Toyota Honors Top Dealers With President's Award

IRVINE, Calif. (March 30, 2010) – Toyota Material Handling, U.S.A., Inc. (TMHU) recently announced the 2009 winners of its prestigious President’s Award. TMHU selects its top dealers each year from a nationwide network of 68 dealers and 188 dealership locations, recognizing them for demonstrating excellence in parts, service and equipment sales, customer satisfaction and overall dealership operations.
This year, 15 winners earned the coveted award and were acknowledged at Toyota’s National Dealer Meeting in Orlando, Fla.
“Each year our dealers go above and beyond to demonstrate top quality service and support,” said Brett Wood, president of TMHU. “The President’s Award provides TMHU with a way to showcase their achievements and honor their dedication to their customers and the material handling industry.”

The winners are:
• Al Rawson of Atlas Toyota Material Handling, Schiller Park, IL
• Ron McCluskey of Brodie Toyota-Lift, Lawrence, MA
• Anika Conger Capelle of Conger Toyotalift, Green Bay, WI
• Jeff Fischer of Florida Lift Systems, Inc., Tampa, FL
• Bob Whittingham of Forklifts of St. Louis, Inc., St. Louis, MO
• Brian Hull of Hull Toyota Lift, Elkhart, IN
• Ted Wente of ILT Toyota-Lift, Cleveland, OH
• Sam Swartz of JRC Toyota-Lift, Worthington, OH
• Don Herman of Lift, Inc., Mountville, PA
• David Graffy of ProLift Industrial Equipment, Louisville, KY
• Jim Shoppa of Shoppa’s Material Handling, Ltd., Fort Worth, TX
• John Scheunemann of Toyota-Lift of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
(psst... American Warehouse Systems is part of Toyota-Lift of MN)
• Ken Townsend of Toyota Lift of South Texas, San Antonio, TX
• Mark Andres of Toyota Material Handling N. California, Hayward, CA
• Ken Turnmyre of Vesco Toyotalift, Hickory, NC

The President’s Award, TMHU’s highest honor, has been awarded to select dealers since its inception in 1990 to acknowledge their outstanding business accomplishments.

About Toyota Material Handling, U.S.A., Inc.
Celebrating more than 40 years of established operations in the United States, Irvine, Calif.-based TMHU has been the No. 1 selling lift truck supplier in the U.S. since 2002 and currently offers a full line of high-quality lift trucks sold under the Toyota brand. TMHU, as the sole United States distributor for Aichi, now offers a line-up of aerial work lifts, including scissor lifts, crawler and wheeled boom lifts designed specifically to meet a wide range of indoor and outdoor needs.
Quality, durability and reliability are the hallmarks of the Toyota Production System practiced at Toyota Industrial Equipment Mfg., Inc. (TIEM). Most of the Toyota lift trucks sold in the United States are manufactured at TIEM, a zero-landfill facility, in Columbus, Ind.
TIEM, and all Toyota manufacturing plants in the U.S. and Canada, comply with the ISO 14001 standard from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and have been honored for their environmental management systems and dedication to continuous improvement.
Toyota’s commitment to excellence in customer service extends nationwide. Sixty-eight authorized Toyota Industrial Equipment dealers, with a total of 188 dealership locations throughout the United States offer comprehensive customer service and support, including one-stop shopping for both new and used lift trucks, rentals, parts and service, fleet servicing and financing.

Warehouse Pallet Rack Safety - OSHA Recommendations

How many times have you questioned the stability or capacity of the racking in your warehouse? Is the load too heavy for the beams? Does the forklift operator know how to properly place the pallet in the rack? Can the uprights withstand a collision with a forklift? These are common and very reasonable questions. Every company should focus on internal safety and have or create an internal safety committee to address these concerns.
Following OSHA guidelines to the letter is still not enough to keep your employees safe. OSHA does not have regulations in place today for pallet racking, but you don’t have to go far to hear about a terrible accident that occurred with warehouse rack. Pallet rack safety is a crucial part of overall company safety and must be attended to. Employers should require pallet rack safety along with forklift training for every warehouse employee and manager.
Start by contacting a reputable material handling distributor, preferably one with an OSHA Alliance already in place. The distributor will be able to assist with the proper rack configuration, design specifications and the equipment to move the materials. They should also be able to do a repair or replacement survey of your existing pallet rack and submit a proposal to implement the plan.
A qualified contractor will ensure your uprights are plumb, beams are level and connections are secure. Each upright must be properly anchored into the concrete floor according to industry standards. All beams should have a safety lock. Whether it is a nut and bolt or integral fastener, the safety lock will help prevent accidental dislodgement of the beams. It is strongly recommended that each beam and upright is properly labeled with the capacity of the component. Each beam’s capacity is labeled per pair and an upright’s capacity is for one assembly. Keep in mind; moving beam levels after the design is complete could affect the capacities and you should check with your distributor before making these changes.
Palletized loads should be made stable before being placed in the racking system. Move the load onto a quality pallet, stretch wrap the loose product, and / or use wire decking on the beams to prevent falling materials. Wire decking is designed to hold evenly distributed loads on the surface area of the deck, which would require the pallet to be placed on the beams as well. Your standard wire deck is NOT designed for point loading or concentrated loading. Have your distributor explain the difference and provide you with solutions to your special applications.
Never climb the pallet racking, maintain proper lighting and practice good housekeeping. Make inspections, routine maintenance and training part of your safety program. Inspections will turn up damaged uprights, beams and wire decks. Have a qualified contractor repair or replace damaged components immediately. Do not attempt to repair pallet rack internally, not only is this extremely dangerous to attempt, you will void your warranty and most likely be held liable if a failure should occur. For additional safety you should add post protectors to the pallet rack uprights and guardrails at the ends of the aisles to keep warehouse vehicles from contacting the rack. You should also use rack back guards to prevent pallets from accidentally being pushed through the back side of the system.
For more information on warehouse safety please contact American Warehouse Systems at 877-677-9066 or http://www.aw-systems.com/.

