allows the back end to swing a specified degree but keeps the driver's feet in the same position relative to the pedals. A safety handle with an integrated horn button, mounted on the right back overhead guard pillar, lets operators hold on and honk without letting go or having to twist frontward.
Safety was also the issue in a number of retailers' storerooms, where personnel were concocting all kinds of hazardous ways to carry cartons up and down ladders. After hearing about the problem, Crown Equipment Corp. designed a unique, self-propelled "lift truck without forks" for use in congested stockrooms. Called the Wave, the vehicle allows an operator to safely grab a carton off a shelf and slide it onto a load tray, lower it, and deliver it to its destination.
Lift truck users don't always ask manufacturers to add features. Sometimes, they ask for features to be removed. For instance, when some customers told NACCO Materials Handling Group that they liked a new line of premium internal combustion forklifts but they didn't need and couldn't afford all of the pricey amenities, the manufacturer developed a stripped-down version that offers the most important features at a more affordable price.
Tell them what you really think
While lift truck manufacturers say they take customer opinions seriously, it's important to note that you can't always draw a straight line from customers' suggestions to a particular product feature. Instead, says Mallett of Cat Lift Trucks, the manufacturers think in terms of identifying a need or problem that requires a solution. Or, as Crown's Gallagher puts it, their aim in asking for customers' input "is not just to design and engineer a great product, but also to design and engineer a great experience."
So the next time a lift truck dealer or manufacturer asks you to participate in a survey or host a site visit, say yes. Although these visits can be time-consuming, you'll likely find it's well worth your time. Give them your honest opinion about their products and tell them what you'd like to see. The resulting improvements—in product efficiency, safety, accuracy, and quality—will not only result in a better product for all users but could also directly benefit your own operation.
From data to design
Once lift truck makers have collected customer opinion data, what do they do with it? Although the protocols vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, their procedures still tend to have a lot in common.
At virtually every manufacturer, for instance, analyzing the data is a cross-functional exercise. A case in point is Cat Lift Trucks' New Product Programs office, where certified project management professionals lead teams that include sales, engineering, quality, service engineering, procurement, and manufacturing. "Everybody who has a stake in that vehicle at some point in its lifecycle is involved in the transition to a new product," says Director Fred Mallett. Some companies, such as NACCO, also bring their supply chain managers and component suppliers into the process.
For manufacturers that follow what's known as the Voice of the Customer research protocol, "brainstorming" is an important part of the analytical process. In this case, "brainstorming" means looking at verbatim comments from customers—often on Post-It notes stuck to the wall—and grouping them by such characteristics as source (operator, maintenance, shift supervisor, etc.) and theme (comfort, safety, maintenance, visibility, etc.). This makes it easier to identify recurring issues and possible solutions.
An adjunct to the Voice of the Customer process is Quality Function Deployment, a methodology for identifying customers' needs and systematically interpreting them for use by the design, development, engineering, manufacturing, and service functions. "It allows us to take Voice of the Customer data and prioritize it through cross-functional evaluations that assign numerical values to that information. We can then translate customer needs into the design characteristics we would accomplish most successfully," explains Susan Comfort, product manager, marketing, narrow-aisle products for The Raymond Corp.
The key word here is "successfully." Not every customer request makes it to the drawing board. On a major redesign, all of the functions work together to determine which requests are marketable and which are too expensive for the market to bear, says Martin Boyd, vice president of product planning and marketing for Toyota Material Handling U.S.A. Competitors' actions and the likely impact of design changes on market share also influence the final decision, he says.
The time it takes from data collection until a new (or modified) product rolls off the assembly line varies. Urgent upgrades may be completed in a matter of weeks, but most component upgrades take from three months to two years, according to Jonathan Dawley, vice president, marketing for NACCO Materials Handling Group Inc. The product lifecycle for a completely new model, including field testing of prototypes, is two or three years for most manufacturers. NACCO, however, is currently working on shortening the time to market for new models while improving delivered quality, he says.
