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Sensors find parking spots for tired truckers

Pilot program to provide truck parking updates via smartphone apps, dynamic road signage, and websites.

Truck drivers are often squeezed between the business need to deliver a load to its destination quickly and the federal safety regulation that requires them to pull over and rest after reaching their hours-of-service limit.

One of the top challenges with fulfilling these mandatory rest periods is that parking an 18-wheeler takes far more planning and navigation than it does for passenger cars. As they near the maximum limit of 11 hours per day behind the wheel, professional drivers can easily spend 30 minutes searching for a safe place to park their tractor-trailer, where its large size, running lights, and idling engine won't pose a safety risk to passing cars.


Now, a consortium of eight Midwestern states may have found a way to ease the challenge, deploying a network of automated sensors that monitor dedicated truck parking spots to count open slots and display that number on digital highway signs.

Under a $25 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation, the states of Kansas, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin will install the sensors on regional interstates.

Like a motel "vacancy" sign for freight carriers, the "Truck Parking Information and Management System" will share parking data with passing truck drivers on platforms such as smartphone applications, dynamic road signage, and websites.

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AI sensors on manufacturing machine

AI firm Augury banks $75 million in fresh VC

The New York-based industrial artificial intelligence (AI) provider Augury has raised $75 million for its process optimization tools for manufacturers, in a deal that values the company at more than $1 billion, the firm said today.

According to Augury, its goal is deliver a new generation of AI solutions that provide the accuracy and reliability manufacturers need to make AI a trusted partner in every phase of the manufacturing process.

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AMR robots in a warehouse

Indian AMR firm Anscer expands to U.S. with new VC funding

The Indian warehouse robotics provider Anscer has landed new funding and is expanding into the U.S. with a new regional headquarters in Austin, Texas.

Bangalore-based Anscer had recently announced new financial backing from early-stage focused venture capital firm InfoEdge Ventures.

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Report: 65% of consumers made holiday returns this year

Report: 65% of consumers made holiday returns this year

Supply chains continue to deal with a growing volume of returns following the holiday peak season, and 2024 was no exception. Recent survey data from product information management technology company Akeneo showed that 65% of shoppers made holiday returns this year, with most reporting that their experience played a large role in their reason for doing so.

The survey—which included information from more than 1,000 U.S. consumers gathered in January—provides insight into the main reasons consumers return products, generational differences in return and online shopping behaviors, and the steadily growing influence that sustainability has on consumers.

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Automation delivers results for high-end designer

When you get the chance to automate your distribution center, take it.

That's exactly what leaders at interior design house Thibaut Design did when they relocated operations from two New Jersey distribution centers (DCs) into a single facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 2019. Moving to an "empty shell of a building," as Thibaut's Michael Fechter describes it, was the perfect time to switch from a manual picking system to an automated one—in this case, one that would be driven by voice-directed technology.

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In search of the right WMS

IT projects can be daunting, especially when the project involves upgrading a warehouse management system (WMS) to support an expansive network of warehousing and logistics facilities. Global third-party logistics service provider (3PL) CJ Logistics experienced this first-hand recently, embarking on a WMS selection process that would both upgrade performance and enhance security for its U.S. business network.

The company was operating on three different platforms across more than 35 warehouse facilities and wanted to pare that down to help standardize operations, optimize costs, and make it easier to scale the business, according to CIO Sean Moore.

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