Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 47.63
Improving the Yard Management Process There are over 100,000 warehouses, distribution centers, and manufacturing plants in the U.S. alone. With nearly 4 million retail stores and eCommerce websites to support, their supply chain and logistics processes must be as efficient as possible. 5.5 million trailers make 500 million shipments (facility to facility or facility to store) every single year all over the country. These shipments average over 200 miles each, taking up countless hours and funds. However, 80% of that time is spent with an idle trailer, unloaded, or loaded. This is wasted time and money. Employing technology to automate…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 5.81
…technology used for tracking inventory in equipment and storage yards. Apart this, the DroneScan system provides two revolutionary solutions to scanning products and pallets in warehouses. Either the Hadeda system consisting of a Drone and Dronescan payload which reaches the high shelves and methodically moves down the aisles scanning pallet barcodes. The micro-fulfillment shift Micro-fulfillment brings a distribution center closer to the end-customer which allows businesses to operate via an online delivery model and reduce costs of last-mile delivery for retailers. Micro-fulfillment centers are small warehouses that utilize high-end automated systems, AI and analytics to deliver goods rapidly. Companies such…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 36.69
…on human drivers in the midst of a significant truck driver shortage and leveraging the capabilities of modern technology, these companies are leading a charge that one day could give autonomous vehicles a real presence on the world’s highways and byways. Those vehicles won’t be limited to passenger automobiles. Also making their way into the autonomous realm are trucks, buses, and yard and shuttle trucks. In my opinion, these autonomous vehicles which operate in controlled environments, such as ports, manufacturing plants, and distribution center yards will be the first to go mainstream. Already, companies have made fully autonomous beer deliveries…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 19.89
…stopping, thereby making these trips quicker and more efficient. Truck freight: Trucks offer superior flexibility due to their ability to pick up and drop off freight at individual locations. However, they are limited in terms of their speed, particularly in high-density urban locations. Trucks are also hampered in remote areas where road infrastructure is weak or nonexistent, e.g. in emerging markets. Drones can provide dramatically faster solutions in both markets. In addition, drones could eliminate the need to pay employees to load and unload truck cargo and track inventory, which could all be done autonomously. Air freight: Airplanes are also…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 10.89
…focused (e.g. real-time route optimization, uberization of freight, autonomous trucks) but interesting concepts in warehousing and technology-driven productivity initiatives have emerged. Traditional warehousing operations are evolving dramatically with the help of technology innovators and logistics leaders must stay on top of these developments. Technology Innovators Shaping Warehousing Design and Productivity On-Demand Warehousing: Flow Space | Flexe | STORD | Ware2Go | Micro-Fulfillment Centers: Commonsense Robotics | Takeoff | Autonomous Mobile Robots: Opex | Fetch Robotics | Clearpath Robotics | Box Packaging Automation: Rockwell Automation | ProShip | WestRock | Collaborative Robots (Cobots): Locus| NextShift Robotics | inVia Robotics | Fetch…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 7.40
…companies use racks and shelving; 92% rely on lift trucks; 83% use dock equipment; and 74% rely on palletizers, pallets/totes, bins and containers. According to Modern’s survey, companies plan to upgrade existing or implement new lift trucks (58%); racks and shelving (47%); and dock equipment (47%) over the next 24 months. Right now, 63% of companies are using conveyor and sortation systems to automate their facilities, while 55% rely on weighing, cubing and dimensioning equipment. Thirty-three percent use goods-to-person picking solutions (i.e., donor totes delivered to workstations); 22% use automated storage (mini-loads, automated storage and retrieval systems, carousels and vertical…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 16.85
Driverless Cars and Trucks Forget what the experts and technogeeks are predicting for the era of driverless cars and trucks. What are the oddsmakers saying? Actually, Las Vegas is quite bullish on the prospect of driverless vehicles. In fact, Jim Murphy, an oddsmaking consultant for sports and non-sport novelty bets focused on the entertainment business, politics, technology and financial markets, is predicting that 21 million autonomous cars will be sold within the next 15 years. “Autonomous cars - better known as ‘self-driving cars’ - may seem the stuff of science fiction but they’re close to becoming reality,” says oddsmaker Murphy…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 16.64
…areas. He also noted that “PINC, a provider of yard management systems, has deployed a solution that utilizes drones to identify the location of trailers, shipping containers, and other assets in hard to reach areas. Equipped to carry GPS, RFID, OCR, and barcode readers, the drones can fly overhead to quickly locate and identify assets that have been tagged in a yard or port.” So, what is the state of drones in the supply chain today, nearly five years after the Bezos’ interview? To find out, I reached out to Matt Yearling, CEO of PINC, the yard management provider Vyas…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 22.86
Because lift trucks were not historically known for their brains, mobile computer terminals have been used to bring warehouse intelligence to the operator. Lately, as lift trucks become more connected and computerized, they are changing the patterns of how and where data moves through a facility, its devices and its equipment. There is massive potential for operational improvements from connecting telematics, warehouse execution, labor management and more. But, if you imagine each thread of communication as a string, many operations look more like spaghetti than a neatly woven braid. “The key is to establish one central point of conversation or…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 8.04
…companies are now starting to incorporate some automation in truck loading and unloading. Truck unloading robotics: To unload products, some companies are beginning to use industrial robots on mobile platforms that are attached to extendable conveyors. Featuring 3D vision, the robots autonomously move to trailers and either locate, grip or move products from the trailers to the extendable conveyors. “For unloading, the automation needs to know or find where products are within the trailer,” says Tim Criswell, senior vice president of innovation and technology development for Wynright, a wholly owned subsidiary of Daifuku North America Holding Co. “This requires the…