Can This Pickle Get More Followers Than @markjuelich?

There is a well known Facebook story where the pickle defeats the rock band. I won't go into it here but it does bring up several questions about social media and human beings.
Let's take Twitter for example. I have in past blogs written about the social"ness" of Twitter and the desire for people to become part of a group of like minded individuals. I often like to think of Twitter as a social party where several groups of friends are gathered discussing different topics. If you jump into a group you can join in the discussion. What if you were in one of these circles anxious to join in only to realize everyone but you was a recording on a machine? You try to interact but all they do is spout out the same gibberish all day long.
In my opinion this is becoming somewhat of an issue on Twitter. There are so many automated systems out there it is very difficult sometimes to recognize who is real and who is a piece of software.
I had a conversation with a Twitter user the other day who was upset that he had been tweeting to his followers all day about raising money for disabled vets (a fantastic cause) but no one responded. He did some research only to find out the vast majority of his 600 or so followers sent every tweet out via 3rd party automated application! Of course he received no response from them, they weren't there.
There are some automated Tweeters that have hundreds of thousands of followers and never interact at all. These fully automated systems are essentially the pickle. These people / companies are participating in a global social party where building relationships is key yet they send a pickle in place of a human. One more step, the "man behind the pickle" obviously doesn't care about his followers or their opinions. The MBTP believes himself to be a font of information that thousands will flock to. The MBTP likes to lecture not listen.
Please don't misunderstand my thoughts and feelings for automation. I believe automation is a very useful tool if used in moderation. I and many like me spend a great deal of time relationship building on social media sites like Twitter. When I mention someone in a tweet I guess I expect that some human being will be reading it and responding. Where I come from that's just the polite thing to do.
So in answer to my own question; Yes Mark, the pickle not only can get more followers than you but it does everyday. I wonder what that says about: the pickle? it's followers? me? the world in general?
Go ahead, visit me on Twitter; @markjuelich, I'm really there.

Storage of Military Gear - The TA-50 Locker

This week I thought I would actually write about a storage product, the TA-50 gear locker. This product is about as misunderstood and confusing as they get. I guess it starts with the name, TA-50. My guess is most civilians don't really even know what TA-50 means and perhaps a few in our armed forces aren't quite sure what it actually stands for.

TA-50 is short for Table of Allowances 50; now does that clear it up for you? No? Simply put, TA-50 is Government issued (military) individual equipment. Anything a soldier might have that is government issued is considered TA-50.

The second big issue with TA-50 Lockers is most customers believe there is some standard size and that TA-50 is actually a specification. This is not true. We have made TA-50 lockers in virtually all conceivable configurations from simple wire partitions with swing doors to locker style cabinets to walk-in cages with shelving units to, etc. etc. etc.

The image to the left is what most military customers think when they are sourcing TA-50 lockers. While we are more than happy to make the vanilla one, keep in mind if you need special helmet inspection panels or redundant locking systems or any other unique specification, we can design it and it's still a TA-50 locker. Heck, we'll still make them for you even if you're not storing TA-50!

Read more about our TA-50 lockers on our TA-50 Military Gear Locker Page.

Do My Twitter Followers Know What Material Handling Is?

As many of you know I am first and foremost a marketing person, specifically business to business (or Government) marketing on the Internet. By the grace of God we have been able to grow American Warehouse Systems from two guys in a storage closet (literally) to one of the largest suppliers of material handling products to the US Federal Government. All of this business has been generated by Internet traffic (to date we still don't have a yellow page listing).

Through the years we have relied on leading edge SEO and other Internet marketing strategies to bring our customers to us. With the dawn of social media, for this blog specifically Twitter, I have turned a great deal of my attention toward this "new" marketing resource.

