Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

INBOUND

Making sure the blood runs cold

California startup provides self-refrigerated crates to ship blood samples for drug tests.

DCV24_04_inbound_Ember_1200x800.jpg

As team trials get underway for the upcoming Summer Olympics in Paris, athletes are counting on a fair and, well, level playing field. And these days, keeping things fair and equitable may include blood testing to screen for steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs.

That’s where the California startup Ember LifeSciences comes in. The company recently announced that the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) will use its cold chain technology to ensure the integrity of blood samples shipped from competition sites to testing labs for the team trials and other upcoming sporting events. 


The  blood samples will be transported in the startup’s “Ember Cube,” a self-refrigerated, self-monitoring shipping container for items like temperature-sensitive pharmaceuticals, vaccines, and lab specimens. Each reusable box is linked to a cloud-based dashboard, allowing USADA to monitor the real-time location, ambient temperature, and payload temperature of the cubes during transit, ensuring that the blood samples maintain optimal temperatures and that the chain of custody is maintained throughout the journey.

This isn’t Ember LifeSciences’ first partnership with the anti-doping organization. Over the past year, USADA has used the Ember Cube to ship blood samples for a number of high-profile sporting events, including the Boston and New York Marathons; the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii; and a Professional Fighters League MMA (mixed martial arts) match.

The Latest

More Stories

ITS Logistics truck carrying Sherwin Williams products
ITS Logistics

Transportation challenges, solved

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.

Keep ReadingShow less

Featured

drone flying through warehouse

Robotic revolution

Robots are revolutionizing factories, warehouses, and distribution centers (DCs) around the world, thanks largely to heavy investments in the technology between 2019 and 2021. And although investment has slowed since then, the long-term outlook calls for steady growth over the next four years. According to data from research and consulting firm Interact Analysis, revenues from shipments of industrial robots are forecast to grow nearly 4% per year, on average, between 2024 and 2028 (see Exhibit 1).

market forecast for industrial robots - revenues graphEXHIBIT 1: Market forecast for industrial robots - revenuesInteract Analysis

Keep ReadingShow less
Freight Science dashboard screen
Freight Science

High-tech solution helps truckload carrier drive change

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.

Keep ReadingShow less
indigo software screenshot WMS

Aptean adds British WMS vendor in latest acquisition

The Georgia-based enterprise software vendor Aptean today said it had acquired Indigo Software Ltd., a British provider of purpose-built warehouse management and logistics software solutions.

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.

Keep ReadingShow less
schneider app screenshot for owner operators

Schneider seeks more business with owner-operators

Transportation and logistics service provider Schneider National Inc. is reaching out to owner-operators, encouraging them to do more business with the Wisconsin company using an updated digital platform.

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.

Keep ReadingShow less