John Hill, director of consulting firm St. Onge Co., long-time member of Material Handling & Logistics’ Editorial Advisory Board, and an icon of the material handling industry, passed away on April 15, 2024. In his long and storied career, he worked for several automatic data collection, material handling and supply chain execution systems firms with over 100 successful AIDC (bar code, RFDC & RFID), warehouse equipment and warehouse (WMS) and transportation management (TMS) systems installations.
Hill’s experience included supply chain benchmarking and strategy development, network and operations performance optimization, process and systems design, and the selection and deployment of technology and systems. He led numerous consulting engagements, including logistics assessments, requirements analysis and the development of specifications, supplier selection, training and coordination of material handling, data collection and warehouse/transportation management system implementations for companies such as Coca-Cola, Ford, GE, GM, HP, Inland Steel, the Keebler Company, Lockheed, and many others.
Hill was co-founder of the Automatic Identification Manufacturers (AIM) trade association, as well as a charter member of AIDC 100, a non-profit association of automatic identification/data capture professionals who significantly contributed to the growth of the industry. He served as president of the Material Handling Education Foundation and the Material Handling Institute. He was also a member of the MHI’s Board of Governors. He co-founded MHI’s Supply Chain Execution Systems & Technologies and Integrated Systems & Controls groups.
Hill began his career with 3M Company and served on the boards of several industry firms, including Computer Identics, DataMax, ESYNC, Source Technologies and TrueDemand. He was honored by Material Handling Management (now MH&L) in 2004 with the Material Handling Innovation Award. He was also a recipient of the 1997 Norman L. Cahners and 2004 Reed-Apple awards for contributions to the U.S. material handling industry.
According to his obituary, John Miller Hill was born in 1937 in St. Paul, MN, and is survived by his wife, Barbara, as well as children, grandchildren and a great-grandchild. He will be laid to rest privately, with military honors at the California Central Coast Veteran’s Cemetery at Fort Ord. The family requests that remembrances be made in the form of contributions to MHI’s Material Handling Industry’s Education Foundation, Inc. (MHEFI), to the John Hill Scholarship Fund.
You can read our interview with John Hill on the occasion of his winning the Material Handling Innovation Award here.