The way to achieve your business goals on Twitter is actually quite easy in theory. You find your target market, get them to follow you, pitch your product and they buy. Unfortunately in reality it's really not that easy even if you are very familiar with how Twitter works. A quick search on Twitter or some third party help can quickly bring you to your target market (assuming you know who they are) and you can follow them hoping they will follow you back. They might but if you spend every day trying to pitch your product you will lose each and every one of them and fast. People don't go to Twitter to hear sales pitches they go for community. You target market exists on Twitter to be part of a community of like minded individuals not the target of never ending commercials.

In order to be successful on Twitter you need to become part of the party. You need to find someone in your organization that has a passion for the same things your target market has a passion for and let them Tweet. For American Warehouse Systems this was easy. I started AWS with the intent to sell to the American Government specifically the military for which I have a passion. My target market is basically me, God fearing, right wing Americans. Unfortunately for others, they don't have the advantage of an emotional connection with their market. On the other hand maybe someone in your organization does. It is certainly worth looking into. Faking a connection to "join the party" is pretty transparent and won't get you far.

OK so you've found someone in your organization who is on the same wave length as your target market. Now what? You need to become part of the community. You need to invest in the conversation and let people know you are a human being with the same interests as them. In short you need to make friends. Sitting in the corner listening and hoping they will come to you doesn't work. Get out there and get involved. Don't be afraid to voice your opinion (but don't forget you are representing your company - read your social media policy).

Lets say now you are involved and you have a great big group of followers that comprise both your passion and your target market. How do you get them to buy your product? There is no easy answer here. People "run" from the virtual salesperson faster than the Fuller Brush Man. You can't pitch your products on Twitter and retain your quality followers.

For the most part I don't pitch our products or services on Twitter (or my blog for that matter). I Tweet about things I love; America, our Armed Forces, politics and internet marketing. To this point I have been approached several times with the question; Do your followers even know what material handling is? I guess for me the answer is; "I don't know and I'm not sure I care". Analytics today can show me that a great deal of traffic (people) travels through Twitter and my blog to our website. I can't tell you what their motives are or if they are their because they need material handling equipment or are just interested to see what we do. I can tell you that Twitter is our highest traffic source outside the major search engines and our website is the source of virtually all our revenue (outside current customers and referrals (who probably came from the Internet originally)).

I think if you are looking at Twitter as a pure sales tool, you will probably be disappointed. Twitter is a group of communities that have come together for a long conversation. If you become part of this conversation, you will meet people (just like the "outside" world). If you are decent and these people like you and your ideas (Tweets) they may end up checking out your "business" side and perhaps place an order someday. This process is not unlike getting to know your neighbors, in fact it is the same.

The long and short of it is; Your company should be on Twitter to become part of the same community that your customers are a part of. You should be involved in the same issues they face and Twitter is a great place to come together. Twitter is not a direct sales tool, it is a relationship building tool. Building relationships outside of the sales arena often builds trust and credibility. Trust and credibility often lead to sales.

When in Rome...Blog about Material Handling

So I'm sitting in Rome, I was just served my Caprese salad and I'm contemplating the impact of material handling on the world. I am very tired as it's after 10:00 pm in Rome Italy (people eat late here).

One of my clients here (and the reason for my visit) is a map support office for the US Navy. The MSO (Map Support Office) needed a more efficient way to store, package and ship the standard, classified and secret maps used by Naval ships and aviators alike.

The MSO used to receive their map stock rolled in rolls of hundreds of maps. They would unroll the maps and fold them to store on conventional shelving. When an order came in, they would unfold the maps, roll them up again and supply their customers with the rolled maps. Not only was this extra work for them, the navigators did not like the creases folding put into their maps. As you can imagine if you are plotting out a course for a ship, a crease in your map could easily throw of angles and distances.

American Warehouse Systems was asked to design a storage aid system that could store thousands of large maps in a very small area. This new system would allow the MSO to receive their maps, unroll them and store them. When an order came in they would simple pull the flat maps they needed out of the system roll them and send them out (with no creases). Fortunately this was not our first MSO project so we already had a system designed that with a few tweaks would surpass their requirements.

My trip to Italy (this time) was to kick off the installation of the new storage aid system. I am happy to say everything seems to be going very well. We were able to provide a solution to the Navy in the European arena that not only saves labor hours but also literally helps them to better stay on course.

I am very grateful to be a part of an industry that is able to provide solutions to real world problems. American Warehouse Systems is very fortunate to be able to work so closely with our military to offer our best ideas to help where we are able. Projects like this one are a great source of pride for us. I am proud to support our Armed Forces everyday and truly blessed to be able to continue that support through my career and my industry.

OK my salad is gone and I need to get up early tomorrow morning. Next week I'll be blogging from Miami and the Material Handling Equipment Distributors Association Board of Directors Meeting.

Can Your Forklift Pick Up a Dime?

I spent most of my day today putting out fires and making a video for my good friend Kyle at Toyota Lift of Minnesota. Consequently I don't really have anything prepared to blog (if you remember I usually just blog what is on my mind every Wednesday). So I figured I'd just blog the video of Kyle and his crew picking up a dime with their Toyota forklift.

