Subscribe

Day: 13 April 2022

Semtech platform extended to support worldwide tracking

Posted on by David Priestman

Semtech Corporation, a leading global supplier of high performance analogue and mixed-signal semiconductors and advanced algorithms, has added multi-band capabilities to its LoRa Edge device-to-Cloud geolocation platform. The new LoRa Edge LR1120 allows for direct satellite-connected Internet of Things (IoT) applications in supply chain management and logistics with seamless low power geolocation on a global scale.

“Semtech’s LoRa is targeting track and trace challenges faced by the logistics industry today with a geolocation IoT platform adapted to global transportation and mass-scale asset management,” said Marc Pégulu, vice president of IoT product marketing for Semtech’s Wireless and Sensing Products Group. “With the launch of multi-band LoRa support, coupled with LoRa Cloud services, it has never been easier to expand ubiquitous IoT connectivity and geolocation globally.”

With LoRa Edge LR1120, intercontinental logistics companies can leverage highly integrated, ultra-low power trackers with enhanced interoperability, more versatile connectivity for a simpler operation and global mobility across multiple regulatory regions. Additionally, the possibility to offer a low-power and low-cost sensor with satellite connectivity unlocks a multitude of use cases in infrastructure monitoring, agriculture and environmental monitoring that require deployment in remote areas, which tend to be very capital intensive.

According to Christopher Taylor, Director, RF & Wireless with Strategy Analytics, “Combining LoRa with small, relatively low-cost LEO satellites will change the game for LoRa and IoT. Adding satellite communication capabilities in the S-band to LoRa can help replace aging SCADA monitoring and opens up new applications and markets, especially in remote regions. So far, LoRa has attracted the interest of several satellite companies including EchoStar and Lacuna.”

Key Features:

  • Multi-band LoRa capability (sub-GHz, 2.4GHz and licensed S-band for satellite) and multi-technology geolocation using GNSS for outdoor and Wi-Fi for indoor, as well as areas where satellite coverage is poor
  • LoRa Cloud geolocation solver, which transfers the location processing workload from the device to the Cloud, making ‘deploy once’ battery life possible
  • Supported by GPS and BeiDou constellations
  • Hardware crypto engine for increased security

Bonus content

Sree Durbha (pictured), Director of LoRa Edge Product Management, spoke exclusively with Logistics Business:

Logistics Business (LB): What is the typical customer this product is aimed at?

Sree Durbha (SD): The new LR1120 is the next product in the LoRa Edge portfolio that adds the ability to operate LoRa in the universal 2.4GHz and the SATCOM S-band (licensed portion of the S-band between 1.9GHz and 2.2GHz) for terrestrial and satellite communications utilizing the onboard GNSS (GPS/BeiDou) and Wi-Fi passive scanners for indoor and outdoor geolocation. Customers in a variety of industry verticals are interested in developing trackers and end nodes based on LR1120 targeting applications such as transoceanic shipping cargo transportation, logistics companies trucking goods between different EU countries. Our key customers and partners commercialising this solution are industry leaders in the space industry and intercontinental logistics companies. We also work with network operators, systems integrators and solution providers who are developing satellite LoRa and 2.4GHz LoRa based IoT solutions.

LB: Where does it have an advantage over competitive alternatives?

SD: LR1120 is a highly integrated multi-technology, multi-band indoor/outdoor geolocation solution with the location engine based in the cloud (LoRa Cloud by Semtech). This unique architecture delivers ground breaking flexibility in choosing networks as well as power consumption that’s 10x lower than comparable discrete GNSS solutions out there. We’ve seen several customers take advantage of this value proposition with their LR1110 based products over the past year.

LB: What is the timescale for integration/implementation?

SD: One of the goals for our LoRa Edge device-to-cloud platform is to empower our customers and partners to shorten their design cycles by absorbing critical components like modem development, end-to-end development using our tracker reference design and integration cloud based geolocation and modem management services. Having all of the hardware, software and cloud services components available from a single source like Semtech affords customers the ability to speed things up. So we’ve seen some of our LoRa Edge customers go from concept to commercial launch of their trackers or remote monitoring devices in about 12 months. We expect a similar or better timescale for customers adopting the new LR1120.

