The low-tech distribution cart---or as one vendor terms it, "a containerized metal handling unit on wheels used to move bulk material"---is making inroads into newspaper mailrooms nationwide. The reason? Quantum leaps in distribution efficiencies. The San Diego Union-Tribune, for example, introduced carts into its plant five years ago. "It used to take one-and-a-half to two hours to unload a truck by hand. Now we unload in ten minutes," reports Distribution Manager Ted Evans.
Adds Bill O'Malley, distribution-services manager at The Cleveland Plain Dealer, "We went from 175 trucks to 19 going to the distribution centers, with as many as 24 carts per truck."
"Cart systems originated in 1987 due to a person with vision at The Miami Herald," says Pat Geraghty, national sales manager for newspaper systems at Cannon Equipment. "They were looking for a better way to distribute, going from corner drops and youth carriers to distribution centers with adult carriers. We...saw this as a natural fit, with each cart being a zone. Our carts are 6 feet high, hold 1,000 papers and can be handled by one person. Papers come off a lateral belt into the cart, which is then wheeled onto the truck."
For newspapers with the circulation volume to warrant them, cart systems offer many advantages. It is easier to wheel a few carts off a truck than to unload numerous bundles by hand, which can lead to less manpower. Zoning is also refined---the carts can be labeled with time, publication date, type of product, zone, number of bundles and cart order (i.e., fifth of 24). And because the bundles aren't bounced or thrown around, fewer papers are damaged (read: less newsprint waste).
At The Plain Dealer, O'Malley's 4,000 carts are loaded and dispatched under the control of the newspaper's cart- management system, or CMS. Eleven cart loaders are each fed by eight lanes that hold up to 12 carts. "We zone by lane," O'Malley says, "and there will be different products in various lanes. CMS keeps track of all this."
Cart systems do, however, have their down side. According to Geraghty, "If carts aren't full to the top, you lose capacity in the truck." And O'Malley says that inserts can cause football-shaped bundles that are difficult to stack. To counter the problem, The Plain Dealer developed hard-board slip sheets, which are automatically inserted between every other bundle or every third bundle. And Evans says that pushing the carts over rough surfaces can lead to back injuries. "We found the only good surface was concrete."
However, because the problems are all solvable and the efficiencies are so great, carts appear to be on a roll.
Nancy Lowther is president of Lowther Training and Development in Scarborough, Ontario. Phone is (416) 282-1890.
©1997 Newspaper Association of America. All rights reserved.