Have a great week!

American Warehouse Systems Awarded Project at Bagram Airfield

Bagram Airfield is a militarized airport and housing complex that is located next to the ancient city of Bagram, 6.8 mi southeast of Charikar in Parwan province of Afghanistan. It is often referred to as Bagram Air Base, however the senior mission commander at Bagram is an Army two-star general, making it an Army Airfield in US military parlance. The base is currently occupied and maintained by the 5th Aviation Battalion (Assault),and 6th Aviation Battalion (GSAB) of the United States Army, with the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing of the United States Air Force and other U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and U.S. Coast Guard.

American Warehouse Systems responded to a need from the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing for additional space in a hangar currently used as a recreational facility for our troops. American Warehouse Systems proposed a large mezzanine floor system to be installed in the facility to create a "second floor" inside the hangar. Treadmills, exercise bikes and other exercise equipment will be placed on the mezzanine to allow for more space on the main floor for other activities.

American Warehouse Systems was fortunate enough to receive the award on this project giving us the opportunity to further support our Armed Forces. We will design and engineer the system in our facility then ship the materials to Afghanistan and install the mezzanine in the hangar. The whole project from start to stop shouldn't take more than 8-12 weeks.

American Warehouse Systems is proud to be able to provide this project to the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing. Even though Afghanistan may not be the most hospitable place to install a mezzanine system, the notion of creating additional comfort for our troops is worth the risk.

Linkedin and the Material Handling Salesman

From time to time I am asked, "How can a social media site like Linkedin help me sell material handling equipment?" If you read my last blog (or follow me on Twitter) you already know I am a big proponent of social media as a means to "reach out" and not necessarily a sales tool. For the most part this is true unless you are in sales and you have a Linkedin account.
Linkedin, in my humble opinion, is the most powerful sales tool since the phone. Linkedin, if used properly can easily double or triple an average sales persons reach. It opens door that were once permanently locked. In today's economy increasing marketing reach is of utmost importance. If your customers aren't buying, you need to find more customers. Linkedin is the perfect tool for the task.

The Death of the Outside Salesman
The birth of the Internet and email (maybe it started with phones) killed the personal touch of most sales transactions. Remember the old adage "People buy from people"? It's really no longer the case is it? One goes to a website fills out the RFQ form; a few days later a quote arrives in one's email inbox. Where is the salesperson in this equation? People don't really buy from people anymore.
In the material handling industry we pride ourselves on our years of experience and the complex projects we have successfully completed. We used to carry around photo albums of our great successes to show our potential clients when we were out making calls. No one has time anymore to take a personal sales call from a vendor. The days of the photo album are gone.
How do you express to your potential clients that you are the best solution to their problems? How do you get him or her to see your "photo album"? The answer is Linkedin.
Every proposal and email sent out should have an address or link to your "professional" Linkedin profile. This way potential customers can learn more about you and your company from the comfort of wherever. Linkedin fills the "personal" gap the Internet created. Now they can put a face to the name, learn about your qualifications and successes and decide for themselves you are the best solution before they even shake your hand.
This can obviously be used in both directions. When making a sales call, look up your appointment on Linkedin, find out about them. Maybe you can find something you have in common with them to "break the ice".

I Know a Guy Who Knows a Guy
There is a great chance that someone who buys from you (and likes you) knows someone that also buys your products. They unfortunately don't sit around all day trying to find friends to buy your stuff. Up until now finding these second tier connections was all but impossible. Linkedin has a search function that makes this ridiculously easy. Go to advanced search, type in your parameters, location, industry, job title and Linkedin will list all the results starting with your current connections, then the connections of your connections, etc. I've heard much success from this function. One case the sales person was trying to "get in the door" for years unsuccessfully until Linkedin showed him his next door neighbor was actually the brother-in-law to one of the corporate VPs! He called his neighbor and asked him to make the introduction. Of course the neighbor already having a great personal relationship with his brother-in-law "opened the door" made the introductions and set in motion what would become a sale and a strong business relationship. Linkedin is specifically designed to facilitate this method of relational prospecting.
The search function is also a great way to schedule sales calls. If you know you are going to be in an area, use it to find potential clients in the same area. See if they know any of your existing connections and ask for the introduction.

Throw Yourself Out There
Linkedin has many ways for you to be visible to your clients and potential clients. See if your clients have a corporate group on Linkedin, see if vendors can join. If you are able to join, start discussions in their group about your solutions. Please don't plague their pages with advertisements, you will quickly lose favor. Asking them what they do about pallet rack repair or personnel safety in the warehouse is probably appropriate though. Check back at regular intervals, you might find discussions started by employees that you can participate in.
Ask your customers to join your corporate group and publish meaningful information regularly. This info will be sent right to every members email inbox on a daily or weekly basis.
Join any and all groups that you think might be beneficial to you. There are many sales and industry related groups that discuss relevant topics.
Visit Linkedin Answers and see if you can participate. This section of Linkedin is extensive. Find your area of expertise and jump in. The "experts" get quite a bit of visibility here. In fact there are many questions like, "What type of forklift should I have if I have...?" and "Is there an automated storage system for ...?" If you were there to answer these questions instead of me, you might have gotten the sale and believe me there was a sale.

