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In today’s competitive world, I believe, it’s essential for businesses to embrace a set of guiding principles that define their culture, values, and actions. These principles attempt to serve as a compass, guide decision-making, and foster a unified customer-centric approach. The five guiding principles that Team Harris Stolper goes about customer experience are – Start with the customer, Embrace a sense of urgency, Act with intent, Challenge the status quo, and Win as one team. We believe these principles form the foundation for achieving success and sustaining growth within our organization.

Start with the Customer: Customers are the heartbeat of our business. By aligning the customer at the forefront of every decision, Harris-Stolper ensures that our products, services, and experiences align with each customer’s unique needs and expectations. This involves actively listening to customers, gathering feedback, and leveraging data to understand the customer’s pain points and desires. By empathizing with customers and consistently striving to exceed their expectations, we hope to build long-term relationships, loyalty, and advocacy.

Sense of Urgency: In a rapidly evolving business landscape, organizations must cultivate a sense of urgency. This principle emphasizes the need to move swiftly, adapt to change, and seize opportunities. It encourages Harris-Stolper’s team members to prioritize tasks efficiently, eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy, and overcome obstacles to achieve desired outcomes. A sense of urgency fosters innovation, responsiveness, and agility, enabling businesses to stay ahead of the competition and capitalize on emerging trends.

Act with Intent: Simply put, aligning actions and decisions with a clear purpose and desired outcome. It involves thoughtful planning, prioritization, and execution. This principle encourages Harris-Stolper’s team members to be intentional with work, considering the broader impact of their actions and ensuring that their efforts contribute to the overall organizational goals. By acting with intent, individuals and teams can focus their energy on high-impact initiatives and drive meaningful results.

Challenging the Status-quo: For continuous improvement and innovation, Harris-Stolper aims to foster a culture of curiosity and critical thinking. This principle encourages every team member to question existing processes, assumptions, and norms. By challenging the status quo, we collectively attempt to identify inefficiencies, explore new possibilities, and drive positive change. Questioning everything promotes a growth mindset, encourages learning, and ensures that decisions are based on informed insights rather than assumptions.

Win as One Team: Success in any organization is a collective effort. Harris-Stolper emphasizes the importance of collaboration, communication, and mutual support. By fostering a culture of inclusivity and teamwork, we leverage the diverse skills, perspectives, and experiences of our team members. Working together towards a shared vision enables teams to overcome challenges, innovate, and deliver exceptional results. When individuals unite and celebrate each other’s successes, the entire organization thrives.

By embracing these guiding principles, Harris-Stolper intends to establish a strong foundation for success. These principles foster a customer-centric mindset, drive efficiency and agility, and encourage innovation and collaboration. As we continue to navigate the ever-changing business landscape, these guiding principles help us stay focused, adapt quickly, and achieve sustainable growth. Team Harris Stolper is committed to living these principles every day and building a brighter future for our team and the customers we serve.

The enduring effects of the pandemic have been “challenging”, to say the least.

Shipping container rates have jumped nearly tenfold.

Labor shortages continue, with 49% of U.S. small business owners stating they have job openings they can’t fill

Domestic shipping costs, via road and rail in North America, increased 43% from July 2020 to July 2021.

Delivery delays. Skyrocketing costs. Inflation.

Few industries have been left unscathed by the global supply chain chaos.

But…

If you look hard enough, there are some gems hiding in plain sight.

Here are three key industry segments you should pay attention to if you sell material handling equipment for a living:

Food Processing & Cold Storage

U.S. retail food sales exceeded $876 billion dollars in 2020.

It’s an industry segment that has been growing EVERY single year since 2009.

(And many claim the 2009 anomaly was just a result of the Great Recession. There were also 11 years of consistent growth from 1997 to 2008).

What makes this growth path so reliable?

The U.S. population is growing by 1.6 million people per year.

Human beings need to eat.

Large volumes of food get produced and packed onto pallets for road and rail transport across North America every single day.

And these same skids then require handling to move through the supply chain, making their way from food manufacturers to a retail outlet like your local grocery store.

In fact, many people don’t know that 70% of the food we consume passes through the ‘cold chain’.

These are additional temperature-controlled warehouses, containers, and trucks that can require special material handling equipment to accommodate cold temperatures in order to prevent food spoilage.

Until people stop eating, this industry segment shows no signs of slowing down.

Lumber & Building Materials

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, an estimated 811,000 new homes were sold in 2020.

19% more than 2019’s 683,000 new homes.

When you consider Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, it’s simple really. Food and Shelter are two of our most basic needs.

There’s still incredible demand for housing in many North American markets right now.

Lumber mills, retail lumber yards, and landscape wholesale distributors all require handling equipment to move material in and around their facilities.

“Are you kidding? Real estate is ridiculously overpriced right now, I’m staying put in my current residence,” you exclaim.

Good catch. You’re not the only one.

Home improvement spending also reached record levels due in large part to COVID and continuing social distancing measures.

For some, that might mean a new deck in the backyard. A kitchen reno. Or maybe finishing the basement.

All told, the Home Improvement Research Institute believes the best is yet to come for this $440 billion industry.

Pulp & Paper Manufacturing

According to Digital Commerce 360, it’s estimated that overall U.S. eCommerce sales grew to $839 billion in 2020.

That’s 40% higher than 2019’s figure of $598 billion and a LOT of corresponding cardboard boxes.

When the pandemic hit and people shifted their buying habits online, it required more packaging to safely deliver products to homes across North America.

Yes, those numbers dipped in 2021 as people resumed shopping in-person in some areas. But the web’s share of spending is still higher than it was pre-pandemic (and continues to grow).

And who can forget the Great Toilet Paper Drought? Consumer demand for toilet paper spiked 845% when COVID first hit back in 2020.

It has since stabilized, but the U.S. still produces 7 billion pounds of toilet paper per year.

Facilities like paper mills and the various warehouses these products move through require material handling attachments, and an assortment of material handling equipment in order to optimize workflows.

Conclusion

In the end, it doesn’t take much for working conditions in certain environments to get uncomfortable.

Below-zero temperatures. Extreme heat. Or just plain dirty working conditions can impede operator safety.

An enclosed operator cab minimizes these distractions, keeping operators comfortable and productive while doing this sort of work. If you need help navigating options, or with a particular application, we would love to assist you.