Are smartphones and tablets ready for prime time (in the DC)?
Their low price point has some companies considering adopting consumer mobile devices for use in the DC. But it's not clear these devices are quite up to the task yet.
David Maloney has been a journalist for more than 35 years and is currently the group editorial director for DC Velocity and Supply Chain Quarterly magazines. In this role, he is responsible for the editorial content of both brands of Agile Business Media. Dave joined DC Velocity in April of 2004. Prior to that, he was a senior editor for Modern Materials Handling magazine. Dave also has extensive experience as a broadcast journalist. Before writing for supply chain publications, he was a journalist, television producer and director in Pittsburgh. Dave combines a background of reporting on logistics with his video production experience to bring new opportunities to DC Velocity readers, including web videos highlighting top distribution and logistics facilities, webcasts and other cross-media projects. He continues to live and work in the Pittsburgh area.
With the explosion in the use of smartphones and tablets, it was probably only a matter of time before these devices found their way into the distribution center. For workers who have eagerly embraced these technologies in their daily lives, bringing them into the workplace wouldn't seem like much of a stretch. "People are more connected today," says Jim Plas, vice president of Xplore Technologies, a manufacturer of rugged tablet computers. "We have a younger generation of workers who are used to being digitally connected."
But it's not just a matter of familiarity. Cost enters into it as well. While industrial-grade handhelds and tablets have been available for years, they're much more expensive than their mass-market counterparts. So it's not surprising that companies would be tempted to try using off-the-shelf technology—the kind of stuff that can be purchased at the local Best Buy or Walmart—in their distribution operations. But is that a smart strategy?
Well, it depends on how and where they're used.
For example, take a supervisor who works mainly in an office but occasionally carries a tablet out into the warehouse to deal with a problem on the spot. In that case, a consumer tablet would probably fill the bill nicely.
It's a different story for workers whose duties take them outdoors or who spend much of their day on the dock or in the aisles of a DC. If the devices they use will routinely be exposed to heat, cold, rain, vibration, dust, drops, or in the case of cold storage facilities, condensation, companies should steer clear of consumer-grade electronics. They simply won't stand up to the punishment, experts say.
RUGGED FOR A REASON
Consider, for example, the tablet computers used by forklift operators. Although mass-market tablets might be able to provide the necessary computing power and functionality, it's doubtful they could survive the day-to-day rigors of the distribution environment. For one thing, the vibration caused by travel over uneven concrete surfaces—or the jarring that occurs when lift trucks are driven from docks into trailers—would likely damage their delicate electronics. For another, if the trucks encounter wide variations in temperature—say, when moving in and out of coolers or air-conditioned buildings on a hot summer day—the resulting condensation is liable to cause the unit to fog up or stop working entirely.
That's why in applications like these, an industrial unit would be a more suitable choice. There are forklift-mounted "ruggedized" tablet on the market that are designed specifically to work where they'll be exposed to potentially damaging conditions. Most can withstand not just vibration but also drops from at least six feet. They are also sealed against humidity and moisture, eliminating the risk of condensation.
These industrial units have other advantages as well. Many tablets are built to be hot-dockable, meaning that the worker can remove the device from the truck and carry it over to the product for scanning or data entry. The tablet can then be snapped back into place on the lift truck.
Most also feature large touchscreens, which give drivers an easier way to enter data than tapping on a small keyboard, says Xplore's Plas. They're designed to be more readable, too. "The screens are very bright and sunlight viewable, so they are easier on the eyes," he adds.
The screens themselves differ from those found on most consumer tablets. The industrial versions use a resistive screen, meaning they're designed to respond to the pressure of a finger. Consumer products typically use a "capacitive" touchscreen that responds to the heat of the user's finger. The problem with heat-based touch is that it's not very effective in cold work environments, such as a freezer, or in applications where workers wear gloves.