Build It and They Will Come
First things last I guess (it's my blog). In order to be successful on Linkedin you must have a complete Linkedin page with a professional looking head shot. Make certain you have a robust description of experience and any specialities on the page. Clear links to your website's photo gallery will help them see your work. Use a few of Linkedin's applications like Box or Slide Share to provide all your corporate and product brochures to anyone that views your account. Use LinkedIn's tools to find your customers and connect with them. Ask them to become members of your corporate group on Linkedin (you do have one don't you?). Ask your connections to give you recommendations on Linkedin; it's very easy and very visible to visitors. The more relevant information you have on your profile, the more credible you will appear to clients and potential clients.
One word of warning though. When building your connections, try to keep them limited to only people you feel you know. If you start connecting with everyone you second tier and third tier connections start to blur. It's hard to ask someone for an introduction to a potential client when you don't know them either.

Like I stated at the beginning, Linkedin might be the best sales tool since the phone. It is certainly your best chance of "selling" something through social media today. Get out there and get Linkedin.

Social Media and American Warehouse Systems

American Warehouse Systems has officially jumped in the deep end of the social media pool. We now have seven employees with authorized Twitter pages from sales to service to engineering. We are present on LinkedIn having both a company profile and profiles for dozens of employees. Our Facebook page is up and running and our YouTube account already has several videos. Obviously we blog (or at least attempt to). In addition to the big five we can also be found on other social media sites such as Merchant Circle, Friend Feed, Biznik, Plaxo, Fast Pitch, Stumble Upon, Digg, Picasa, Daily Booth and probably a few dozen more that I can't remember right now.

Social media hit us all like a tidal wave. With the economy as poor as it's been we've all been looking for a low cost marketing media to gain market share. Social media being all but free was there to seduce us. American Warehouse Systems like many companies heard the sirens call and headed toward...well actually it's too early to tell exactly where we are headed.

We did however establish a social media policy and amended it to our employee handbook. We feel that social media may in fact be more than a great big social time sink but we wanted to establish guidelines so every employee understands our expectations. It's best to be prepared. I would advise every company to incorporate a social media policy. I have already seen corporate litigation as a result of negative things said and promises made by employees on social media sites.

We aren't quite sure if we will ever be able to see direct sales from social media. If you believe you might, you should look down other avenues. We spend a fair amount of corporate resources just "getting out there". We feel it's important to build relationships and let our customers, potential customers and the general public know we are actually people with personalities and opinions just like them. If they are interested in material handling, great, maybe we can help them out. If they aren't, that's just fine too, most days I'd rather talk about our military and politics than pallet racking anyway. Kyle Thill our Director of Services has a fantastic blog where he discusses real world forklift issues (you can find it here http://bit.ly/726xIl ). I know many people use this blog as a resource for their own forklift or fleet. My blog on the other hand is usually about whatever I'm thinking about on Wednesday afternoon (Kyle blogs daily) which is usually one of four things; US Armed Forces, US Politics, Internet Marketing and Material Handling.

With the thought in mind that you may never see your first dollar from social media, don't forget the "old" ways you've used to market your company. Ongoing search engine optimization and search engine marketing (SEO/SEM) are still the biggest bang for your buck on the Internet. Email newsletter campaigns are almost as inexpensive as social media and they can help you reach your target market every day, week or month via email (although I'd discourage day). We use a very professional tele-prospecting company to make calls for us every day and we have found the ROI to be extremely high. We also do several trade shows and personal visits every year for some "face time" with customers.

It's not wise to put all your eggs in one basket and I would suggest to anyone to keep a diverse marketing strategy keying in on high ROI campaigns.

On the other hand Pepsi did cancel their Super Bowl commercials to spend $20mil on social media...

American Warehouse Systems Receives Award

American Warehouse Systems was recently awarded the WireCrafters High Wire Performers award for sales excellence. WireCrafters is the largest wire partition manufacturer in the USA. They manufacture wire partitions for warehouse partitioning, tool cribs, storage cages, TA-50 gear lockers. In addition to wire products WireCrafters also manufactures high impact warehouse guardrail. A large portion of these products are sold to the US Federal Government. If you are on any military base in the world there is a good chance that you are already familiar with WireCrafters products.
American Warehouse Systems is very fortunate to be the exclusive GSA supplier of WireCrafters products. We ship millions of pounds of wire partitions every year to our government clients from small cages to multimillion dollar TA-50 gear locker projects. We believe in selling only the highest quality products, and in their realm, WireCrafters is it.
American Warehouse Systems is very proud to accept this award from a such an outstanding company. Thank you WireCrafters!
For more information on WireCrafters products visit http://www.aw-systems.com/wire-partitions.htm.

