Linde Motion Detection assistance system wins industry award

This year’s winner of MM Maschinenmarkt’s “Best of Industry Award” in the Warehouse Equipment category is not a vehicle, but an assistance system. The “Linde Motion Detection” solution from intralogistics specialist Linde Material Handling protects pedestrians by registering movement behind a stationary forklift and preventing it from starting up. In this way, both operational safety and a productive operating process are taken into account, so that forklift drivers, warehouse staff and fleet operators all benefit at the end of the day.

From the time the competition was launched in 2016, there have never been more contestants participating in the “Best of Industry Award”. A total of 190 entries in 24 categories were received by MM Maschinenmarkt, a trade journal that is part of the Vogel Communications Group based in Würzburg. This year, the winners were decided exclusively by online voting, which ran for five months. During this period almost 20,000 votes were cast. Innovations and further developed solutions that were launched on the market between June 2021 and March 2022 qualified for submission.

Assistance system prevents truck from moving

“The fact that accidents, some of them serious, occur time and again in in-house transport is a truism,” said Bernd Maienschein, specialist editor of MM Logistik, at the online awards ceremony on 12th December. “Linde Motion Detection focuses in particular on movement behind the truck. When the system detects movement, it automatically prevents the truck from reversing and warns the driver via the display. Optionally, this warning can also be given acoustically.

“The vehicle can only be driven once the hazardous situation has been resolved and the accelerator pedal has been actively returned to its initial position. This safety measure triggered by Linde Motion Detection results in fewer accidents and – not to be overlooked – higher productivity in terms of the work equipment,” the editor adds.

“We are delighted that the Linde assistance system was chosen as a winner and see this as confirmation that we are on the right track with our efforts to improve safety in in-house material flow,” Fabian Zimmermann, Product Manager Safety, commented enthusiastically on the award. “This recognition from customers and industry experts motivates us to continue on our chosen path. It makes it clear just how crucially important the topic of safety is to operations. Many thanks to everyone who voted for Linde Motion Detection.”

 

Linde Motion Detection assistance system wins industry award

This year’s winner of MM Maschinenmarkt’s “Best of Industry Award” in the Warehouse Equipment category is not a vehicle, but an assistance system. The “Linde Motion Detection” solution from intralogistics specialist Linde Material Handling protects pedestrians by registering movement behind a stationary forklift and preventing it from starting up. In this way, both operational safety and a productive operating process are taken into account, so that forklift drivers, warehouse staff and fleet operators all benefit at the end of the day.

From the time the competition was launched in 2016, there have never been more contestants participating in the “Best of Industry Award”. A total of 190 entries in 24 categories were received by MM Maschinenmarkt, a trade journal that is part of the Vogel Communications Group based in Würzburg. This year, the winners were decided exclusively by online voting, which ran for five months. During this period almost 20,000 votes were cast. Innovations and further developed solutions that were launched on the market between June 2021 and March 2022 qualified for submission.

Assistance system prevents truck from moving

“The fact that accidents, some of them serious, occur time and again in in-house transport is a truism,” said Bernd Maienschein, specialist editor of MM Logistik, at the online awards ceremony on 12th December. “Linde Motion Detection focuses in particular on movement behind the truck. When the system detects movement, it automatically prevents the truck from reversing and warns the driver via the display. Optionally, this warning can also be given acoustically.

“The vehicle can only be driven once the hazardous situation has been resolved and the accelerator pedal has been actively returned to its initial position. This safety measure triggered by Linde Motion Detection results in fewer accidents and – not to be overlooked – higher productivity in terms of the work equipment,” the editor adds.

“We are delighted that the Linde assistance system was chosen as a winner and see this as confirmation that we are on the right track with our efforts to improve safety in in-house material flow,” Fabian Zimmermann, Product Manager Safety, commented enthusiastically on the award. “This recognition from customers and industry experts motivates us to continue on our chosen path. It makes it clear just how crucially important the topic of safety is to operations. Many thanks to everyone who voted for Linde Motion Detection.”

