Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 7.19
…Labor and staff typically constitute 40-60% of the warehouse operations cost, so changes in the employment cost index correlate tightly with warehouse rates and contractual price adjustments. Minimum wage increases are pushing up wages for all low skilled labor. California minimum wage will go up from $10 in 2017 to $15 in 2023 which translates to a nearly 7% annual increase. Proposed legislation in other states indicates that the minimum wage could approach $15 in the next 3-5 years. Demand for highly skilled labor is accelerating in warehouses and employee requirements have evolved as service levels, performance and efficiency become…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 7.06
…them over $20 billion. But according to ARK Investing Group, Amazon could charge shoppers only $1 for drone delivery on packages under five pounds - welcomed savings on such otherwise high logistical costs. Consumers are willing to pay for faster deliveries, too. Last year, Amazon offered 1-day sooner shipping, and over two billion Prime members opted for this over the standard 2-day shipping option. This year, Amazon will spend $800M on free 1-day delivery for Prime customers. It seems that cheaper and speedier deliveries are a winning combination. Thinking Inside The Box: Drones In The Warehouse While full-fledged commercial drones…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 6.92
…using robotics since General Motors installed its first pick-and-place robot on the line in 1961. That’s 60 years of robotics utilization. The materials handling industry is just now piloting, and in some case rolling out, piece-picking robots, typically in small pilots. Anecdotal reasons for the reluctance to embrace automation The cost and availability of labor: Manufacturers grappled with high wages, especially in unionized industries. For them, automation was easier to justify. Meanwhile, labor in distribution facilities was plentiful and comparatively cheap. Throwing more bodies at the problem was a viable solution. Land was available and inexpensive: When most distribution was…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 6.14
…to third-party logistics (3PL) providers for help. Peerless Research Group’s (PRG) annual survey, conducted in January of 2019, found that 32% of respondents were proceeding with investments given the state of the economy, down from a 42% response to the same question last year. That 32% level is more in line with the 35% for the “proceeding with investments” response in 2017 and above the 28% in 2016. 2019 Respondent Demographics Peerless Research Group’s (PRG) e-mail survey questionnaire was sent to readers of Logistics Management and Modern Materials Handling in December 2018 and January of 2019, yielding 246 qualified respondents.…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 5.88
…orchestrate the vehicles, optimize their usage, and expedite yard operations. ZF’s electrically-driven Innovation Van, for example, combines an electric powertrain with advanced autonomous technologies, using a smart algorithm that factors in customer requests in real-time, while also calculating the most efficient delivery route. Gaining Steam In May, the U.S. Postal Service announced that it was testing self-driving trucks on a more than 1,000-mile mail run between Phoenix and Dallas, the post office’s first use of the technology for long hauls. The two-week pilot used big rigs supplied by autonomous trucking firm TuSimple to haul trailers on five round trips between…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 5.57
…for providing introductions, although this is the most well-rounded group I've ever seen. As Optimus Ride switches gears to full commercialization after years of focusing on R&D, having a nonpolitical advisory board means we can be completely honest about what we think about what's best for the company. That's invaluable for a CEO. Where do Optimus Ride's shuttles fit into the autonomous vehicle ecosystem? Harrington: Verizon's AV interest was in infrastructure, such as traffic lights and data moving from V2X [vehicle-to-everything communications]. I was introduced to Optimus Ride about a year before joining. I immediately gravitated to the idea of…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 5.39
…portfolio and integration services for supply chain and manufacturing operations at the first-ever global Automate! conference on Oct. 6. As supply chains grow more complex, Körber said it “provides a broad range of proven, end-to-end supply chain solutions fitting any business size, strategy or appetite for growth.” These offerings include software, automation, voice, robotics, and materials handling technologies. The supply chain business area is a part of The Körber Group in Hamburg, Germany. Körber at Elevate APAC “The past 18 months have been challenging for retailers and logistics providers worldwide,” stated Nishan Wijemanne, managing director of software for APAC at…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 5.27
…but there are four action modes to choose from. Group function powered disruption: the company uses its Adhoc project team and other relevant in-house skills to tackle a major disruption. The project team is created to carry out this task and they use all the resources within their reach in the organization to solve the problem at hand. This mode of action is forceful for the management and they have to start considering and assessing the strategic issues with the whole company while ensuring that they have control of the solution, so they can overturn the situation to give them…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 3.86
…head of supply chain management research at ARC Advisory Group. “If you use a warehouse management system with radio frequency guns, you’re not executing processes with paper, you are doing things digitally. The same holds true if you’re using electronic data interchange, which also has been around a long time. What’s new today are things like network-based, end-to-end visibility solutions.” There are other enablers of digital supply chain management, say analysts and technology executives. At the crux of these advances is the ability to reflect and react to what’s going on in the real-world supply chain—to track the condition or…