CALL ME MAYBE
So what about smartphones? Like tablet devices, today's smartphones boast a large amount of computing capability. Most consumer smartphones compare in form factor with established handheld warehouse devices like bar-code readers, and they can even be outfitted with add-on scanners. But when it comes to their suitability for use in DCs, it's pretty much the same story as with tablets. That is to say, while these devices have their supporters—mostly for their convenience and low initial cost—many observers dismiss them as being too fragile to handle the vibration, falls, and other impacts that are part and parcel of warehouse operations.
Physical conditions aren't the only factor to come into play. There's also performance. Generally speaking, the scanners that are available as add-ons to smartphones are rudimentary in design and are better suited for the occasional swipe than for high-volume scanning operations. On top of that, most of these add-on scanners have a limited read range, so a user must be positioned right next to a bar code to read it. Consumer devices also have a limited life cycle of support and function, while most industrial devices offer a life of five to 10 years.
"Smaller companies may take the risk of using a consumer device, but the cost of a failure can be significant," warns Mark Wheeler, director of industry solutions at Motorola Solutions. "If you have to do scanning on a regular basis, for instance, then it's better to have a device designed for scanning. Performance is really the factor."
GETTING BETTER ALL THE TIME
In the meantime, technologies continue to emerge that have the potential to completely alter the equation. Motorola, for instance, has introduced a new ruggedized handheld computer that offers the familiarity of a smartphone. The new device, the MC40 enterprise mobile computer, works on the Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system.
Other companies, such as Honeywell, are trying to bridge the gap between industrial and consumer products. The company is introducing a skid, or protective package, for the iPad that will make up for some of its shortcomings in industrial use. The protective skid will include a case with a built-in bar-code reader.
In addition, Honeywell this summer will introduce a ruggedized smartphone that is waterproof and comes with a built-in scanner. It will be priced lower than industrial tablet devices and is designed to work on a Wi-Fi network, eliminating the need for costly cell service.
And the trend shows no sign of slowing. Doug Brown, vertical marketing manager for warehouse, supply chain, and healthcare at Honeywell, believes that users' familiarity with consumer devices will only push the market to design more similar devices for the industrial workplace. "There is a hunger for these devices at a lower price point in this industry," he says. "We will see more adoption—maybe 20 to 25 percent will be using this class of device within the next five years."
Tablets find a home in receiving
Chemical management company Haas Group is convinced the third time will be the charm, at least where its receiving technology is concerned. The West Chester, Pa.-based company, which specializes in the handling, storage, and delivery of hazardous and other chemicals on a just-in-time basis, has long struggled with the question of how best to collect data on incoming items at its DCs. The various chemicals have different handling and storage requirements, and receiving must "qualify" the products as they come in, making data collection a time-consuming process, explains Stephen Skidmore, business systems manager at Haas.
Over the years, Haas has experimented with different methods of data collection. Initially, workers recorded the necessary information with pen and paper, but that proved cumbersome and slow. Then, the company shifted to PCs on carts, but these got dirty and failed. Now, the company is about to go mobile. Next month, it will begin piloting the use of ruggedized tablet computers for critical receiving tasks.
The new units are enterprise-ready Motorola ET1 tablets that run on a souped-up Android platform. Unlike the PCs, the new tablets do not have a keyboard to get dirty and no carts are required. Their portability is an added plus, according to Skidmore. "Our workers will now be able to take the tablet to the work instead of leaving the work to go to a PC and back," he says.
In the first phase of the project, Hass will deploy 10 tablets to handle the receiving functions in its Boston-area DC. Phase two calls for the rollout of 100 tablets at seven large distribution facilities around the country.
Software is now being written to walk the worker though the receiving process. Basically, an associate will read the incoming item's bar code using the tablet's built-in scanner and then take a photo of the item using the tablet's camera. He or she will then carry out the remaining steps via the tablet's touchscreen.