 

Small-Items Sweet Spot

Storage of small items in ecommerce distribution centres often makes usage of cube ASRS. AutoStore integrator Element Logic launched to the UK at IMHX 2019. At this year’s show, we found out how it is helping businesses of all sizes optimise their ecommerce picking operations.

Starting at Element Logic as UK sales manager in September 2019, Gavin Harrison came to IMHX 2019 with the clear aim of building the Norwegian AutoStore system integrator’s UK market. Now boasting a staff of 20, the company has come a long way. Three years ago it had no UK AutoStore reference sites; today Harrison says it has more than any other AutoStore distributor in the UK.
Initially dominant in AutoStore’s homeland of Norway, a 2021 buy-out by a private equity firm has seen Element Logic’s ambition lead to it picking up household-name customers. For example, its Manchester project for the THG’s online cosmetics business was the biggest single AutoStore grid in the UK, featuring 300,000 bins, 380 robots and 69 ports.

THG sits in the sweet spot where AutoStore’s strength lies – single-unit picking of small items. The pandemic helped to feed Element Logic’s growth opportunities thanks to the boom in online shopping. Furthermore, pickers using AutoStore are physically unable to be closer than two metres apart, meaning staffing levels were unaffected by social distancing constraints.

“It’s been a whirlwind journey, because prior to 2019 there were only a couple of AutoStores in the UK,” says Harrison. “Today in the UK, there are maybe 15 to 20, so it’s still considered a new technology even though it’s been around for 15+ years. Ten of those are ours, with customers varying from businesses such as the husband and wife family-owned football kit business Direct Soccer. They’re an SME up in Dundee, and invested in a system back in 2020, and have now grown and extended it.”

The difference in size between Direct Soccer and THG is considerable, yet AutoStore makes a positive difference to both businesses. Harrison says Element Logic can make a case for automating a warehouse with as few as 10 to 15 pickers: “We can condense that down to two or three, and therefore show good ROI. We design the system based on where you are at the moment, not where you’ll be in the future. Businesses can then just expand the system. As it can be leased, businesses don’t take a CapEx hit.”

A USP of AutoStore is that it can be installed in brownfield sites as well as new-build, as it fits around irregularities such as columns and low roof heights. This allow a business to stay in its existing facility, rather than move to a new one. It only requires a flat floor, has a low point load, and runs off standard household single-phase power.

Small items density

Element Logic can condense AutoStore it into a small area, making it suitable for urban micro-fulfilment centres. “For us, there’s actually no difference between a big site and a small site apart from the amount of aluminium and robots that are there. Because we already work with SMEs, a micro-fulfilment centre for a big company is going to be exactly the same as small grid for a small business. This has been a really easy shift for us to make, whilst still using all the experience and knowledge we have previously acquired.”

AutoStore’s strengths play right into the hands of eCommerce businesses selling in sectors characterised by rapidly-changing trends, as it intelligently reconfigures stock positions to deliver fast-movers to pickers at high speeds. It also deals very capably with returns , previously a huge challenge in fashion where rates of up to 40% are common. “We have some very ambitious growth targets,” Harrison concludes. “I would hope that by the time the next IMHX rolls around [in 2025], we should be double where we are now and maybe more. Let’s see how the market responds.”

Small-Items Sweet Spot

Storage of small items in ecommerce distribution centres often makes usage of cube ASRS. AutoStore integrator Element Logic launched to the UK at IMHX 2019. At this year’s show, we found out how it is helping businesses of all sizes optimise their ecommerce picking operations.

Starting at Element Logic as UK sales manager in September 2019, Gavin Harrison came to IMHX 2019 with the clear aim of building the Norwegian AutoStore system integrator’s UK market. Now boasting a staff of 20, the company has come a long way. Three years ago it had no UK AutoStore reference sites; today Harrison says it has more than any other AutoStore distributor in the UK.
Initially dominant in AutoStore’s homeland of Norway, a 2021 buy-out by a private equity firm has seen Element Logic’s ambition lead to it picking up household-name customers. For example, its Manchester project for the THG’s online cosmetics business was the biggest single AutoStore grid in the UK, featuring 300,000 bins, 380 robots and 69 ports.

