The material handling world is shifting faster than ever and needs continuous improvement. While many things play a part in the shift, there are ways to enhance your material handling readiness for 2026. MTC has the solutions to support your company’s needs while improving operations overall.
Are you experiencing labor shortages, rising energy costs, and increasing labor costs? What about new food‑safety expectations and rapid adoption of lithium technology? If so, you are not alone in these challenges.
Many of the current challenges are forcing facilities to rethink how they operate. The good news is, with the right planning, you can stay ahead of these changes and build a safer, efficient, and more resilient operation.
MTC supports both forklift fleets and food‑processing operations, helping facilities strengthen performance across every part of their workflow.
This blog outlines the essential steps every facility should take to prepare its material handling environment in 2026.
What Challenges Should Facilities Expect in 2026?
Facilities are navigating a perfect storm of performance demands. Labor shortages continue to strain productivity, pushing teams to do more with fewer hands.
Automation is expanding into even the smallest operations, helping ease some of the labor shortages. Thanks to the efficiency and uptime advantages of lithium batteries, they are rapidly becoming the preferred power source. Meanwhile, food safety regulations are tightening, and environmental goals are driving the need for efficient equipment and workflows.
Facilities that adapt early will benefit from lower downtime, higher productivity, and fewer safety risks.
How to Prepare Your Battery and Charging Strategy
Your power strategy is one of the most critical factors in facility performance. Many operations are considering lithium batteries because they charge quickly, last longer, and need less maintenance. Multi‑shift forklift fleets especially benefit from a well‑designed lithium charging infrastructure.
With a lithium fleet, opportunity charging is becoming standard practice. Our team understands your operation and recommends the equipment that keeps your facility running efficiently and without obstacles. For example, you should place chargers strategically and train operators on proper opportunity charging habits.
Lead‑acid fleets benefit greatly from our CCA Battery Management System. Built to help boost efficiency and reduce downtime in your warehouse. It can quickly identify issues such as improper charging, sulfation, or batteries that no longer deliver their rated capacity.
CCA monitors lead-acid fleets to make sure operators follow proper habits and that the fleet uses energy efficiently. Together, these insights help facilities prevent avoidable failures and keep equipment running at peak performance.
How to Prepare Your Food‑Handling and Sanitation Strategy
Your food‑handling strategy is just as critical to facility performance as your power strategy. With higher food‑safety standards and greater throughput demands, facilities need equipment and processes that are ready.
Stainless‑Steel Equipment Integration
The only way to withstand harsh washdown environments, reduce contamination risks, and improve long‑term durability is stainless-steel. A well‑designed stainless‑steel equipment plan supports consistent sanitation cycles and reduces unplanned downtime. We build stainless-steel dumpers, lifts, conveyors, and more in our food line, specifically made for these environments.
Ergonomic & Safe Handling Tools
Food‑processing environments rely heavily on manual movement of ingredients and products. MTC’s ergonomic handling tools (custom lifts, tilters, and dumpers) reduce strain, improve operator safety, and support consistent throughput. Matching the right tool to the right load prevents injuries and protects product integrity.
When Equipment Upgrades Become Necessary for Safety and Efficiency
Aging or mismatched equipment affects both warehouse operations and food‑processing environments.
Equipment Assessments: Regular assessments help identify units that are inefficient or costing more to repair than replace. Upgrading to equipment with modern safety features protects operators and reduces long‑term costs.
Load Requirement Review: Pallets, ingredients, or finished goods all present different challenges. Using the right attachments and handling tools ensures safe and efficient movement of materials.
MTC’s engineered solutions help reduce downtime, improve safety, and support long‑term reliability of your future operations.
Optimizing Workflow to Reduce Bottlenecks
Even small bottlenecks can create significant losses. Workflow optimization looks different depending on the environment, but both sides of the operation benefit from intentional design.
Battery Room Flow: Facilities should regularly review charger access, change‑out processes, and battery room organization. MTC has a team that can help design layouts that support safer, faster work.
Food‑Processing Throughput: In food‑handling environments, the right dumpers, cookers, and stainless‑steel equipment dramatically improve throughput. Facilities should evaluate:
- Whether sanitation cycles are slowing production
- If manual labor can be reduced with custom equipment
- How layout changes could improve flow without major construction
Let MTC’s team evaluate your space to create a more efficient operation.
Why Training Is Essential to Prepare Operations
Technology only works when people know how to use it. Training is one of the highest‑ROI investments a facility can make.
Operators: Operators need clear, updated guidance. Whether that’s proper charging habits or safe use of stainless‑steel equipment. Consistent training protects battery life, reduces downtime, and keeps workflows running smoothly.
Maintenance Teams: Maintenance teams must understand how new equipment works to troubleshoot issues quickly and safely. This applies to both battery systems and food‑processing machinery.
Supervisors: Supervisors must stay current on safety protocols and compliance requirements, from OSHA standards to food‑safety regulations. Their oversight ensures safe operations and reduces risk across the facility.
A well‑trained team reduces accidents, extends equipment life, and keeps production moving.
Key Questions for a Facility’s Readiness Assessment
Use this self‑assessment to identify improvement opportunities:
- Are your batteries meeting runtime expectations?
- Is your charging area compliant and efficient?
- Do you have aging equipment costing more in repairs than productivity?
- Are sanitation or change‑out processes slowing production?
- Is your team trained on the latest equipment and safety standards?
- Are you planning for lithium integration in the next 12–24 months?
- Is your team following a preventative maintenance schedule?
- Are you using the right equipment for your load types and workflow?
If you answered “no” or “not sure” to any of these, it may be time to evaluate your facility’s readiness.
How MTC Helps Facilities Prepare for the Future
Preparing for the future shouldn’t be overwhelming. MTC has spent decades helping facilities improve safety, efficiency, and uptime with engineered solutions built to last.
Whether you’re considering lithium, upgrading equipment, improving sanitation throughput, or redesigning your workflow, our team can help. We’ll partner with you to design an equipment plan that positions your operation for success in 2026 and beyond.
Ready to prepare your facility? Contact MTC to schedule a consultation or discuss your equipment needs.