The autonomous mobile robot (AMR) vendor Mobile Industrial Robots (MiR) is celebrating its 10th anniversary as both the Danish startup and the industry it helped to found begin the transition from cutting-edge tech startups to producers of mature material handling equipment.
Less than a decade ago, the idea of fully autonomous mobile robots interacting seamlessly with human employees in warehouses and production facilities seemed a futuristic vision, according to MiR, which today is owned by Teradyne Inc. But today, thousands of AMRs from MiR alone deliver parts, transport finished products, and handle multiple other logistics tasks without the need for human operators, separate work areas, or external guidance.
And analysts are forecasting double-digit growth for AMR sales every year through at least 2027 and a period of multi-decade growth. “MiR was one of the early movers in the AMR industry and was visionary in developing a scalable platform of robots that could be easily deployed and integrated into factories and warehouses,” Ash Sharma, managing director at Interact Analysis, said in a release. “It continues to innovate and has helped the industry to grow from a fledgling industry to what is now a multi-billion-dollar sector with AMRs deployed in thousands of buildings around the world.”
Not many robot makers are older than 10 years, with the exception of Vecna (founded in 1998) and Seegrid (2003), which began their lives focused on related automation platforms like automated guided vehicles (AGVs). And it was just 11 years ago that Amazon acquired industry pioneer Kiva Systems in 2012. But a flock of others will soon reach the decade mark, including Fetch Robotics (now owned by Zebra, and founded in 2014), ForwardX (2016), Geek+ (2015), 6 River Systems (now owned by Ocado, founded in 2015), and Locus Robotics (2014).
MiR President Jean-Pierre Hathout sees customers now transitioning from using AMRs in pilots to using AMRs 24x7 in production applications. “In the first 10 years of MiR’s history, we led the industry with innovative AMRs as we scaled globally with our customers,” Hathout said in a release. “I couldn’t be more excited about the next 10 years as we build on that innovation to provide a full range of AMR solutions on common software for our global customers.”
Indeed, software will be the crucial ingredient that helps AMRs gain even greater market share in DCs around the world, he said. By gathering robotic operating data on cloud platforms, fleet owners will be able to manage and optimize the operations of their robots by gaining actionable insights to improve deployments.
“As robot fleets grow, so does the demand for software tools to optimize performance and manage full fleets,” Hathout said. “If we want AMRs to be as common as forklifts and pallet lifters, it is essential that we lower the barriers for implementation, reprogramming, and maintenance. We have already made substantial progress in this direction, and I firmly believe we have only glimpsed the true potential of automated logistic solutions.”
Sometimes, all you need is the right partner to solve your logistics problems.
In 2021, global paint supplier Sherwin Williams faced driver and hazardous material (hazmat) capacity constraints: There simply weren’t enough hazmat drivers available in its fleet to maintain the company’s 90% fleet utilization rate expectations for key partner store deliveries while also meeting growing demand for service. Those challenges threatened to become even more acute in the future, as a competing paint supply company began to scale back its operations in the Pacific Northwest, leaving Sherwin Williams with an opportunity to fill the gap.
The paint supplier needed a logistics partner that could help it overcome the shortage of hazmat drivers while also helping to manage its West Coast trailer pools, out-of-region runs, and ad-hoc freight. It also needed a solution that would meet quarterly and annual fleet budgets.
SCALING UP
Enter ITS Logistics, a third-party logistics service provider (3PL) that offers supply chain solutions for drayage, network transportation, distribution, and fulfillment across North America. ITS proposed a combined owned-asset and asset-light approach that would provide Sherwin Williams with the equivalent of 21 additional drivers. The 3PL would leverage its carrier network to overcome the shortage of hazmat capacity while also certifying its own drivers via a three-month process. Further, ITS would help manage Sherwin Williams’ trailer pools and coordinate carriers, providing the paint company with a single point of contact for transportation.
The project would address cost concerns as well: “ITS Logistics aligned its solution with Sherwin Williams’ budgetary cadence and offered a quarterly business review to align on price structure, adding a level of transparency and trust to the relationship,” according to a case study the partners released earlier this year.
The companies soon sealed the deal and launched the program.