Skidmore says one of the tablet's main selling points was its large screen and scanning capability. "That made it a winner for us," he says. It also helped that the devices are intuitive and user-friendly, he adds. "It is absolutely necessary for success that our users adopt them," he notes. "We imagine that eventually they'll be knocking down the door with ideas for applications where the tablets can be used to solve problems elsewhere."
A move by federal regulators to reinforce requirements for broker transparency in freight transactions is stirring debate among transportation groups, after the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) published a “notice of proposed rulemaking” this week.
According to FMCSA, its draft rule would strive to make broker transparency more common, requiring greater sharing of the material information necessary for transportation industry parties to make informed business decisions and to support the efficient resolution of disputes.
The proposed rule titled “Transparency in Property Broker Transactions” would address what FMCSA calls the lack of access to information among shippers and motor carriers that can impact the fairness and efficiency of the transportation system, and would reframe broker transparency as a regulatory duty imposed on brokers, with the goal of deterring non-compliance. Specifically, the move would require brokers to keep electronic records, and require brokers to provide transaction records to motor carriers and shippers upon request and within 48 hours of that request.
Under federal regulatory processes, public comments on the move are due by January 21, 2025. However, transportation groups are not waiting on the sidelines to voice their opinions.
According to the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), an industry group representing the third-party logistics (3PL) industry, the potential rule is “misguided overreach” that fails to address the more pressing issue of freight fraud. In TIA’s view, broker transparency regulation is “obsolete and un-American,” and has no place in today’s “highly transparent” marketplace. “This proposal represents a misguided focus on outdated and unnecessary regulations rather than tackling issues that genuinely threaten the safety and efficiency of our nation’s supply chains,” TIA said.
But trucker trade group the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) welcomed the proposed rule, which it said would ensure that brokers finally play by the rules. “We appreciate that FMCSA incorporated input from our petition, including a requirement to make records available electronically and emphasizing that brokers have a duty to comply with regulations. As FMCSA noted, broker transparency is necessary for a fair, efficient transportation system, and is especially important to help carriers defend themselves against alleged claims on a shipment,” OOIDA President Todd Spencer said in a statement.
Additional pushback came from the Small Business in Transportation Coalition (SBTC), a network of transportation professionals in small business, which said the potential rule didn’t go far enough. “This is too little too late and is disappointing. It preserves the status quo, which caters to Big Broker & TIA. There is no question now that FMCSA has been captured by Big Broker. Truckers and carriers must now come out in droves and file comments in full force against this starting tomorrow,” SBTC executive director James Lamb said in a LinkedIn post.
The “series B” funding round was financed by an unnamed “strategic customer” as well as Teradyne Robotics Ventures, Toyota Ventures, Ranpak, Third Kind Venture Capital, One Madison Group, Hyperplane, Catapult Ventures, and others.
The fresh backing comes as Massachusetts-based Pickle reported a spate of third quarter orders, saying that six customers placed orders for over 30 production robots to deploy in the first half of 2025. The new orders include pilot conversions, existing customer expansions, and new customer adoption.
“Pickle is hitting its strides delivering innovation, development, commercial traction, and customer satisfaction. The company is building groundbreaking technology while executing on essential recurring parts of a successful business like field service and manufacturing management,” Omar Asali, Pickle board member and CEO of investor Ranpak, said in a release.
According to Pickle, its truck-unloading robot applies “Physical AI” technology to one of the most labor-intensive, physically demanding, and highest turnover work areas in logistics operations. The platform combines a powerful vision system with generative AI foundation models trained on millions of data points from real logistics and warehouse operations that enable Pickle’s robotic hardware platform to perform physical work at human-scale or better, the company says.
Bloomington, Indiana-based FTR said its Trucking Conditions Index declined in September to -2.47 from -1.39 in August as weakness in the principal freight dynamics – freight rates, utilization, and volume – offset lower fuel costs and slightly less unfavorable financing costs.
Those negative numbers are nothing new—the TCI has been positive only twice – in May and June of this year – since April 2022, but the group’s current forecast still envisions consistently positive readings through at least a two-year forecast horizon.
