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.
As a specialist serving Australia’s alcoholic beverage supply chain, BevChain needs to operate swiftly and efficiently across a vast marketplace. The warehousing and distribution company handles more than 2.5 billion serving units of alcohol annually, delivering to 25,000 outlets across Australia and New Zealand. With all that ground to cover, there’s no time to waste.
To that end, BevChain has stepped up its game with a high-density automated storage and retrieval system (AS/RS) for palletized loads at its Auburn, New South Wales, facility, one of 22 warehousing and distribution centers in the BevChain network. Working with material handling automation solutions provider Swisslog, the company installed a PowerStore automated warehouse shuttle system that has improved productivity and increased storage-space utilization at the site—all while sharpening the company’s future-focused approach to logistics.
MAXIMIZING SPACE
PowerStore is designed for high-throughput applications in facilities looking to maximize space utilization—and that’s exactly what the team at BevChain was looking for at its Auburn facility, which company leaders say previously functioned as a largely traditional, manual warehouse operation. The new high-density storage system includes 30,000 pallet locations with vertical conveyors that transfer pallets to and from any of the machine’s five levels. The system includes 20 satellite aisle carriers and 20 row carriers, one in each level of the system’s four quadrants, which transfer pallets to and from their locations. The system is powered by Swisslog’s SynQ software, which is integrated with BevChain’s warehouse management system (WMS).
Thanks to PowerStore, formerly manual tasks have been automated, and the facility now runs a 24/6 operation—with faster throughput, improved accuracy, and a future-focused mindset at all levels of the organization.
“This technology-driven facility [is] giving our people the chance to gain new knowledge and skills in a ‘warehouse of the future,’” BevChain President Misha Shliapnikoff said in a statement describing the project. “This site represents BevChain’s commitment to work smarter for our customers. We continue to invest in their future with high-performing supply chains and best-in-class technology,” he added.
Among the project’s many benefits, BevChain has achieved a 60% increase in storage utilization at the site since implementing PowerStore. The facility has also experienced across-the-board performance improvement and reduced operational costs since going live in 2020.
IN IT FOR THE LONG HAUL
A hallmark of the project is the partnership between Swisslog and BevChain, which includes an on-site operations team from Swisslog to ensure the system continues to work efficiently and effectively. The team, which provides software support, training, condition monitoring, and spare-parts maintenance, is uniquely qualified to handle those tasks, the system’s provider says.
“Members of the same team that helped build the PowerStore solution are now part of the system operations team, which means they have a huge advantage when it comes to problem-solving and troubleshooting,” Paul Woodward, Swisslog maintenance manager, said in the statement describing the project. “Knowing how the system is connected—including parts that are no longer easily accessible—can save a lot of time when identifying issues in the future.”
Supply chain planning (SCP) leaders working on transformation efforts are focused on two major high-impact technology trends, including composite AI and supply chain data governance, according to a study from Gartner, Inc.
"SCP leaders are in the process of developing transformation roadmaps that will prioritize delivering on advanced decision intelligence and automated decision making," Eva Dawkins, Director Analyst in Gartner’s Supply Chain practice, said in a release. "Composite AI, which is the combined application of different AI techniques to improve learning efficiency, will drive the optimization and automation of many planning activities at scale, while supply chain data governance is the foundational key for digital transformation.”
Their pursuit of those roadmaps is often complicated by frequent disruptions and the rapid pace of technological innovation. But Gartner says those leaders can accelerate the realized value of technology investments by facilitating a shift from IT-led to business-led digital leadership, with SCP leaders taking ownership of multidisciplinary teams to advance business operations, channels and products.
“A sound data governance strategy supports advanced technologies, such as composite AI, while also facilitating collaboration throughout the supply chain technology ecosystem,” said Dawkins. “Without attention to data governance, SCP leaders will likely struggle to achieve their expected ROI on key technology investments.”
The British logistics robot vendor Dexory this week said it has raised $80 million in venture funding to support an expansion of its artificial intelligence (AI) powered features, grow its global team, and accelerate the deployment of its autonomous robots.
A “significant focus” continues to be on expanding across the U.S. market, where Dexory is live with customers in seven states and last month opened a U.S. headquarters in Nashville. The Series B will also enhance development and production facilities at its UK headquarters, the firm said.