Roadside Bombs - Dangers Abroad and at Home

PROFANITY ALERT! Although given the situation I certainly don't blame them, there is a bit of profanity in the above video.

IED's or Improvised Explosive Devices are just one of the many dangers our Armed Forces face everyday. Our troops were very lucky in this particular case as it appears the IED may have been planted too far below the surface of the road. Had it been properly placed, the outcome could have been quite different.

It is important we understand the peril our service men and women live through in the pursuit of freedom and the protection of the American ideal. They are in harms way for us, the citizens of the United States of American. It is our responsibility to support them at home. Not only is it imperative that we give emotional support to our troops and their families, we also need to give political support.

We the People need to ensure for our troops and their children that the Great Nation they are fighting for is still great when they return. We are tasked with protecting the rights of the American people at home while they are protecting us abroad. This is something to seriously ponder with major elections in the coming year. Are you politically active? Do you follow the platforms of the candidates or just vote party? Does you elected official properly represent you or do they represent themselves? I urge you to get informed. You have plently of time.

A Soldier's Christmas

This is a very special poem that should be read everyday of the year, but especially on Christmas. We as Americans must support our men and women that at best put their lives on hold at worst put their lives on the line in service of our great Nation. While most of you are at home with your families this holiday season please remember and be grateful to the ones who "guard your door". To all our servicemen and women past and present; Thank you for everything you do, God Bless and have a wonderful Christmas.

A special thank you to Michael Marks for writing this beautiful poem.


A Soldier's Christmas


The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.

Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight;
The sparkling lights in the tree, I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.

My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem.
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn’t loud, and it wasn’t too near,
But I opened my eye when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn’t quite know,
Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.

My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.
Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood; his face weary and tight.

A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.

“What are you doing?” I asked without fear
“Come in this moment, it’s freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!”

For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts,
To the window that danced with a warm fire’s light
Then he sighed and he said, “It’s really all right,
I’m out here by choice. I’m here every night”

“It’s my duty to stand at the front of the line
That separates you from the darkest of times.
No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I’m proud to stand here like my fathers before me.

My Gramps died at ‘Pearl on a day in December,”
Then he sighed, “That’s a Christmas ‘Gram always remembers.”
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of ‘Nam
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.

I’ve not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he’s sure got her smile.
Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red white and blue… an American flag.

“I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home,
I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat,
I can carry the weight of killing another
Or lay down my life with my sisters and brothers
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To insure for all time that this flag will not fall.”

“So go back inside,” he said, “harbor no fright
Your family is waiting and I’ll be all right.”
“But isn’t there something I can do, at the least,
“Give you money,” I asked, “or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you’ve done,
For being away from your wife and your son.”

Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
“Just tell us you love us, and never forget
To fight for our rights back at home while we’re gone;
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.

For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust.
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us.”

©Copyright December 7, 2000 by Michael Marks

Lt. Col. Oliver North "Time to Give Thanks"

This video was released by the NRA right before Thanksgiving 2009. It is a portion of a speech given by Lt. Col. Oliver North at the 2009 NRA annual meeting. In his speech, Lt. Col. North reminds us that while we are home enjoying time spent with our families and friends this holiday season, we have thousands of men and women overseas representing us in a war. These American Heroes cannot be with their loved ones during the holidays and we need to be cognisant of their sacrifices and be thankful for their selfless love of country.

Lt. Col. North tells a story about a young Navy Corpsman who runs into a firefight to save the lives of several soldiers. This young man is a shining representation of what it means to be an American Soldier. We should all be both proud and thankful.

I was so moved by this video that I needed to include it as this week's blog post. I hope you enjoy it half as much as I have. God Bless America.

The Twitter Trend

Take Advantage of Social Media's Free Marketing Opportunities

Orginally published in the December 2009 edition of The MHEDA Edge.

