In the front-line sites of manufacturing and distribution industries, materials are continuously being moved from place to place and managed.

The work of automating these activities and making them more efficient is known as Material Handling (MH).

In recent years, corporate business has faced the challenge of applying MH and information technology (IT) to the systematic operation of factories and distribution centers.

MH has a market scale of almost 1 trillion yen (storage equipment, transportation machinery, peripheral machinery), and is only poorly recognized by society at large, in comparison to the importance of its role.

But in fact, logistics (including MH) constitute the very essence of corporate business, while MH also plays a vital role within supply chain management (SCM).

 

Against this background, the role of the Japan Institute of Material Handling (JIMH) is to strengthen the infrastructure of the MH industry and develop it further, in close collaboration with the public sector.

JIMH also contributes to improved productivity and better efficiency by bringing together system machinery and parts manufacturers with a strong grounding in the front line of logistics, thus positively addressing the needs of both society and industry.

 

JIMH undertakes activities under the key concepts of

① promoting IT, ② reducing environmental load, and ③ globalization.

These three elements are brought together in the following vision for the future shape of the industry.

The labor environment in the front line of distribution is going through some remarkable changes; for example, the workforce is shrinking due to population aging and declining birth rates, while front line operations are becoming increasing sophisticated and efficient in response to market needs.

With man-machine interfaces in mind, JIMH promotes the use of IT as well as RF-ID and other automatic identification technology in reducing work loads in the front line of distribution; it strives to provide systems that can respond flexibly to changes in the working population and the diversification of market needs. In future, JIMH also aims to research e-commerce markets, an area of astonishing growth recently, as a service to its members.

While various industries are striving to reduce environmental load and achieve a recycling-oriented society, efforts to care for the environment are also a matter of urgency for the MH industry.

Another major theme is to promote the diffusion of energy saving equipment, in response to government-sponsored measures to reduce CO2 emissions in distribution centers and commercial warehouses.

Thus, while drawing on the MH technology accumulated to date, JIMH would like to provide systems with emphasis on the environment and to propose various new solutions.

JIMH plans to engage in activities designed to diffuse MH systems on a global level. Initially, the focus will be on activities aimed at creating and expanding MH markets in China, India, East Asia and ASEAN.

To that end, we will work together with the public sector and related organizations as well as our member companies, based on the premise of free competition, to promote further technical innovation and standardization.

Meanwhile, we will also intensify exchanges with the countries of Asia and the rest of the world.

Date created: April 2010