V and B—Vin et Bière, or Wine and Beer—has been growing, with 262 bar stores, and 80% of them franchised. The French company plans to open a new 7,200 sq. m (77,500 sq. ft.) warehouse in January 2024 in Château Gontier sur Mayenne. V and B has decided to use SCALLOG robots to meet its performance, agility, and corporate social responsibility objectives. The concept behind the V and B franchise is a combination of a wine and beer cellar with a bar for people to meet after work to “share good times around good products.” With 20 to 25 openings…
The Manifest Vegas 2024 team has shared a sneak peek of what attendees can expect to see and hear on the Plenary Stage on both Feb. 6 and 7, 2024. A collection of C-level executives, recent winners of Alcott Global's Leaders of Supply Chain Awards 2023 and Gartner Inc.'s No. 1 Top Global Supply Chain company will take the stage at the Las Vegas event. This group includes: Amiee Bayer-Thomas, chief supply chain officer of Ulta Beauty Harald Emberger, chief supply chain officer of Beiersdorf Kenneth Engel, senior vice president for global supply ghain, North America, at Schneider Electric Sally…
Brightpick yesterday announced strong global sales growth for its Autopicker robots, which debuted in February. The privately held company said it has ramped up operations to fill the demand, and it is now manufacturing hundreds of robots annually for installations around the world at its plant in Europe. “Demand for Brightpick Autopicker has far exceeded our expectations,” said Jan Zizka, co-founder and CEO of Brightpick, in a release. “E-commerce and e-grocery companies seem to quickly understand the operational enhancements that a fleet of Brightpick Autopicker robots can provide,” he said. “Our strongest traction is in grocery and pharmaceuticals, probably because…
Körber Business Area Supply Chain and Geekplus Technology Co. today celebrated three years of strategic partnership. The companies said the anniversary is “an important milestone in Körber's journey to provide businesses worldwide with efficient, scalable, and sustainable end-to-end logistics solutions.” The partners said they have successfully deployed thousands of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) in 30 implementations in eight regions. Körber and Geek+ claimed that their joint customers have more than doubled productivity, improved accuracy up to 99.99%, and reduced distances walked by warehouse associates by up to 82%. Customers throughout Europe, America, and Asia-Pacific are currently relying on Geek+'s expertise…
One of the most promising areas for autonomous vehicles is in logistics yards. Fernride GmbH today announced that it has obtained $19 million in funding, bringing its today Series A round to $50 million. “By closing our Series A at $50M, we have established an investor base consisting of multiple corporates and large venture funds that can provide us many key strategic advantages along the value chain, as well as fund our ambitious growth plans to build the global category leader for autonomous, electric trucking,” stated Hendrik Kramer, co-founder and CEO of Fernride. Kramer, Maximilian Fisser, and Jean-Michael Georg founded…
FANUC Corp. yesterday announced that it has produced 1 million industrial robots. The company said its robots are used in factories “all over the world to assemble, handle, package, paint, and weld products of every shape and size.” “Companies are striving to achieve their goals as they face an increasing labor shortage,” stated Mike Cicco, president and CEO of FANUC America Corp., in a release. “Whether it’s a small shop or large assembly operation, we’re seeing more requests for easy-to-use automated solutions that will provide a quick ROI [return on investment] – FANUC is well-positioned to meet those needs.” FANUC…
stow Group yesterday announced the launched of its Movu Robotics brand, which replaces the name “stow Robotics” and is intended to strengthen the company's robotics business unit as it meets increasing customer demand for storage automation and warehouse robots. “Faced with challenges of labor shortages, cost increases, storage density, growing volumes, and [the need to improve] accuracy, companies are turning to robotics and automation for solutions,” stated Jos de Vuyst, CEO of stow Group. “Movu Robotics offers an integrated ecosystem of standardized and scalable automation technology that speeds rollout and reduces risk for all kinds of customers.” He added that…
Warehouse operations around the world have an urgent need for improved visibility, better space utilization, and increased efficiency, asserted Dexory. The London-based company today said it has secured additional funding from Schenker Ventures, the corporate investment arm of DB Schenker. The investment followed Dexory's $19 million Series A round. The company said it plans to use the funding to introduce its DexoryView platform across Europe and the U.S. in the coming months. “Technology that operates autonomously, provides real-time insights, possesses intuitive interfaces, and seamlessly integrates can lead to a revolutionary transformation in the day-to-day efficiency, productivity, and precision of warehouse…
Humanoid robots are especially attractive for human-machine interactions. Sphere Entertainment Co. today announced that its Aura humanoid robot will permanently reside in the grand atrium of Sphere is Las Vegas. The “spokesbot” will interact with guests and “serve as an integral part of 'The Sphere Experience' featuring Darren Aronofsky’s Postcard from Earth,” said the company. “Aura’s role at Sphere marks a truly innovative application of robots, providing guests from around the globe with an opportunity to move into the future of entertainment and interact within a new technological frontier,” said David Dibble, CEO of MSG Ventures, a division of Sphere…
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. today announced the AMD Kria K24 System-on-Module, or SOM, and the KD240 Drives Starter Kit, the latest additions to its Kria portfolio of adaptive SOMs and developer kits. The AMD Kria K24 SOM offers power-efficient compute in a small size for cost-sensitive industrial and commercial edge applications, said the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company. The KD240 Drives Starter Kit is a motor control-based developer platform designed to be ready to use out of the box, according to AMD. The two new products enable developers to bring motor control and DSP (digital signal processing) applications to market faster…
Logistics integrator Korber and mobile robot provider Geek+ said they empower businesses to overcome efficiency, scalability, and sustainability challenges.