LB: What are the operational and fiscal benefits customers are likely to enjoy?

SD: Along with the hardware, software and cloud services integration benefits outlined above, customers will also benefit from a unified satellite based LoRa network service offered by our operator partners such as Echostar, Lacuna Space and others. This not only provides a single network to roam across all of continental Europe for example, but also cuts the operational costs of having to pay for multiple regional public and or private networks for use cases such as transporting goods across geographical boundaries in Europe.

AI makes zero-error logistics a reality

Posted on by David Priestman

In just under a decade, the number of business premises used for transport, logistics and warehousing in the UK has almost doubled. As new analysis by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows, transport and storage is the fastest-growing broad industry group in the UK, both in recent years and over the longer term.

This meteoric rise in transport and storage is an acknowledgement of the recent accelerated demand created in supply chains following the EU exit and the onset of the pandemic and ensuing economic challenges. Investments in the construction of warehouses rose sharply, topping £5.6bn in 2021, higher than in any year since 1985.

The growth is spread over many sectors, rising hand-in-hand with ecommerce and an expectation of speed and reliability in supply being created in sectors such as food and drink, fashion and electronics. This accelerated growth also put pressure on day-to-day operations as the sector grappled with human resources, available space and speed of execution to meet the expected speedy deliveries to retail and consumers. The ongoing disruptions compounded the situation – and logistics and warehouses have been left to pick up the strain, maximise their efficiencies and fuel the supply chains.

Against such a backdrop, it is easy to see why the sector is poised to become a technology success story, with real-time data and zero error logistics at the core of its commercial success.  Headline industry statements clearly show that at least 6,000 hours are wasted annually, measuring, weighing and finding pallets in warehouses. 20% of warehouse space is tied up with obsolete stock or empty boxes, and warehouses lose on average £1m every year due to wrongly reported assets. The common thread running throughout all of these statistics is the need for real-time data to maximise efficiencies, improve performance and increase productivity, bringing the sector into a zero error logistics mode. Interestingly, they will also be saving 20,000 tons of CO2e emissions, with better inventory management and operational data.

Zero-error logistics may have been once the holy grail of logistic and warehouses – it is now a reality. With machine automation and robotics capturing automated real-time insights, robots can digitise any physical space to delivery zero error logistics. From warehouse storage to dispatch, systems and robotics such as British robotics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) company BotsAndUs capture invaluable data at points that maximise efficiency and squeeze that extra performance required to save millions lost and to gain in revenue.

Automation increases productivity and reduces costs by providing real-time data that provides full control of the inventory and flow of goods while driving efficiencies across space utilisation. Robotics and AI can handle the repetitive jobs and learn how to deal with unusual situations. Together, they free companies to focus on prioritising business initiatives and optimise operations by creating more opportunities and retraining the workforce for higher-level jobs.

Real-time data helps reconciliation, damage control, evidence for insurance and ultimately, full customer satisfaction.

As Oana Jinga (pictured), BotsAndUs Co-Founder, said: “The value of real-time data kicks in right at the start of the acceptance process, as goods come off a truck, are checked and assessed. Our fully autonomous state-of-the-art robotic system twins and optimises operations. There is a continuous feed of real-time insights across the process, allowing for instant and informed business decisions. Instant access to real-time data helps optimise the present, de-risk the future and discover the intractable in each location and at every stage of the product journey through the warehouse and onto dispatch.”

Research by Forrester has found that automation – including robotics, AI and Machine Learning (ML) – is already a defining industry trend that will continue to expand over the next two decades.  It is also one of the most popular choices for improving operational efficiency with tactical automation. This ties into the trends shown in the latest analysis by ONS and provides solid evidence for the industry to invest now in AI and robotic solutions such as those provided by BotsAndUs.

