Found in
The headline in the weekend Wall Street Journal caught my eye. “More Online Shoppers Are Taking It Offline.” The gist of the article was that pretty much everyone, including the materials handling industry, assumed that in-person shopping was dead in the water. Instead, the Journal reported, “stores are mounting a comeback. … By the fourth quarter of 2021….consumer buying habits…
Found in
Okay, I was a skeptic and boy, was I wrong! I arrived in Atlanta last Sunday with memories of Modex 2020 dancing in my head. As anyone who was there remembers, attendance was sparse on the busiest of days. Having attended one event this past January with light traffic, and reading accounts of other events that have struggled to get…
Found in
OK, I was a skeptic. Boy, was I wrong! I arrived in Atlanta last week with memories of MODEX 2020 dancing in my head. As anyone who was there remembers, attendance was sparse on the busiest of days. Having attended one event this past January with light traffic, and reading accounts of other events that have struggled to get people…
Found in
Okay, I was a skeptic and boy, was I wrong! I arrived in Atlanta last Sunday with memories of Modex 2020 dancing in my head. As anyone who was there remembers, attendance was sparse on the busiest of days. Having attended one event this past January with light traffic, and reading accounts of other events that have struggled to get…
Found in
The last major live event I attended was Modex in March 2020. I will never forget walking off the first leg of the fight home from Atlanta into the Baltimore airport. It was around 9 PM on a Wednesday night, the gate monitors were tuned to CNN, and as I entered the terminal, the president was announcing a national emergency.…
Found in
The last major live event I attended was Modex in March 2020. I will never forget walking off the first leg of the fight home from Atlanta into the Baltimore airport. It was around 9 PM on a Wednesday night, the gate monitors were tuned to CNN, and as I entered the terminal, the president was announcing a national emergency.…
Found in
“Integration” is considered a dirty word by many in industry. Sure, there are more software and automation tools than ever, but getting them to play nicely with one another can still be a major challenge. CJ Logistics wanted to add robots and other technologies to a 1.1 million-sq.-ft. facility in Dallas, but it needed to address integration with the help…
Found in
Materials handling is in my DNA. Not only did I grew up around the industry, I’ve been writing professionally about it since 1984. So, the last 5 or 6 years has been a pretty exciting time, with investments in conventional automation along with the emergence of robotics in the warehouse and distribution center. Wearing my Supply Chain Management Review cap,…
Found in
Small to midsize distributors have begun to adopt automation. For instance, we featured NorthShore Care Supply's use of autonomous mobile robots last year. Now, robotic palletizing has sped up receiving operations, taken labor out of the process, and created a safer work environment. In July of 2020, I toured NorthShore Care Supply's recently opened 173,000-square-foot distribution center (DC) north of…
Found in
Editor’s note: This is the second of two stories focused on the adoption of automation by small to mid-sized distributors. In the November issue, we learned how Top Notch Distributors made the leap from paper-based, pick-to-cart operations to system-directed pick-to-robots. In this issue, we revisit NorthShore Care Supply, which we featured in the September 2020 System Report, to see how…
Found in
Until recently, small to midsize distributors weren't expected to invest in high levels of automation, but changing customer expectations driven by e-commerce and improving technology capabilities have brought robotics within reach. Goods-to-person and robot-to-goods picking systems can now affordably deliver the same levels of service for business-to-business purchases as for business-to-consumer ones. One example is Top Notch Distributors Inc., which…
Found in
How do you design a warehouse to support sales of €1 billion ($1.16 billion U.S.) per year? That warehouse will have to support multiple business channels, including regional business-to-business customers as well as a global distribution network. That was the question put to the logistics team at HARTING Technology Group in 2012. “After 20 years, the software running our existing…
Found in
When Modern Materials Handling (a sibling site to Robotics 24/7) is interviewing companies for a “System Report,” one of the questions we always ask is: What were your goals for the project? After all, most distribution teams have a bulleted list of three or four high-level goals for a project or a new facility. Typically, they are along the lines…
Found in
The “2021 MHI Annual Industry Report,” conducted with Deloitte, opens with a quote from John Paxton, CEO of the Materials Handling Institute. “Supply chain resilience has never been more important,” he wrote. “Companies that made investments in digital technologies prior to the pandemic were more prepared and able to adapt, survive and even thrive during this disruption. They will also…
Found in
Mount Adams Fruit Bingen, Washington Square Footage: 250,000 square feet Automated Storage and Retrieval: 7 levels of storage, including the floor level, reaching 80 feet tall. 5,916 pallet positions are serviced by 17 pallet rovers, 3 vertical reciprocating lifts and 20 opportunity chargers. Products Handled: Pears and apples SKUs: 1,000 Throughput: The system is currently putting 60 pallets per hour…
From geometry preparation to AI-assisted analysis, integrated CFD workflows…
Software-based GripperAI manages mixed picking through basic geometry
Safety, communication and motion control components enable smooth operation
North America’s largest robotics and automation event winds down
