Victoria Kickham started her career as a newspaper reporter in the Boston area before moving into B2B journalism. She has covered manufacturing, distribution and supply chain issues for a variety of publications in the industrial and electronics sectors, and now writes about everything from forklift batteries to omnichannel business trends for DC Velocity.
There’s no shortage of robotic material handling technology on the market today, and many organizations find themselves bombarded with solutions at trade shows and in other venues, enticing them toward automation, “Industry 4.0,” and the “smart” warehouse. The technological advances are impressive and the appeal great, leading many to seek out and implement robotic technology on a variety of levels.
But once a company decides to implement a particular robotic solution in its warehouse or distribution center—whether for picking, palletizing, automated truck unloading, or another task—it faces a critical next step: figuring out how to integrate that solution into its operation as part of a larger system. The technology will need to work with other equipment and infrastructure, including a longtime workhorse of the warehouse: conveyors.
Blending the tried-and-true with the up-and-coming is something conveyor manufacturers and systems integrators say is becoming a more important part of material handling system design.
“They must work hand in hand,” Tim Kraus, product manager for logistics and material handling at conveyor manufacturer Intralox, says of conveyors and robotics. “Even the most sophisticated lights-out order fulfillment designs have some supporting conveyor. The most cost-effective means to transport items—full cases, totes, individual items, packaged orders—in a consistent path is a simple conveyor.”
Kraus and other conveyor professionals say the convergence of robotics and conveyors can lead to increased productivity and quality while reducing error rates—factors that help improve a company’s competitiveness in today’s marketplace.
“If you look at all of those factors, the idea of integrating robots and conveyors has many benefits,” says Kevin Reader, director of business development and marketing for logistics solutions provider Knapp, pointing to software, design, and other technologies as keys to making it all work.
WORKING HAND IN HAND
Conveyor manufacturers are finding many ways to integrate with the plethora of robotic solutions on the market. As one example, Kraus says Intralox is working with e-commerce and parcel end-users and their integrators to “optimize the presentation of orders” to a robot—that is, conveying items to a robotic picking arm or sorter in a way that maximizes efficiency, accuracy, and, ultimately, payback of the robotic investment, which can be considerable.
“If a conveying system can optimize the conveying to that robot, it’s a huge opportunity” for customers, Kraus explains. “In some cases, you can see where an articulated arm is picking up an item, and if our conveyors and sorters can help singulate an item, presenting one thing at a time instead of a pile of items, that makes it easier for the robot.”
Barry Miller, integrator and subsystems manager for material handling equipment maker Interroll, agrees and adds that controlling the precise movement of a box on a conveyor helps in this regard as well. Advanced conveyor control systems make this possible, giving the systems integrator or robotics provider the ability to communicate efficiently with all aspects of the conveyor system so that items can be placed in the same spot over and over again to accommodate the robotic solution in use.
“Robots thrive off of repetition,” Miller explains. “So, if we can stop that box in the same location every time and make it easy for the integrator to do, then we’ve provided a proven solution” that can maximize productivity and efficiency.
FINDING COMMON GROUND
Palletizing is one of the most common applications in which conveyors and robotics converge, Miller adds, explaining that products are conveyed to a robot that then builds the pallets. In more complex applications, systems can feed cases of products to robots for picking and palletizing, and then convey the pallets farther down the line to forklift operators for truck loading. He says some integrators are blending conveyors and automated guided vehicles (AGVs) in unique ways as well.
Kraus agrees and offers additional examples of ways in which the technologies could work together. For instance:
A robotic operation to piece-pick individual items for order fulfillment out of totes might need a storage and retrieval system and supporting conveyor with right-angle transfers that can quickly deliver and exchange totes. If the supporting conveyor system can’t operate fast enough, it may require more robots to achieve the required throughput during peak seasons.
A robotic operation designed to pick up completed e-commerce orders for sortation will operate faster and with greater accuracy if the orders can be presented individually rather than in a large pile. It’s often cost and space prohibitive to keep orders completely singulated when they’re being conveyed to the robot, but conveyors and sorters can thin out this bulk flow and present it to the robot in a way that, again, keeps the robot working efficiently and optimizes the investment.
