The Invisible Backbone: How Alta Material Handling and PeakLogix Keep America’s Goods Moving
As America marks 250 years, Alta Material Handling and its automation division, PeakLogix, are helping the warehouses behind everyday life move faster, safer and more efficiently.
For most Americans, the journey a product takes before it reaches their home goes unseen. The groceries in the pantry, the snacks in the cupboard and the package on the front porch have almost all passed through a warehouse along the way. Roughly nine cents of every dollar spent in the U.S., about $2.6 trillion a year, moves through warehousing and distribution, making the industry integral to the nation’s economy and to everyday life.
Alta Material Handling has been part of that story for four decades. The company opened its first location in Detroit, Michigan, in 1984, just as American manufacturing was scaling up and warehouses were shifting from ‘places to store goods’ into hubs of speed and coordination. That single location has since grown into a network of more than 40 locations coast to coast, and over 80 when you include Alta’s construction equipment division. Today Alta employs over 2,500 people, and its technicians have completed more than 12 million service hours for customers. The company credits that growth to a simple principle: investing in the best people.
The pressures on warehouses have only intensified. Labor is tighter, demand keeps climbing, and consumers expect delivery times that didn’t exist even five years ago. Across the industry, operators are working to move goods faster, safer and more efficiently, and the old approach of adding more racking or pallet positions is no longer enough. The operations that thrive will be those where equipment, data and integrated systems work together to guide decisions.
That is where PeakLogix, Alta’s automation division, plays a central role. Built by people who have worked inside warehouses and distribution centers themselves, PeakLogix understands what customers face day in and day out. Alta and PeakLogix bring lift equipment, storage, and automation together, designing layouts and workflows that reduce travel, improve space and cube utilization, and lower the cost to serve. The results show up in efficiency, quality and safety, and in less congested aisles, less walking for workers and fewer tasks that add no value.
That approach is on display at John B. Sanfilippo & Sons (JBSS), a major producer and distributor of nuts, trail mixes, snacks, candy and bars. JBSS needed its facility in Huntley, Illinois, to become a central consolidation and distribution point with better visibility, more capacity and higher efficiency. Operations Manager Tim Takach describes Alta as “a true partner,” and the partnership didn’t end once the project was complete. Alta’s account manager stays closely involved, and a service technician works on site, so support is never far from the warehouse floor. Since JBSS takes on new projects every year, Alta’s broad portfolio lets the company rely on a single partner for material handling, racking, and automation. And when Tim’s operation needs extra equipment, Alta’s rental department, which Takach calls second to none, has been able to deliver every time.
Modern warehouses increasingly act as extensions of the businesses they serve, sharing inventory and order data in real time so both sides can make smarter decisions and reduce waste. Alta and PeakLogix help customers transform their operations with solutions that can be phased in and scaled over time, so businesses can use space and capital wisely and pivot as their needs change.
As America marks 250 years, the systems that keep goods moving remain largely out of sight, but no less essential. By listening first, investing in its people and building long-term partnerships, Alta Material Handling is helping American warehouses prepare for what comes next, so its customers are never left scrambling to keep up.