Not long after that, Sherwin Williams began to feel the effects of the anticipated challenges in the Pacific Northwest—but the company was prepared. When the competing paint supply company shuttered its operations, causing demand for Sherwin Williams’ products to spike, ITS injected a blend of owned trailers and carrier power to alleviate equipment challenges, cover all locations and regions, and help the paint supplier scale to meet volume.
CLOSING THE GAPS
The project has helped Sherwin Williams rapidly scale its capacity, meet fleet utilization requirements, manage trailer pools, coordinate carriers, and flex to meet spikes in regional demand.
And the results speak for themselves.
“ITS integrating themselves into our fleet was instrumental in helping increase our outbound volume by 18.4 million pounds [year over year] in the last seven months of 2023,” said Ted Taxon, regional transportation manager at Sherwin Williams, in the case study. “This equated to approximately 460 truckloads of extra freight, a large portion of which ITS [handled] on an ad-hoc basis with no operational constraints or quality issues.”
The partnership also helped Sherwin Williams maintain a 90% fleet utilization rate with big box retailers—an increase from less than 70% prior to the partnership’s launch.
The trucking industry faces a range of challenges these days, particularly when it comes to load planning—a resource-intensive task that often results in suboptimal decisions, unnecessary empty miles, late deliveries, and inefficient asset utilization. What’s more, delays in decision-making due to a lack of real-time insights can hinder operational efficiency, making cost management a constant struggle.
Truckload carrier Paper Transport Inc. (PTI) experienced this firsthand when the company sought to expand its over the-road (OTR), intermodal, and brokerage offerings to include dedicated fleet services for high-volume shippers—adding a layer of complexity to the business. The additional personnel required for such a move would be extremely costly, leading PTI to investigate technology solutions that could help close the gap.
Enter Freight Science and its intelligent decision-recommendation and automation platform.
PTI implemented Freight Science’s artificial intelligence (AI)-driven load planning optimization solution earlier this year, giving the carrier a high-tech advantage as it launched the new service.
“As PTI tried to diversify … we found that we needed a technological solution that would allow us to process [information] faster,” explains Jared Stedl, chief commercial officer for PTI, emphasizing the high volume of outbound shipments and unique freight characteristics of its targeted dedicated-fleet customers.
The Freight Science platform allowed PTI to apply its signature high-quality service to those needs, all while handling the daily challenges of managing drivers and navigating route disruptions.
STREAMLINING PROCESSES
Dedicated fleets face challenges that evolve from day to day and minute to minute, including truck breakdowns, drivers calling in sick, and rescheduled appointment times. PTI needed a tool that allowed for a real-time view of the fleet, ultimately enabling its team to adjust truck and driver allocation to meet those challenges.
The Freight Science solution filled the bill. The platform uses advanced analytics and algorithms to give carriers better visibility into operations while automating the decision-making process. By combining streaming data, a carrier’s transportation management system (TMS), machine learning, and decision science, the solution allows carriers to deploy their fleets more efficiently while accurately forecasting future needs, according to Freight Science.
In PTI’s case, Freight Science’s software integrates with the carrier’s TMS, real-time electronic logging device (ELD) data, and other external data, feeding an AI model that generates an optimized load plan for the planner.
“We’re an integrated data analytics company for trucking companies,” explains Matt Foster, Freight Science’s president and CEO. “We’re talking about AI.”
The benefits of the real-time data are difficult to overstate.
“We’ve been able to execute in the toughest of situations because we’ve got real, live data on how long each event is actually going to take and a system to aid and even automate the decision-making process,” says Chad Borley, PTI’s operations manager. “From what traffic patterns we are battling in the morning and evening with rush hour and things like that, to the impact of additional miles to a route, or even location-specific dwell times, it’s been a huge differentiator for us.”
REALIZING RESULTS
A case in point: the collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge in March. PTI was scheduled to go live with a new dedicated account in the area just days after the collapse, which would mean rerouting and the potential for longer transit times. Instead of recalculating based on assumptions or latent data, PTI was able to reroute freight based on real-time information and analytics to give the customer timely updates.
