Naumann Hobbs Elevates Partnership with Mitsubishi Logisnext Americas for Southwest Warehouses
Partnership Establishes Arizona Material Handling Leader as Authorized Dealer of Cat® lift trucks, Mitsubishi forklift trucks and Jungheinrich® warehouse products
PHOENIX – Aug. 27, 2024 – In June 2024, Naumann Hobbs Material Handling (NHMH) transitioned to exclusively offering Mitsubishi Logisnext Americas equipment, including Cat® lift trucks, Mitsubishi forklift trucks and Jungheinrich® warehouse products. This strategic shift, following a recent enhanced agreement with Logisnext, establishes NHMH as the sole authorized dealer of Logisnext products in the state of Arizona and southern Nevada, with continued representation in the NHMH Southern California territory.
With nearly 75 years in Arizona, NHMH’s shift to focus solely on Logisnext products underscores its mission and commitment to delivering top-tier material handling solutions across all of its branches in Arizona, California and Nevada. This allows NHMH to enhance its expertise and offer a more specialized, streamlined service experience, ensuring that customers receive support tailored specifically to their needs.
"We are thrilled to partner exclusively with Mitsubishi Logisnext Americas,” said Michael Vincent, CEO of Naumann Hobbs Material Handling. “With the Logisnext equipment, we are leading Arizona's distribution centers to the best warehouse solutions available, refining our portfolio to deliver unmatched service and only the highest quality products."
NHMH is set to transform its service approach in Arizona by restructuring and modernizing its service department. In response to this transition, NHMH aims to enhance customer communication and maintain agility in an ever-changing dynamic industry. Additionally, NHMH will keep a fully stocked parts inventory for Cat lift trucks, Mitsubishi forklift trucks and Jungheinrich brands to ensure prompt support and minimal downtime.
“Mitsubishi Logisnext Americas is committed to driving innovation and excellence in the material handling industry,” said David Jarr, General Manager of Dealer Development of Logisnext. “This partnership marks a significant milestone in our journey to set new standards and push the boundaries of what’s possible in warehouse solutions.”
To reinforce this commitment, Logisnext will provide an extensively tailored training program for the NHMH sales and technical teams. This initiative is designed not only to broaden the NHMH team’s technical skills but also to ensure customers are offered the most effective and innovative solutions available.
“With comprehensive training from Logisnext, we are poised to deepen our expertise and elevate our service capabilities,” said Matt Clausing, Phoenix Sales Manager of Naumann Hobbs Material Handling. “The training program will cover all aspects of Logisnext equipment, from basic operations to advanced troubleshooting and maintenance techniques.”
For further details on Naumann Hobbs Material Handling, or to learn more about the warehouse products offered, please visit www.naumannhobbs.com.
About Naumann Hobbs Material Handling
Founded in 1949, Naumann Hobbs Material Handling is a leading provider of material handling solutions across Arizona, California, and Nevada. We specialize in advanced warehouse equipment, including forklifts, storage/racking systems, and automation, designed to enhance operational efficiency and productivity. Our comprehensive services include expert maintenance and support, ensuring minimal downtime and maximum performance for all equipment.
As the exclusive dealer of Mitsubishi Logisnext Americas equipment in Arizona and an authorized dealer in our California and Nevada territories, we offer superior products such as Cat® lift trucks, Mitsubishi forklift trucks, and Jungheinrich®. Our mission is to deliver exceptional material handling solutions and support, empowering businesses in the Southwest to optimize their warehouse operations.
For more information, please visit www.naumannhobbs.com.
About Mitsubishi Logisnext Americas
Mitsubishi Logisnext Americas Inc., and its group companies have helped customers Move The World Forward for more than 100 years. A technology-driven manufacturer, Mitsubishi Logisnext Americas offers scalable solutions from material handling to automation and extensive fleet support. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, its complete portfolio of advanced solutions spans across five leading brands – Mitsubishi forklift trucks, Cat® lift trucks, Rocla AGV Solutions, UniCarriers® Forklifts and Jungheinrich® warehouse and automation products. All products are backed by an extensive dealer network offering industry-leading customer service and product support. Mitsubishi Logisnext Americas is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mitsubishi Logisnext Co. Ltd. For more information, visit www.LogisnextAmericas.com.
Chief supply chain officers (CSCOs) must proactively embrace a geopolitically elastic supply chain strategy to support their organizations’ growth objectives, according to a report from analyst group Gartner Inc.
An elastic supply chain capability, which can expand or contract supply in response to geopolitical risks, provides supply chain organizations with greater flexibility and efficacy than operating from a single geopolitical bloc, the report said.
"The natural response to recent geopolitical tensions has been to operate within ‘trust boundaries,’ which are geographical areas deemed comfortable for business operations,” Pierfrancesco Manenti, VP analyst in Gartner’s Supply Chain practice, said in a release.
“However, there is a risk that these strategies are taken too far, as maintaining access to global markets and their growth opportunities cannot be fulfilled by operating within just one geopolitical bloc. Instead, CSCOs should embrace a more flexible approach that reflects the fluid nature of geopolitical risks and positions the supply chain for new opportunities to support growth,” Manenti said.
Accordingly, Gartner recommends that CSCOs consider a strategy that is flexible enough to pursue growth amid current and future geopolitical challenges, rather than attempting to permanently shield their supply chains from these risks.
To reach that goal, Gartner outlined three key categories of action that define an elastic supply chain capability: understand trust boundaries and define operational limits; assess the elastic supply chain opportunity; and use targeted, market-specific scenario planning.
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.
“Unrelenting labor shortages and wage inflation, accompanied by increasing consumer demand, are driving rapid market adoption of autonomous technologies in manufacturing, warehousing, and logistics,” Seegrid CEO and President Joe Pajer said in a release. “This is particularly true in the area of palletized material flows; areas that are addressed by Seegrid’s autonomous tow tractors and lift trucks. This segment of the market is just now ‘coming into its own,’ and Seegrid is a clear leader.”
According to Pajer, Seegrid’s strength in the sector is due to several new technologies it has released in the past six months. They include: Sliding Scale Autonomy, which provides both flexibility and predictability in autonomous navigation and manipulation; Enhanced Pallet and Payload Detection, which enables reliable recognition and manipulation of a broad range of payloads; and the planned launch of its CR1 autonomous lift truck model later this year.
Seegrid’s CR1 unit offers a 15-foot lift height, 4,000-pound load capacity, and a top speed of 5 mph. In comparison, its existing autonomous lift truck model, the RS1, supports six-foot lift height, 3,500 pound capacity, and the same top speed.
The “series D” investment round was funded by existing lead investors Giant Eagle Incorporated and G2 Venture Partners, as well as smaller investments from other existing shareholders.
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.”