Conveyors, sorters, and mobile automation find their sweet spot
Experts from the conveyor, sortation, and robotics industries weigh in on the benefits of these technologies and how they can be successfully deployed in distribution operations.
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.
Automation has been a game-changer for distribution centers. Conveyors transport products from point to point efficiently. Sortation systems redirect products to various destinations. And automated mobile load carriers, such as automated guided vehicles (AGVs) and autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), transport products and reduce steps for workers who perform tasks like order picking. As labor continues to be difficult, if not impossible, to find, these systems will play an even greater role in distribution operations.
DC Velocity Group Editorial Director David Maloney recently gathered four experts who are members of MHI’s Conveyor and Sortation Solutions Group (CSS) and Mobile Automation Group (MAG) to discuss the advantages of these technologies and how they can work together to reduce labor, boost productivity, and speed products on their journey. What follows are some excerpts from their discussion.
Q: When somebody asks you what’s the best type of system for their operation, what do you tell them?
Gil Leyba – logistics consultant: That is easy: It depends. These are highly bespoke systems, with different operations, products, dimensions, weights, and characteristics. It could be a greenfield facility or a brownfield facility. Even your execution plan can totally change depending on the specifics.
So, what system is going to work best for you? It requires guys like us asking you the right questions. That is the only way to design systems that solve not just the problems that customers are facing today, but also whatever problems the future could conceivably hold.
Q: How do you know which technology provider to choose out of the many within the market?
John Hayes – Balyo:The really important thing is to look at what your vendor has done in the past. It is very easy for a vendor to say that it can do something and it typically can, given enough time and money. Do a little due diligence up front and take a look at a company that has done what you are looking to do. It eliminates an awful lot of risk on the back side. I think one of the true benefits of MHI is that you have a group of people who have done these things for ages.
Q: Customers obviously want longevity with any system they install—they don’t want it to become obsolete tomorrow or the next day. Given how fast things change, how long do they want to keep that system running before they replace it?
Chris Woodall - Hytrol:The first question you really need to ask is “Are you going to have maintenance staff and are you going to do preventative maintenance?” Many companies no longer have the staff to do preventative maintenance or even routine maintenance on their equipment. They are going to hire it all out. That can actually change which type of equipment they need because some equipment is easier to work on than others, and with some, the downtime is less. Conveyors are easily going to last 20 years as long as you take care of them. We’ve got some that have run longer than that—25, 30 years.
Q: How knowledgeable are customers when they come to you looking for automation?
Kai Beckhaus – MCJ: The bigger customers have internal innovation groups. They are typically very well informed and know a lot about the technology and different vendors. They understand the difference between a startup technology that drives the adoption of automation versus the more reliable, more established, more customized, and purpose-fit applications.
The smaller customer, by contrast, comes to us because it has a need and is attracted by marketing. Those can require a little bit more education on what the technology really can do—what the advantages are in deploying an automatic guided vehicle versus an autonomous mobile robot, or even differences between using conveyors and AGVs.
Q: What are the criteria used for choosing the best conveyor for a particular application?
Chris Woodall – Hytrol: The first thing we are always going to ask is what are the products to be conveyed and what are their specifications. Not only does it matter what the min, max, and average is, but what is your end rate? What is your final rate of sortation at the shipping sorter? That is what most people focus on, but we need to know about every single area in the operation. What throughput are you trying to get? Are the products to be conveyed polybags, envelopes, or totes? Are their bottoms flat, concave, or convex?
If you don’t have those details, you are just kind of throwing darts at a board and hoping something sticks. It always comes down to the product. That is where you start making the selections.
Q: What are some of the reasons for deploying an AGV in lieu of a forklift or even a conveyor?
Kai Beckhaus – MCJ: A main criterion is repetitive transport in a defined environment. From there, the technology selection process is very similar to what we just heard from the conveyor side. It is more about describing the challenge: I have this many pallets that need to be transferred.
We hear a lot of customers say they have three forklifts manually operating and want three AGVs to do the same thing. But that is the wrong approach because there are a lot of differences between forklifts and AGVs.
It is about looking at the application, something that is repetitive, that has a clear environment, and then your vendor will suggest how many and what type—whatever type of automation is best suited for the job.
Q: Are AGVs as fast as people operating forklifts? If not, does that mean you need more AGVs to move the same amount of volume?
John Hayes – Balyo: AGVs are not quite as fast because of the safety standards the industry adheres to. In order to be as safe as possible, we typically all cap our speeds at somewhere between two and three meters per second. So, a rule of thumb is that it takes 1.3 to 1.5 AGVs per forklift operator.
It starts to make [more economic] sense if you take one forklift and replace it with one AGV and then you work two shifts, because even though you replace one motive piece of equipment (a forklift), you replace two operators. When you go to three shifts, you replace three operators, and the return on investment makes even more sense.
So, no, it is not a one-for-one replacement, which is why the paradigm has always benefited two- or three-shift operations for AGVs. That is the sweet spot, but it is getting better. Prices are coming down. Labor rates are going up. That is why we design a system around throughput, not the number of vehicles.
Q: How are these systems supported after installation? Are warranties and maintenance packages available?
Gil Leyba – logistics consultant: Yes, that is fairly standard within our industry because these are capital investments that are expected to last years. In the case of conveyor sortation systems, it could be over 10 or even 20 years depending on how it is maintained. The better it is maintained, the longer life it is going to give you. We design a system around that ability to maintain it, whether it is us offering the maintenance packages after the sale or training the customer and giving them the tools, materials, the spares, and access to remote support they need to do it themselves. This is what customers expect and demand.
Editor’s note: MHI’s Conveyor and Sortation Systems Industry Group (CSS) and Mobile Automations Group (MAG) are independent authorities for end-users and suppliers on market trends, technology developments, and applications. For more information on the groups’ work and a list of CSS and MAG members, visit www.mhi.org.
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.”