Being flexible and innovative is critical.

It's natural for people who have been around forklifts all their business lives to view this equipment as the best option for all lifting and moving tasks. However, a group of professionals associated with hoists, cranes and overhead conveyors wants to send the following message to the next generation of materials handling professionals: "Mature technologies can offer something new."

Take a tool and die operation, for example. While a forklift might often be used to deliver a die on a pallet to a tooling area, the Overhead Alliance wants materials handlers to know that setting the die into the machine might be better accomplished with an overhead lifting device.

The Crane Manufacturers Association of America (CMAA), Hoist Manufacturers Institute (HMI) and Monorail Manufacturers Association (MMA) of the Material Handling Industry of America (MHIA) formed the Overhead Alliance in 2008 to reintroduce their technologies to a new generation of engineers, says Scott Miller, chair of the Alliance and vice president of operations for Harrington Hoist.

"Young engineering graduates may not be familiar with the technology of overhead lifting," he says. "In the past, with single speed electric motors, speeds might have been too fast to lower a USD50,000 die into a machine. But with the advancement of dual speed and infinitely variable speed using variable frequency devices, there's much better speed control today than 20 years ago and it's downright common and available as standard equipment."

Miller admits his industry has to prove a return on investment. He believes that as forklifts reach the end of their useful life, instead of replacing all of them, a case can be made for replacing one or two with an overhead lifting device. He adds that his Alliance will need to educate salespeople at material handling equipment distributors to help make that case. Will they buy into the Alliance's message that it's time to change some long-held beliefs about this equipment?

The rules have changed. That's the theme the Material Handling Equipment Distributors Association (MHEDA) will be supporting next year. Liz Richards, executive vice president of MHEDA, tells Forkliftaction.com News that the economic challenges of the past year are forcing businesses to change in order to survive. The distributor must provide the customer with a total solution versus focusing on one piece of equipment.

"The customer landscape has changed due to a variety of factors, including consolidation," she says. "Being flexible and innovative is critical. In today's marketplace, the MHEDA member understands the importance of identifying different business opportunities, depending on the customers' need and application."

To learn more about the Alliance's case for overhead lifting and moving, visit www.OverheadAlliance.org.