By now most of you have heard of Twitter, the newest social media phenomenon that is sweeping the Web. It allows you to communicate with your pool of “followers” via 140-character posts or “tweets.” What you might not realize is that Twitter is a great marketing tool that’s becoming more and more useful every day. It allows you to proactively engage customers, whereas a standard Web site is generally reactive. At American Warehouse Systems (AWS), we use Twitter to drive traffic to our blog and then to our Web site. Since we began tweeting, Twitter has become the number one non-search-related driver of traffic to our site. It’s also the number one driver of traffic to the AWS blog. While usage hasn’t evolved to the point where you will be wheeling and dealing, selling equipment on the site, Twitter has become a valuable brand-building tool.
Developing a Following
When starting out on the site, the first thing you need to focus your efforts on is building a following. The idea is to build as large a community of followers (contacts) as you possibly can. However, simply adding anyone you come across isn’t a great strategy. The key is to develop a target audience and find ways to get its attention.
So how do you find the people in your target market? The first thing you should do is to start to follow others. Look for people who either fall into your target audience or people who your target audience might be interested in. For instance, we do a great deal of contracting with the federal government, so I follow a great deal of military-related people. Then, when one of the people I follow posts something that I find interesting, I can “retweet” or re-post what they said for the rest of my followers to see. I get a twofold benefit. My followers will recognize me as someone who knows about the things that matter to them and then, that person might return the favor sometime in the future.
How do you know who to follow? The Twitter search feature itself is useful, but not comprehensive. To fully maximize your Twitter potential, you should look at the array of third-party platforms out there. One such application that I recommend is Tweet Spinner. It allows you to search for a demographic based on keyword, company or zip code. The application also allows you to view follower “overlaps” with your competitors. It will also give you insight into the quality of each of your followers. The application’s configuration helps you bypass people who tweet too many URLS and who never @reply. Ultimately, all these tools are going to help you build a following that is not just big, but also targeted and high-quality.
Once you have found your target market on Twitter, the next, and perhaps most important, way to grow your following is to position yourself as a person that people in your target market need to follow. You have to be an authority. The most effective way to do this is by writing quality tweets. Many new Twitter users fall into the trap of only using the site to spam links to their Web page. That’s not a good idea. Twitter is a conversation. At its core, it is people interacting. You wouldn’t step into a conversation where people are talking about football and say “Hey, check out my pallet rack.” Don’t do it on Twitter either. As a rule of thumb, I try to make sure only one in every five tweets that I send out are links back to the AWS Web site.
Instead, look for things that your target audience will be interested in. Read an interesting article? Link to it. Hear a good joke or a funny story? Share it. Stumble across a piece of breaking news? Let your followers know about it. If you write valuable tweets, your followers will pay attention to what you’re saying. Then, when you do slip your company link in at a strategic time, your followers are much more likely to click on it.
When you see one of your followers starting a discussion, don’t be afraid to get involved. That’s what Twitter is for. If someone asks a question or makes a comment, respond to it. It will make your followers feel more involved with your company and they will pay more attention to its tweets.

Social Media Policy Social Media Policy
Any company who hopes to dive into the social media world should seriously consider developing a social media policy. There are plenty of examples out there for you to use as a guideline when developing a policy. For those of you looking for a starting point, Kodak has published their social media policy for all to read. To view it, visit this page.

The Future is Now
As I mentioned previously, Twitter isn’t necessarily a foolproof sales tool yet. I can’t off the top of my head say that we have received a PO specifically because of Twitter. What I can quantify is the effect Twitter has had on building our brand and sending people to our Web sites. Twitter is the number one non-search-engine referrer to the AWS Web site and the overall number one referrer to the AWS blog.
I know some people are still skeptical about Twitter and other social media ventures, but it’s getting to the point where you can’t afford to be. Every company should at the very least have a corporate account. Larger companies may even want to consider an account for every department. The social media train is at the station and it’s time for you to get onboard. Especially in trying times like these, you can’t afford to let any opportunity pass you by. Marketing through social media is the future and the future is now.

Again Thank you to my good friends at MHEDA Edge for publishing this article. You can see the original here. You can also follow MHEDA Edge on Twitter @MatHandlingEdge.

LinkedIn LinkedMinnesota Holiday Extravaganza

American Warehouse Systems is participating in the first ever LinkedMinnesota Holiday Networking Extravaganza, held at the Harrington Mansion in Minneapolis on Dec. 14. This is the largest event to date with the Minnesota Group through the LinkedIn Social website.

The show floor will open for attendees at 10:00 AM with a fabulous Italian lunch buffet featuring two types of lasagna and side dishes from Noon to 1:00 PM. There are approximately 50 Minnesota based vendors registered to display information about their products and services.

- Enter to win more than $13,000 in prizes! (12:30pm)

- Make new connections and find new clients during 10 rounds of Speed Networking (1-1:30pm)

TICKETS ARE LIMITED so sign up now to secure your spot: $15.95 for the entire day including tradeshow, speed networking, prize drawing and lunch; $10 for access to the tradeshow and speed networking only (1-3pm).

SIGN UP AT: http://bit.ly/2Y3LmK . Enter your contact information and use Membership # 08770. Scroll down to the LinkedMN event section.

If you are in town, please stop by the event and visit with us.

New Technology in High Density Pallet Storage

I usually try to blog every Wednesday. I'm a day late this week but with good reason. I was in sunny California finalizing the details of a partnership with Power Automation Systems, a manufacturer that produces the next generation in high density pallet storage. PAS manufactures the PowerStor system. PowerStor is a close cousin to the fixed-aisle automated storage and retrieval systems with several important differences. PowerStor is denser storage, has considerably lower operating costs, utility costs as low as $.01/move, higher throughput than their cousin and did I mention for most layouts the cost is significantly less than the typical crane system!