“With the bridge going out, that changed our ability to make as many turns a day as the customer would expect,” Stedl explains. “But one of the things Freight Science could do [was to] quickly [assess] how much of an impact that traffic would have [and] what the turns [would] be based on what’s happening on the ground.
“So we were able to go back to the customer and readjust expectations in a real way that made sense, using data. Now expectations can be reset¾we’re not asking for forgiveness when there’s no reason for it.”
The system’s advanced algorithms make load planning more cost-effective and scalable as well. The platform allows PTI to monitor trucks, trailers, and driver hours in real time, recommending additional loads with remaining driver hours that would otherwise be wasted.
And they’re doing it all with much less. Stedl says tasks that used to require five people and hours of work can now be accomplished by one person in mere minutes, improving productivity and profitability while reducing labor and operational costs.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Aptean said the move will add new capabilities to its warehouse management and supply chain management offerings for manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors, retailers, and 3PLs. Aptean currently provides enterprise resource planning (ERP), transportation management systems (TMS), and product lifecycle management (PLM) platforms.
Founded in 1980 and headquartered in Durham, U.K., Indigo Software provides software designed for mid-market organizations, giving users real-time visibility and management from the initial receipt of stock all the way through to final dispatch of the finished product. That enables organizations to optimize an array of warehouse operations including receiving, storage, picking, packing, and shipping, the firm says.
Specific sectors served by Indigo Software include the food and beverage, fashion and apparel, fast moving consumer goods, automotive, manufacturing, 3PL, chemicals, and wholesale / distribution verticals.
Schneider says its FreightPower platform now offers owner-operators significantly more access to Schneider’s range of freight options. That can help drivers to generate revenue and strengthen their business through: increased access to freight, high drop and hook rates of over 95% of loads, and a trip planning feature that calculates road miles.
“Collaborating with owner-operators is an important component in the success of our business and the reliable service we can provide customers, which is why the network has grown tremendously in the last 25 years,” Schneider Senior Vice President and General Manager of Truckload and Mexico John Bozec said in a release. "We want to invest in tools that support owner-operators in running and growing their businesses. With Schneider FreightPower, they gain access to better load management, increasing their productivity and revenue potential.”
The port worker strike that began yesterday on Canada’s west coast could cost that country $765 million a day in lost trade, according to the ALPS Marine analysis by Russell Group, a British data and analytics company.
Specifically, the labor strike at the ports of Vancouver, Prince Rupert, and Fraser-Surrey will hurt the commodities of furniture, metal products, meat products, aluminum, and clothing. But since the strike action is focused on stopping containers and general cargo, it will not slow operations in grain vessels or cruise ships, the firm said.
“The Canadian port strike is a microcosm of many of the issues that are impacting Western economies today; protection against automation, better work-life balance, and a cost-of-living crisis,” Russell Group Managing Director Suki Basi said in a release. “Taken together, these pressures are creating a cocktail of connected risk for countries, business, individuals and entire sectors such as marine insurance, which help to mitigate cargo exposures.”
The strike is also sending ripples through neighboring U.S. ports, which are hustling to absorb the diverted cargo, according to David Kamran, assistant vice president for Moody’s Ratings.
“The recurrence of strikes at Canadian seaports is positive for U.S. ports that may gain cargo throughput, depending on the strike duration,” Kamran said in a statement. “The current dispute at Vancouver is another example of the resistance of port unions to automation and the social risk involved with implementing these technologies. Persistent disruption in Canadian port access would strengthen the competitive position of US West Coast ports over the medium-term, as shippers seek to diversify cargo away from unreliable gateways.”
The strike is also affected rail movements, according to ocean cargo carrier Maersk. CN has stopped all international intermodal shipments bound for the west coast ports of Prince Rupert, Robbank, Centerm, Vanterm, and Fraser Surrey Docks. And CPKC has stopped acceptance of all export loads and pre-billed empties destined for Vancouver ports.
Connected with the turmoil, Maersk has suspended its import and export carrier demurrage and detention clock for most affected operations. The ultimate duration of the strike is unknown, but the situation is “rapidly evolving” as talks continue between the Longshore Workers Union (ILWU 514) and the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA), Maersk said.