Denise Rosenau

Material Handling Myths, Monsters & Secrets

by

In my time in direct sales, I have uncovered 2 simple truths. The first one, I had to learn. The second is a truth that I’d like my customers to learn.

First and foremost though, project sales is harder than it looks. And by hard, I mean time consuming. Don’t get me wrong, the lead opportunities are great at SJF. There’s no shortage of customer interest & quote requests. Whether it’s by phone or email, when I do speak with customers they don’t always know how to put into words what they envision in their minds. The back and forth translation of needs & wants takes a lot of time. There are days where I feel like a child on an Easter egg hunt with an eye patch and a broken hip. It’s not that we don’t have the equipment, (we have loads of equipment!) it’s just that with used equipment, having the exact material at the exact time a customer needs it can be a challenge.

Read more

Featured Client: Modern Molding

by
Custom Blue Pallet Racking

Modern Molding, Inc. (MMI) of Delano, Minnesota, provides custom-made thermoplastic injection molded parts to the worldwide market with complete solutions for engineers, project managers, and purchasing agents. With unsurpassed technical support, Modern Molding helps manufacturers and engineers find the right solutions for any injection molding or tooling need.

Read more

Featured Client: Tetra Pak

by
Vertical Carousels

Tetra Pak is a multinational food packaging and food processing company of Swedish origin. Operating in more than 170 countries and with over 22,000 employees, Tetra Pak is currently the largest food packaging company in the world (measured in sales). The companies head offices are in Lund, Sweden and Lausanne, Switzerland.

Tetra Pak offers packaging solutions including  filling machines and processing solutions for dairy, beverages, cheese, ice-cream and prepared food.It’s products line include accumulators, cap applicators, conveyors, crate packers, film wrappers, line controllers, straw applicators and more.

Tetra Pak currently has 2 divisions in Winsted, MN. where they manufacture equipment for the company’s food processing operations. SJF has worked closely with Tetra Pak from it’s early days in the Winsted area. Over the years SJF has provided Tetra Pak with a wide range of equipment ranging from static cantilever & pallet racking to automated carousels, controls & automation software.

Read more

The Great SJF Chili Cook-Off (November 2012)

by
Chili

The SJF chili competition was a big success!  We had three entrants this time around.  Lori Foster brought a red chili made with mostly home-grown ingredients.  Vance Haugen entered a delicious red chili, and Craig Fasching brought another small pot of excellent red.  Kent Powell brought home-made corn bread to compliment all of the entries.  ‘Fixins were provided by SJF.

Vance
The Triumphant Winner

After all of the chili was tasted, the final vote count was as follows:

Vance Haugen: 9
Lori Foster: 4
Craig Fasching: 3

Making Vance the winner (…this time).

Congratulations Vance.

An Addendum: There were to be four entries in the contest this year, however one of the entries made it only as far as the front door of SJF.  A certain owner of the company (his first name rhymes with Tank) forgot about the tupperware bowl full of chili in his briefcase.  As he entered the building, briefcase in hand, he wondered aloud what smelled like chili before realizing that it was the entire contents of his bag.

Top 5 Buying Secrets Industry Insiders Don’t Want You To Know

by

The material handling industry, as discussed in this article, represents a whopping 50-billion dollar/year business in the U.S. alone. Even so, very few people know everything necessary to make optimal buying decisions. Some people in the industry like it this way, but in this article, I’ll reveal some of the secrets these dealers don’t want you to know. I have been in this industry for over 30 years and I have learned many things that I think you, the customer, ought to know. Though I wont tell you what decision to make, I’ll give you the tools to make the right decision.

Read more

DJ Products – Ergonomic Material Handling

by

I’d like to take a minute to introduce readers of this blog to a friend of mine in the blogosphere and a fellow Minnesota material handling company.  DJ Products is a Minnesota based ergonomic material handling products company whose line of motorized carts is well known in many industries.  They offer a full line of push carts, a power mover, a tugger, a trailer mover and other ergonomic powered carts to fit a variety of needs within a number of specialized industries.

Their products range from pulling and pushing industrial carts, hospitality & hospital carts and shopping carts all the way to pulling, pushing and moving cars, trucks & trailers.  Needless to say, these carts have some serious power.

In addition to their product line, Jeff authors an industry material handling and ergonomics blog that is full of great tips, industry specific information, case studies and more.  I can highly recommend this blog as an excellent resource for material handling and logistics information.

So do yourself a favor and add this one to your reading list.  You wont regret it.

Link: DJ Products Homepage
Link: DJ Products Blog