BotsAndUs develops robotics and AI logistics solutions to drive better business decisions across operations. MIM, their fully autonomous mobile and modular robot measures, tracks and finds goods across storage and warehouses without workflow disruption and provides real-time data at every stage of the process. The data is fed into digital twins, allowing logistics and warehouses to quickly respond to all the challenges they face on a daily basis.

AI makes zero-error logistics a reality

Posted on by David Priestman

In just under a decade, the number of business premises used for transport, logistics and warehousing in the UK has almost doubled. As new analysis by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows, transport and storage is the fastest-growing broad industry group in the UK, both in recent years and over the longer term.

This meteoric rise in transport and storage is an acknowledgement of the recent accelerated demand created in supply chains following the EU exit and the onset of the pandemic and ensuing economic challenges. Investments in the construction of warehouses rose sharply, topping £5.6bn in 2021, higher than in any year since 1985.

The growth is spread over many sectors, rising hand-in-hand with ecommerce and an expectation of speed and reliability in supply being created in sectors such as food and drink, fashion and electronics. This accelerated growth also put pressure on day-to-day operations as the sector grappled with human resources, available space and speed of execution to meet the expected speedy deliveries to retail and consumers. The ongoing disruptions compounded the situation – and logistics and warehouses have been left to pick up the strain, maximise their efficiencies and fuel the supply chains.

Against such a backdrop, it is easy to see why the sector is poised to become a technology success story, with real-time data and zero error logistics at the core of its commercial success.  Headline industry statements clearly show that at least 6,000 hours are wasted annually, measuring, weighing and finding pallets in warehouses. 20% of warehouse space is tied up with obsolete stock or empty boxes, and warehouses lose on average £1m every year due to wrongly reported assets. The common thread running throughout all of these statistics is the need for real-time data to maximise efficiencies, improve performance and increase productivity, bringing the sector into a zero error logistics mode. Interestingly, they will also be saving 20,000 tons of CO2e emissions, with better inventory management and operational data.

Zero-error logistics may have been once the holy grail of logistic and warehouses – it is now a reality. With machine automation and robotics capturing automated real-time insights, robots can digitise any physical space to delivery zero error logistics. From warehouse storage to dispatch, systems and robotics such as British robotics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) company BotsAndUs capture invaluable data at points that maximise efficiency and squeeze that extra performance required to save millions lost and to gain in revenue.

Automation increases productivity and reduces costs by providing real-time data that provides full control of the inventory and flow of goods while driving efficiencies across space utilisation. Robotics and AI can handle the repetitive jobs and learn how to deal with unusual situations. Together, they free companies to focus on prioritising business initiatives and optimise operations by creating more opportunities and retraining the workforce for higher-level jobs.

Real-time data helps reconciliation, damage control, evidence for insurance and ultimately, full customer satisfaction.

As Oana Jinga (pictured), BotsAndUs Co-Founder, said: “The value of real-time data kicks in right at the start of the acceptance process, as goods come off a truck, are checked and assessed. Our fully autonomous state-of-the-art robotic system twins and optimises operations. There is a continuous feed of real-time insights across the process, allowing for instant and informed business decisions. Instant access to real-time data helps optimise the present, de-risk the future and discover the intractable in each location and at every stage of the product journey through the warehouse and onto dispatch.”

Research by Forrester has found that automation – including robotics, AI and Machine Learning (ML) – is already a defining industry trend that will continue to expand over the next two decades.  It is also one of the most popular choices for improving operational efficiency with tactical automation. This ties into the trends shown in the latest analysis by ONS and provides solid evidence for the industry to invest now in AI and robotic solutions such as those provided by BotsAndUs.

BotsAndUs develops robotics and AI logistics solutions to drive better business decisions across operations. MIM, their fully autonomous mobile and modular robot measures, tracks and finds goods across storage and warehouses without workflow disruption and provides real-time data at every stage of the process. The data is fed into digital twins, allowing logistics and warehouses to quickly respond to all the challenges they face on a daily basis.

Wenko achieves supply chain transparency with Setlog

Posted on by David Priestman

The household goods specialist Wenko Wenselaar is accelerating the digitisation of its supply chain. From the third quarter of 2022 on, the family-owned company from Germany will manage its supply chain centrally using Setlog‘s cloud-based software tool OSCA.