Traditionally, nonconveyable items that are large, irregularly packaged, or unstable eat up a disproportionate amount of labor in a material handling system. Many operations are looking for ways to reduce this labor, and they are looking at mobile robotics as an option. But getting these nonconveyable items to and from the robots can still be a manual-intensive process, Kraus says. Customers are looking for ways in which a conveyor system can work in conjunction with these systems to help minimize the strain and stress on a reduced available labor pool. The conveyor systems might be designed to feed or take items away from the robot.
Simplicity of operation is also an important factor. Reader adds that integrating the various software and controls involved in a material handling system becomes even more complex when robotics enter the mix; despite that challenge, every system must be streamlined and simple in its execution.
“This is not a trivial integration,” Reader says of robotics and material handling in general. “In order to make it streamlined and simple, the core technology behind it is quite complex. But it needs to be simple to execute from a customer perspective. That’s the challenge.”
Such challenges are likely to intensify as robotics take on a larger role in the warehouse and DC, Miller adds.
“Over the last few years, robots have become a major player in automation—in collaboration with conveyors and conveyor equipment,” he says. “As we move into what everyone calls ‘Industry 4.0’ and automating more things, you see more and more robots. And those robots are no good without equipment to feed them.”
Nearly one-third of American consumers have increased their secondhand purchases in the past year, revealing a jump in “recommerce” according to a buyer survey from ShipStation, a provider of web-based shipping and order fulfillment solutions.
The number comes from a survey of 500 U.S. consumers showing that nearly one in four (23%) Americans lack confidence in making purchases over $200 in the next six months. Due to economic uncertainty, savvy shoppers are looking for ways to save money without sacrificing quality or style, the research found.
Younger shoppers are leading the charge in that trend, with 59% of Gen Z and 48% of Millennials buying pre-owned items weekly or monthly. That rate makes Gen Z nearly twice as likely to buy second hand compared to older generations.
The primary reason that shoppers say they have increased their recommerce habits is lower prices (74%), followed by the thrill of finding unique or rare items (38%) and getting higher quality for a lower price (28%). Only 14% of Americans cite environmental concerns as a primary reason they shop second-hand.
Despite the challenge of adjusting to the new pattern, recommerce represents a strategic opportunity for businesses to capture today’s budget-minded shoppers and foster long-term loyalty, Austin, Texas-based ShipStation said.
For example, retailers don’t have to sell used goods to capitalize on the secondhand boom. Instead, they can offer trade-in programs swapping discounts or store credit for shoppers’ old items. And they can improve product discoverability to help customers—particularly older generations—find what they’re looking for.
Other ways for retailers to connect with recommerce shoppers are to improve shipping practices. According to ShipStation:
70% of shoppers won’t return to a brand if shipping is too expensive.
51% of consumers are turned off by late deliveries
40% of shoppers won’t return to a retailer again if the packaging is bad.
The “CMA CGM Startup Awards”—created in collaboration with BFM Business and La Tribune—will identify the best innovations to accelerate its transformation, the French company said.
Specifically, the company will select the best startup among the applicants, with clear industry transformation objectives focused on environmental performance, competitiveness, and quality of life at work in each of the three areas:
Shipping: Enabling safer, more efficient, and sustainable navigation through innovative technological solutions.
Logistics: Reinventing the global supply chain with smart and sustainable logistics solutions.
Media: Transform content creation, and customer engagement with innovative media technologies and strategies.
Three winners will be selected during a final event organized on November 15 at the Orange Vélodrome Stadium in Marseille, during the 2nd Artificial Intelligence Marseille (AIM) forum organized by La Tribune and BFM Business. The selection will be made by a jury chaired by Rodolphe Saadé, Chairman and CEO of the Group, and including members of the executive committee representing the various sectors of CMA CGM.
The global air cargo market’s hot summer of double-digit demand growth continued in August with average spot rates showing their largest year-on-year jump with a 24% increase, according to the latest weekly analysis by Xeneta.
Xeneta cited two reasons to explain the increase. First, Global average air cargo spot rates reached $2.68 per kg in August due to continuing supply and demand imbalance. That came as August's global cargo supply grew at its slowest ratio in 2024 to-date at 2% year-on-year, while global cargo demand continued its double-digit growth, rising +11%.