The “series B” funding round was led by DTCP, with participation from Latitude Ventures, Wave-X and Bootstrap Europe, along with existing investors Atomico, Lakestar, Capnamic, and several angels from the logistics industry. With the close of the round, Dexory has now raised $120 million over the past three years.
Dexory says its product, DexoryView, provides real-time visibility across warehouses of any size through its autonomous mobile robots and AI. The rolling bots use sensor and image data and continuous data collection to perform rapid warehouse scans and create digital twins of warehouse spaces, allowing for optimized performance and future scenario simulations.
Originally announced in September, the move will allow Deutsche Bahn to “fully focus on restructuring the rail infrastructure in Germany and providing climate-friendly passenger and freight transport operations in Germany and Europe,” Werner Gatzer, Chairman of the DB Supervisory Board, said in a release.
For its purchase price, DSV gains an organization with around 72,700 employees at over 1,850 locations. The new owner says it plans to investment around one billion euros in coming years to promote additional growth in German operations. Together, DSV and Schenker will have a combined workforce of approximately 147,000 employees in more than 90 countries, earning pro forma revenue of approximately $43.3 billion (based on 2023 numbers), DSV said.
After removing that unit, Deutsche Bahn retains its core business called the “Systemverbund Bahn,” which includes passenger transport activities in Germany, rail freight activities, operational service units, and railroad infrastructure companies. The DB Group, headquartered in Berlin, employs around 340,000 people.
“We have set clear goals to structurally modernize Deutsche Bahn in the areas of infrastructure, operations and profitability and focus on the core business. The proceeds from the sale will significantly reduce DB’s debt and thus make an important contribution to the financial stability of the DB Group. At the same time, DB Schenker will gain a strong strategic owner in DSV,” Deutsche Bahn CEO Richard Lutz said in a release.
Transportation industry veteran Anne Reinke will become president & CEO of trade group the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) at the end of the year, stepping into the position from her previous post leading third party logistics (3PL) trade group the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), both organizations said today.
Meanwhile, TIA today announced that insider Christopher Burroughs would fill Reinke’s shoes as president & CEO. Burroughs has been with TIA for 13 years, most recently as its vice president of Government Affairs for the past six years, during which time he oversaw all legislative and regulatory efforts before Congress and the federal agencies.
Before her four years leading TIA, Reinke spent two years as Deputy Assistant Secretary with the U.S. Department of Transportation and 16 years with CSX Corporation.
As the hours tick down toward a “seemingly imminent” strike by East Coast and Gulf Coast dockworkers, experts are warning that the impacts of that move would mushroom well-beyond the actual strike locations, causing prevalent shipping delays, container ship congestion, port congestion on West coast ports, and stranded freight.
However, a strike now seems “nearly unavoidable,” as no bargaining sessions are scheduled prior to the September 30 contract expiration between the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and the U.S. Maritime Alliance (USMX) in their negotiations over wages and automation, according to the transportation law firm Scopelitis, Garvin, Light, Hanson & Feary.
The facilities affected would include some 45,000 port workers at 36 locations, including high-volume U.S. ports from Boston, New York / New Jersey, and Norfolk, to Savannah and Charleston, and down to New Orleans and Houston. With such widespread geography, a strike would likely lead to congestion from diverted traffic, as well as knock-on effects include the potential risk of increased freight rates and costly charges such as demurrage, detention, per diem, and dwell time fees on containers that may be slowed due to the congestion, according to an analysis by another transportation and logistics sector law firm, Benesch.
The weight of those combined blows means that many companies are already planning ways to minimize damage and recover quickly from the event. According to Scopelitis’ advice, mitigation measures could include: preparing for congestion on West coast ports, taking advantage of intermodal ground transportation where possible, looking for alternatives including air transport when necessary for urgent delivery, delaying shipping from East and Gulf coast ports until after the strike, and budgeting for increased freight and container fees.
Additional advice on softening the blow of a potential coastwide strike came from John Donigian, senior director of supply chain strategy at Moody’s. In a statement, he named six supply chain strategies for companies to consider: expedite certain shipments, reallocate existing inventory strategically, lock in alternative capacity with trucking and rail providers , communicate transparently with stakeholders to set realistic expectations for delivery timelines, shift sourcing to regional suppliers if possible, and utilize drop shipping to maintain sales.