“The experience gained from the supply chain disruptions during the Covid-19 pandemic made us realise that production and goods transport must be controlled with a digital operation platform in the future,” emphasises Niklas Koellner, Managing Director at Wenko Wenselaar.

“This way, we bring transparency into the supply chain and can inform suppliers and forwarders of changes via a central tool – Excel spreadsheets and hectic email correspondence become unnecessary.” The company chose Setlog’s software suite because the best-practice version is easy to use, Koellner said.

“The software can be implemented quickly and enables optimal control of all logistics processes,” explains Ralf Duester, a member of Setlog’s board of directors. The first meeting with the logistics department took place at the end of February, and the launch is already planned for the beginning of the third quarter this year.

Whether shower rails, ironing boards or kitchen scales: Wenko offers more than 5,000 articles in the bathroom, kitchen, laundry, and living sectors. The goods are manufactured in the Far East, Eastern Europe, Spain, France, and Germany.

In future, Wenko will transmit orders to its suppliers from the ERP system via OSCA – the majority of the approximately 100 partners as well as the three main freight forwarders will be connected to the software within a very short time. The SCM software serves as a central communication and processing tool for all partners along the supply chain – from order confirmation and delivery planning to the booking of transports and shipments.

In addition to costs, volumes, lead- and transport times, drayage control and carton packing lists (including label generation), delivery dates can also be controlled. Wenko’s freight forwarding partners will transmit transport notifications, updates and tracking data directly into the system.

A KPI dashboard visualises the most important key figures for the 40 or so Wenko employees who will be working directly with the solution. As soon as delivery data changes or delays occur, all partners in the supply chain are informed simultaneously. From go-live onwards, all of the around 4,000 shipments per year will run via OSCA.

Most of the goods are delivered to two buffer warehouses in Germany. From there, they are transported to Wenko’s central warehouse in Hueckelhoven, where around 34,000 pallet spaces are available. The company delivers to a total of 81 countries, with a focus on Europe. Although the launch of OSCA SCM is still pending, the Wenko management is already considering further digitisation stages and has already analysed the OSCA modules for quality management and corporate social responsibility (CSR).

For the 2023 implementation of the German supply chain due diligence law, the family-owned company with its 570 employees wants to be in the best possible position.

 

Wenko achieves supply chain transparency with Setlog

Posted on by David Priestman

The household goods specialist Wenko Wenselaar is accelerating the digitisation of its supply chain. From the third quarter of 2022 on, the family-owned company from Germany will manage its supply chain centrally using Setlog‘s cloud-based software tool OSCA.

“The experience gained from the supply chain disruptions during the Covid-19 pandemic made us realise that production and goods transport must be controlled with a digital operation platform in the future,” emphasises Niklas Koellner, Managing Director at Wenko Wenselaar.

“This way, we bring transparency into the supply chain and can inform suppliers and forwarders of changes via a central tool – Excel spreadsheets and hectic email correspondence become unnecessary.” The company chose Setlog’s software suite because the best-practice version is easy to use, Koellner said.

“The software can be implemented quickly and enables optimal control of all logistics processes,” explains Ralf Duester, a member of Setlog’s board of directors. The first meeting with the logistics department took place at the end of February, and the launch is already planned for the beginning of the third quarter this year.

Whether shower rails, ironing boards or kitchen scales: Wenko offers more than 5,000 articles in the bathroom, kitchen, laundry, and living sectors. The goods are manufactured in the Far East, Eastern Europe, Spain, France, and Germany.

In future, Wenko will transmit orders to its suppliers from the ERP system via OSCA – the majority of the approximately 100 partners as well as the three main freight forwarders will be connected to the software within a very short time. The SCM software serves as a central communication and processing tool for all partners along the supply chain – from order confirmation and delivery planning to the booking of transports and shipments.

In addition to costs, volumes, lead- and transport times, drayage control and carton packing lists (including label generation), delivery dates can also be controlled. Wenko’s freight forwarding partners will transmit transport notifications, updates and tracking data directly into the system.