A move by federal regulators to reinforce requirements for broker transparency in freight transactions is stirring debate among transportation groups, after the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) published a “notice of proposed rulemaking” this week.
According to FMCSA, its draft rule would strive to make broker transparency more common, requiring greater sharing of the material information necessary for transportation industry parties to make informed business decisions and to support the efficient resolution of disputes.
The proposed rule titled “Transparency in Property Broker Transactions” would address what FMCSA calls the lack of access to information among shippers and motor carriers that can impact the fairness and efficiency of the transportation system, and would reframe broker transparency as a regulatory duty imposed on brokers, with the goal of deterring non-compliance. Specifically, the move would require brokers to keep electronic records, and require brokers to provide transaction records to motor carriers and shippers upon request and within 48 hours of that request.
Under federal regulatory processes, public comments on the move are due by January 21, 2025. However, transportation groups are not waiting on the sidelines to voice their opinions.
According to the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), an industry group representing the third-party logistics (3PL) industry, the potential rule is “misguided overreach” that fails to address the more pressing issue of freight fraud. In TIA’s view, broker transparency regulation is “obsolete and un-American,” and has no place in today’s “highly transparent” marketplace. “This proposal represents a misguided focus on outdated and unnecessary regulations rather than tackling issues that genuinely threaten the safety and efficiency of our nation’s supply chains,” TIA said.
But trucker trade group the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) welcomed the proposed rule, which it said would ensure that brokers finally play by the rules. “We appreciate that FMCSA incorporated input from our petition, including a requirement to make records available electronically and emphasizing that brokers have a duty to comply with regulations. As FMCSA noted, broker transparency is necessary for a fair, efficient transportation system, and is especially important to help carriers defend themselves against alleged claims on a shipment,” OOIDA President Todd Spencer said in a statement.
Additional pushback came from the Small Business in Transportation Coalition (SBTC), a network of transportation professionals in small business, which said the potential rule didn’t go far enough. “This is too little too late and is disappointing. It preserves the status quo, which caters to Big Broker & TIA. There is no question now that FMCSA has been captured by Big Broker. Truckers and carriers must now come out in droves and file comments in full force against this starting tomorrow,” SBTC executive director James Lamb said in a LinkedIn post.
The “series B” funding round was financed by an unnamed “strategic customer” as well as Teradyne Robotics Ventures, Toyota Ventures, Ranpak, Third Kind Venture Capital, One Madison Group, Hyperplane, Catapult Ventures, and others.
The fresh backing comes as Massachusetts-based Pickle reported a spate of third quarter orders, saying that six customers placed orders for over 30 production robots to deploy in the first half of 2025. The new orders include pilot conversions, existing customer expansions, and new customer adoption.
“Pickle is hitting its strides delivering innovation, development, commercial traction, and customer satisfaction. The company is building groundbreaking technology while executing on essential recurring parts of a successful business like field service and manufacturing management,” Omar Asali, Pickle board member and CEO of investor Ranpak, said in a release.
According to Pickle, its truck-unloading robot applies “Physical AI” technology to one of the most labor-intensive, physically demanding, and highest turnover work areas in logistics operations. The platform combines a powerful vision system with generative AI foundation models trained on millions of data points from real logistics and warehouse operations that enable Pickle’s robotic hardware platform to perform physical work at human-scale or better, the company says.
Bloomington, Indiana-based FTR said its Trucking Conditions Index declined in September to -2.47 from -1.39 in August as weakness in the principal freight dynamics – freight rates, utilization, and volume – offset lower fuel costs and slightly less unfavorable financing costs.
Those negative numbers are nothing new—the TCI has been positive only twice – in May and June of this year – since April 2022, but the group’s current forecast still envisions consistently positive readings through at least a two-year forecast horizon.