“Aside from a near-term boost mostly related to falling diesel prices, we have not changed our Trucking Conditions Index forecast significantly in the wake of the election,” Avery Vise, FTR’s vice president of trucking, said in a release. “The outlook continues to be more favorable for carriers than what they have experienced for well over two years. Our analysis indicates gradual but steadily rising capacity utilization leading to stronger freight rates in 2025.”
But FTR said its forecast remains unchanged. “Just like everyone else, we’ll be watching closely to see exactly what trade and other economic policies are implemented and over what time frame. Some freight disruptions are likely due to tariffs and other factors, but it is not yet clear that those actions will do more than shift the timing of activity,” Vise said.
The TCI tracks the changes representing five major conditions in the U.S. truck market: freight volumes, freight rates, fleet capacity, fuel prices, and financing costs. Combined into a single index indicating the industry’s overall health, a positive score represents good, optimistic conditions while a negative score shows the inverse.
Specifically, the new global average robot density has reached a record 162 units per 10,000 employees in 2023, which is more than double the mark of 74 units measured seven years ago.
Broken into geographical regions, the European Union has a robot density of 219 units per 10,000 employees, an increase of 5.2%, with Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Slovenia in the global top ten. Next, North America’s robot density is 197 units per 10,000 employees – up 4.2%. And Asia has a robot density of 182 units per 10,000 persons employed in manufacturing - an increase of 7.6%. The economies of Korea, Singapore, mainland China and Japan are among the top ten most automated countries.
Broken into individual countries, the U.S. ranked in 10th place in 2023, with a robot density of 295 units. Higher up on the list, the top five are:
The Republic of Korea, with 1,012 robot units, showing a 5% increase on average each year since 2018 thanks to its strong electronics and automotive industries.
Singapore had 770 robot units, in part because it is a small country with a very low number of employees in the manufacturing industry, so it can reach a high robot density with a relatively small operational stock.
China took third place in 2023, surpassing Germany and Japan with a mark of 470 robot units as the nation has managed to double its robot density within four years.
Germany ranks fourth with 429 robot units for a 5% CAGR since 2018.
Japan is in fifth place with 419 robot units, showing growth of 7% on average each year from 2018 to 2023.
Progress in generative AI (GenAI) is poised to impact business procurement processes through advancements in three areas—agentic reasoning, multimodality, and AI agents—according to Gartner Inc.
Those functions will redefine how procurement operates and significantly impact the agendas of chief procurement officers (CPOs). And 72% of procurement leaders are already prioritizing the integration of GenAI into their strategies, thus highlighting the recognition of its potential to drive significant improvements in efficiency and effectiveness, Gartner found in a survey conducted in July, 2024, with 258 global respondents.
Gartner defined the new functions as follows:
Agentic reasoning in GenAI allows for advanced decision-making processes that mimic human-like cognition. This capability will enable procurement functions to leverage GenAI to analyze complex scenarios and make informed decisions with greater accuracy and speed.
Multimodality refers to the ability of GenAI to process and integrate multiple forms of data, such as text, images, and audio. This will make GenAI more intuitively consumable to users and enhance procurement's ability to gather and analyze diverse information sources, leading to more comprehensive insights and better-informed strategies.
AI agents are autonomous systems that can perform tasks and make decisions on behalf of human operators. In procurement, these agents will automate procurement tasks and activities, freeing up human resources to focus on strategic initiatives, complex problem-solving and edge cases.
As CPOs look to maximize the value of GenAI in procurement, the study recommended three starting points: double down on data governance, develop and incorporate privacy standards into contracts, and increase procurement thresholds.
“These advancements will usher procurement into an era where the distance between ideas, insights, and actions will shorten rapidly,” Ryan Polk, senior director analyst in Gartner’s Supply Chain practice, said in a release. "Procurement leaders who build their foundation now through a focus on data quality, privacy and risk management have the potential to reap new levels of productivity and strategic value from the technology."