PowerStor can be easily configured to fit in existing buildings as the aisle lengths and widths are not determined by a crane system. PowerStor was originally designed for the food industry so it operates in refrigerator and freezer facilities without issue. The whole system is made in the USA so if something should ever go wrong replacement parts are easily available, in addition, every pallet is easily accessible via a catwalk system which is impossible with the old fixed aisle systems. What is the downside to the PowerStor system? Well we've spent the last six months looking for it and we can't see one. If you would like literature on this exciting new product offering from American Warehouse Systems, please contact us at info@aw-systems.com or visit us at http://www.aw-systems.com/.

MPS AA-12 Urban Combat Shotgun

This is a great video of the MPS AA-12 military grade fully automatic 12ga shotgun. Originally designed in the 1972 as a selective fire combat shotgun, it was recently redesigned by Jerry Baber into what it is today. This fantastic weapon was designed to support our troops during urban combat and as the video shows, can fire up to 300 shells per minute and has many different speciality rounds available including HE grenade rounds! Originally aired on the Discovery Channel. Thank you Discovery for the fantastic footage of this devastating weapon.

If you have any other great military related videos or images, let us know we'd be glad to post them here. Have a great Veterans Day!

Can You See the Social Media Storm from Your Office?

Recently we have been feverishly working to get up to speed with social media. Why? After many months of research we have finally come to the conclusion social media is here to stay. In addition we strongly believe industry is rapidly adopting social media as a sales and marketing tool. We aren't sure exactly what the marketing landscape will look like in 5 to 10 years but we are fairly certain it will contain social media as a way to do business.
I know, I know, the material handling industry is still trying to figure out this Internet thing. How can we possibly make such a leap? Well I'm here to tell you that while you are sitting in your safe office waiting for your customers to call, your competitors are eating your lunch. Several material handling companies have already figured this Internet thing out and are making millions of dollars a year as a direct result of their online presence. They are closing deals thousands of miles from their office and three miles from yours because they have embraced this "New Media" and virtually went were the money was. A very small minority of material handling suppliers have found Web 2.0 and are beginning to investigate how to capitalize on it. You should to.
The start of your investigation should be to look into a company blog. Keep in mind that there are many benefits to a blog even if it seems like no one is listening (I'm still not sure if anyone reads mine). In today's marketplace every company should have a blog to distribute information and drive traffic to your website. Look into ways to get your blog out to the public, like Technorati, Buzzlogic and the like. Secondly there should be someone out there on the micro blogs (Twitter, etc.) driving traffic to your blog. You'd be amazed at the free lead generation you can create with a little time.
You should be utilizing an email blast tool like Constant Contact to keep in touch with your customers and to drive traffic to your blog and website.
Each and every employee should at least have a profile on LinkedIn. The profile should be professional with links back to your website and blog. If you're really willing to get out there check out Biznik and Fast Pitch also. These sites are money generators for salespeople. They take prospecting and customer service to a whole new level. On a future blog I will go further into these powerful sales tools.
What is the cost of all this marketing power? Would you be surprised if I said less than $1000 per year? Calculate the ROI on that!
Don't let the social media storm pass you by. It is not a fad, it's not just for kids and if you don't get on, your competitors certainly will.

Minneapolis, MN Business Professional Elected to Serve on Board of National Trade Association

Mark C. Juelich, Executive Director of Toyota-Lift of Minnesota dba American Warehouse Systems located in Minneapolis, MN has been elected to serve on the board of directors of the Material Handling Equipment Distributors Association (MHEDA). Toyota-Lift of Minnesota Inc has been a leader in local material handling solutions since 1978. With the addition of American Warehouse Systems in 2003, Toyota-Lift of Minnesota has earned international recognition as a full service systems integrator.

Juelich, who earned a B.A. from the University of Minnesota, has been involved in the material handling industry since 1996. During his tenure Juelich has been an innovator in the industry, utilizing the internet and other cutting edge marketing strategies to modernize material handling equipment commerce. In November 2003 Juelich and the rest of American Warehouse Systems joined Toyota-Lift of Minnesota Inc. This union was resoundingly beneficial for both parties, resulting in explosive growth and an international reach for the already efficacious Minnesota Corporation.

“I believe the material handling distributor plays an integral and irreplaceable role in world commerce. Our role as supply chain consultants to manufacturing and distribution empowers us to have a substantial impact on the global economy. As such, it is our responsibility as elected members of MHEDA to provide the knowledge base and tools necessary to help our members succeed. Through their success we will see more effective warehouse and distribution systems, lower operating costs and higher profits for industry as a whole.”

The Material Handling Equipment Distributors Association (MHEDA) is the only national trade association dedicated solely to improving the proficiency of the independent material handling distributor. MHEDA represents over 600 companies in the material handling equipment business. Located in suburban Chicago, the association provides services to companies seeking to improve their business through education, networking, benchmarking and best practices. For more information, visit www.mheda.org.

American Warehouse Systems is a full service material handling systems integrator specializing in US Federal Government storage aid systems, military mobility storage systems and defense distribution centers.