“Aside from a near-term boost mostly related to falling diesel prices, we have not changed our Trucking Conditions Index forecast significantly in the wake of the election,” Avery Vise, FTR’s vice president of trucking, said in a release. “The outlook continues to be more favorable for carriers than what they have experienced for well over two years. Our analysis indicates gradual but steadily rising capacity utilization leading to stronger freight rates in 2025.”
But FTR said its forecast remains unchanged. “Just like everyone else, we’ll be watching closely to see exactly what trade and other economic policies are implemented and over what time frame. Some freight disruptions are likely due to tariffs and other factors, but it is not yet clear that those actions will do more than shift the timing of activity,” Vise said.
The TCI tracks the changes representing five major conditions in the U.S. truck market: freight volumes, freight rates, fleet capacity, fuel prices, and financing costs. Combined into a single index indicating the industry’s overall health, a positive score represents good, optimistic conditions while a negative score shows the inverse.
Specifically, the new global average robot density has reached a record 162 units per 10,000 employees in 2023, which is more than double the mark of 74 units measured seven years ago.
Broken into geographical regions, the European Union has a robot density of 219 units per 10,000 employees, an increase of 5.2%, with Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Slovenia in the global top ten. Next, North America’s robot density is 197 units per 10,000 employees – up 4.2%. And Asia has a robot density of 182 units per 10,000 persons employed in manufacturing - an increase of 7.6%. The economies of Korea, Singapore, mainland China and Japan are among the top ten most automated countries.
Broken into individual countries, the U.S. ranked in 10th place in 2023, with a robot density of 295 units. Higher up on the list, the top five are:
The Republic of Korea, with 1,012 robot units, showing a 5% increase on average each year since 2018 thanks to its strong electronics and automotive industries.
Singapore had 770 robot units, in part because it is a small country with a very low number of employees in the manufacturing industry, so it can reach a high robot density with a relatively small operational stock.
China took third place in 2023, surpassing Germany and Japan with a mark of 470 robot units as the nation has managed to double its robot density within four years.
Germany ranks fourth with 429 robot units for a 5% CAGR since 2018.
Japan is in fifth place with 419 robot units, showing growth of 7% on average each year from 2018 to 2023.
Progress in generative AI (GenAI) is poised to impact business procurement processes through advancements in three areas—agentic reasoning, multimodality, and AI agents—according to Gartner Inc.
Those functions will redefine how procurement operates and significantly impact the agendas of chief procurement officers (CPOs). And 72% of procurement leaders are already prioritizing the integration of GenAI into their strategies, thus highlighting the recognition of its potential to drive significant improvements in efficiency and effectiveness, Gartner found in a survey conducted in July, 2024, with 258 global respondents.
Gartner defined the new functions as follows:
Agentic reasoning in GenAI allows for advanced decision-making processes that mimic human-like cognition. This capability will enable procurement functions to leverage GenAI to analyze complex scenarios and make informed decisions with greater accuracy and speed.
Multimodality refers to the ability of GenAI to process and integrate multiple forms of data, such as text, images, and audio. This will make GenAI more intuitively consumable to users and enhance procurement's ability to gather and analyze diverse information sources, leading to more comprehensive insights and better-informed strategies.
AI agents are autonomous systems that can perform tasks and make decisions on behalf of human operators. In procurement, these agents will automate procurement tasks and activities, freeing up human resources to focus on strategic initiatives, complex problem-solving and edge cases.
As CPOs look to maximize the value of GenAI in procurement, the study recommended three starting points: double down on data governance, develop and incorporate privacy standards into contracts, and increase procurement thresholds.
“These advancements will usher procurement into an era where the distance between ideas, insights, and actions will shorten rapidly,” Ryan Polk, senior director analyst in Gartner’s Supply Chain practice, said in a release. "Procurement leaders who build their foundation now through a focus on data quality, privacy and risk management have the potential to reap new levels of productivity and strategic value from the technology."