The second reason for higher rates was an ocean-to-air shift in freight volumes due to Red Sea disruptions and e-commerce demand.
Those factors could soon be amplified as e-commerce shows continued strong growth approaching the hotly anticipated winter peak season. E-commerce and low-value goods exports from China in the first seven months of 2024 increased 30% year-on-year, including shipments to Europe and the US rising 38% and 30% growth respectively, Xeneta said.
“Typically, air cargo market performance in August tends to follow the July trend. But another month of double-digit demand growth and the strongest rate growths of the year means there was definitely no summer slack season in 2024,” Niall van de Wouw, Xeneta’s chief airfreight officer, said in a release.
“Rates we saw bottoming out in late July started picking up again in mid-August. This is too short a period to call a season. This has been a busy summer, and now we’re at the threshold of Q4, it will be interesting to see what will happen and if all the anticipation of a red-hot peak season materializes,” van de Wouw said.
The report cites data showing that there are approximately 1.7 million workers missing from the post-pandemic workforce and that 38% of small firms are unable to fill open positions. At the same time, the “skills gap” in the workforce is accelerating as automation and AI create significant shifts in how work is performed.
That information comes from the “2024 Labor Day Report” released by Littler’s Workplace Policy Institute (WPI), the firm’s government relations and public policy arm.
“We continue to see a labor shortage and an urgent need to upskill the current workforce to adapt to the new world of work,” said Michael Lotito, Littler shareholder and co-chair of WPI. “As corporate executives and business leaders look to the future, they are focused on realizing the many benefits of AI to streamline operations and guide strategic decision-making, while cultivating a talent pipeline that can support this growth.”
But while the need is clear, solutions may be complicated by public policy changes such as the upcoming U.S. general election and the proliferation of employment-related legislation at the state and local levels amid Congressional gridlock.
“We are heading into a contentious election that has already proven to be unpredictable and is poised to create even more uncertainty for employers, no matter the outcome,” Shannon Meade, WPI’s executive director, said in a release. “At the same time, the growing patchwork of state and local requirements across the U.S. is exacerbating compliance challenges for companies. That, coupled with looming changes following several Supreme Court decisions that have the potential to upend rulemaking, gives C-suite executives much to contend with in planning their workforce-related strategies.”
Stax Engineering, the venture-backed startup that provides smokestack emissions reduction services for maritime ships, will service all vessels from Toyota Motor North America Inc. visiting the Toyota Berth at the Port of Long Beach, according to a new five-year deal announced today.
Beginning in 2025 to coincide with new California Air Resources Board (CARB) standards, STAX will become the first and only emissions control provider to service roll-on/roll-off (ro-ros) vessels in the state of California, the company said.
Stax has rapidly grown since its launch in the first quarter of this year, supported in part by a $40 million funding round from investors, announced in July. It now holds exclusive service agreements at California ports including Los Angeles, Long Beach, Hueneme, Benicia, Richmond, and Oakland. The firm has also partnered with individual companies like NYK Line, Hyundai GLOVIS, Equilon Enterprises LLC d/b/a Shell Oil Products US (Shell), and now Toyota.
Stax says it offers an alternative to shore power with land- and barge-based, mobile emissions capture and control technology for shipping terminal and fleet operators without the need for retrofits.
In the case of this latest deal, the Toyota Long Beach Vehicle Distribution Center imports about 200,000 vehicles each year on ro-ro vessels. Stax will keep those ships green with its flexible exhaust capture system, which attaches to all vessel classes without modification to remove 99% of emitted particulate matter (PM) and 95% of emitted oxides of nitrogen (NOx). Over the lifetime of this new agreement with Toyota, Stax estimated the service will account for approximately 3,700 hours and more than 47 tons of emissions controlled.
“We set out to provide an emissions capture and control solution that was reliable, easily accessible, and cost-effective. As we begin to service Toyota, we’re confident that we can meet the needs of the full breadth of the maritime industry, furthering our impact on the local air quality, public health, and environment,” Mike Walker, CEO of Stax, said in a release. “Continuing to establish strong partnerships will help build momentum for and trust in our technology as we expand beyond the state of California.”