A KPI dashboard visualises the most important key figures for the 40 or so Wenko employees who will be working directly with the solution. As soon as delivery data changes or delays occur, all partners in the supply chain are informed simultaneously. From go-live onwards, all of the around 4,000 shipments per year will run via OSCA.

Most of the goods are delivered to two buffer warehouses in Germany. From there, they are transported to Wenko’s central warehouse in Hueckelhoven, where around 34,000 pallet spaces are available. The company delivers to a total of 81 countries, with a focus on Europe. Although the launch of OSCA SCM is still pending, the Wenko management is already considering further digitisation stages and has already analysed the OSCA modules for quality management and corporate social responsibility (CSR).

For the 2023 implementation of the German supply chain due diligence law, the family-owned company with its 570 employees wants to be in the best possible position.

 

Cognex launches bottom-side barcode reader with 99.9% accuracy

Posted on by David Priestman

Cognex Corporation recently introduced the DataMan 470 Bottom-Side Barcode Reading System. With an area-scan-based approach, the system quickly and accurately reads codes on packages with face-down labels, making it ideal for solving high-speed, complex material handling applications in retail distribution and e-commerce fulfilment centres.

“As online shoppers increasingly expect same or next-day delivery, retailers are under pressure to increase throughput as orders move through supply chains and logistics channels,” said Carl Gerst, Cognex Executive Vice President. “By extending barcode reading coverage to the underside of the box, the DataMan 470 Bottom-Side Reading System ensures the right products get routed to the right customers as quickly and efficiently as possible.”

The Cognex Bottom-Side Barcode Reading System deciphers 1D and 2D codes faster than traditional line scan technology, which builds the entire image before decoding, causing packages to travel longer distances. By capturing images and executing patented algorithms simultaneously, Cognex readers deliver faster results while reducing the distance between the reader and the divert. Additionally, expanding scan coverage to the bottom side of packages yields higher read rates that reduce manual manipulation and rework costs. The system offers the capability to reads codes on the underside of packages with 99.9% accuracy.

Positioned under the conveyor and weighing just 16kg (35 lbs), the Cognex Bottom-Side Barcode Reading System uses DataMan 470 barcode readers to decipher codes as packages pass over a gap in the belt. The compact system can be installed individually or as part of a multi-sided tunnel in just 30 minutes.

CLICK HERE for more information.

 

 

Cognex launches bottom-side barcode reader with 99.9% accuracy

Posted on by David Priestman

Cognex Corporation recently introduced the DataMan 470 Bottom-Side Barcode Reading System. With an area-scan-based approach, the system quickly and accurately reads codes on packages with face-down labels, making it ideal for solving high-speed, complex material handling applications in retail distribution and e-commerce fulfilment centres.

“As online shoppers increasingly expect same or next-day delivery, retailers are under pressure to increase throughput as orders move through supply chains and logistics channels,” said Carl Gerst, Cognex Executive Vice President. “By extending barcode reading coverage to the underside of the box, the DataMan 470 Bottom-Side Reading System ensures the right products get routed to the right customers as quickly and efficiently as possible.”

The Cognex Bottom-Side Barcode Reading System deciphers 1D and 2D codes faster than traditional line scan technology, which builds the entire image before decoding, causing packages to travel longer distances. By capturing images and executing patented algorithms simultaneously, Cognex readers deliver faster results while reducing the distance between the reader and the divert. Additionally, expanding scan coverage to the bottom side of packages yields higher read rates that reduce manual manipulation and rework costs. The system offers the capability to reads codes on the underside of packages with 99.9% accuracy.

Positioned under the conveyor and weighing just 16kg (35 lbs), the Cognex Bottom-Side Barcode Reading System uses DataMan 470 barcode readers to decipher codes as packages pass over a gap in the belt. The compact system can be installed individually or as part of a multi-sided tunnel in just 30 minutes.

CLICK HERE for more information.

 

 

Subscribe

Get notified about New Episodes of our Podcast, New Magazine Issues and stay updated with our Weekly Newsletter.