To stay on top of SKU proliferation, beverage delivery personnel now are tasked with larger, more frequent deliveries. In turn, warehouse and distribution employers are implementing material handling equipment and system solutions to better handle their direct-store-delivery (DSD) customers. Through ergonomically designed carts and hand trucks, suppliers are helping to make DSD safer and more efficient.
“Operations need delivery personnel to stay productive all shift long,” says Shelley Bell, marketing manager for Greenville, N.C.-based Yale Materials Handling Corp. “From an equipment standpoint, this requires ergonomic features to keep operators fresh and focused, and a user-friendly power source that doesn’t derail delivery schedules. Some ergonomic enhancements include mid-mounted control handles designed to balance the constraints of steer effort, visibility and maneuverability; larger handle run zones; easily accessible controls; and turntable bearings and rubber tires to reduce the force required to turn and steer.”