THG sits in the sweet spot where AutoStore’s strength lies – single-unit picking of small items. The pandemic helped to feed Element Logic’s growth opportunities thanks to the boom in online shopping. Furthermore, pickers using AutoStore are physically unable to be closer than two metres apart, meaning staffing levels were unaffected by social distancing constraints.

“It’s been a whirlwind journey, because prior to 2019 there were only a couple of AutoStores in the UK,” says Harrison. “Today in the UK, there are maybe 15 to 20, so it’s still considered a new technology even though it’s been around for 15+ years. Ten of those are ours, with customers varying from businesses such as the husband and wife family-owned football kit business Direct Soccer. They’re an SME up in Dundee, and invested in a system back in 2020, and have now grown and extended it.”

The difference in size between Direct Soccer and THG is considerable, yet AutoStore makes a positive difference to both businesses. Harrison says Element Logic can make a case for automating a warehouse with as few as 10 to 15 pickers: “We can condense that down to two or three, and therefore show good ROI. We design the system based on where you are at the moment, not where you’ll be in the future. Businesses can then just expand the system. As it can be leased, businesses don’t take a CapEx hit.”

A USP of AutoStore is that it can be installed in brownfield sites as well as new-build, as it fits around irregularities such as columns and low roof heights. This allow a business to stay in its existing facility, rather than move to a new one. It only requires a flat floor, has a low point load, and runs off standard household single-phase power.

Small items density

Element Logic can condense AutoStore it into a small area, making it suitable for urban micro-fulfilment centres. “For us, there’s actually no difference between a big site and a small site apart from the amount of aluminium and robots that are there. Because we already work with SMEs, a micro-fulfilment centre for a big company is going to be exactly the same as small grid for a small business. This has been a really easy shift for us to make, whilst still using all the experience and knowledge we have previously acquired.”

AutoStore’s strengths play right into the hands of eCommerce businesses selling in sectors characterised by rapidly-changing trends, as it intelligently reconfigures stock positions to deliver fast-movers to pickers at high speeds. It also deals very capably with returns , previously a huge challenge in fashion where rates of up to 40% are common. “We have some very ambitious growth targets,” Harrison concludes. “I would hope that by the time the next IMHX rolls around [in 2025], we should be double where we are now and maybe more. Let’s see how the market responds.”

BW Retail replaces manual picking with Descartes solution

Descartes Systems Group, a global leader in uniting logistics-intensive businesses in commerce, has announced that Michigan, US-based BW Retail, a leading ecommerce marketing, fulfilment and data analytics service provider, replaced manual pick, pack and ship practices with Descartes’ integrated ecommerce warehouse management and shipping solution to efficiently scale fulfilment operations and improve customer satisfaction.

“BW Retail has grown rapidly to become an industry leader in end-to-end ecommerce retail brand management and logistics operations. As we expanded from one warehouse in Michigan to additional locations in Georgia and Ontario, Canada, things we used to be able to do manually we no longer could,” said Christopher Ball, Chief Executive Officer at BW Retail. “We needed to have more real-time visibility into fulfilment across our facilities and to reduce efforts to manage inventory. With over one million shipments annually today, the Descartes solution has been essential to our growth, helping us gain greater control and improve the efficiency of our operations.”

Descartes’ ecommerce warehouse management solution helps ecommerce services providers, like BW Retail, direct-to-consumer brands and ecommerce retailers gain significant efficiencies across order fulfilment processes to improve the customer experience. It helps retailers ship the right items on time, prevents overselling of existing inventory, and provides full transparency into warehouse operations. The cloud-based solution is pre-integrated with major ecommerce platforms, like Channel Advisor, Shopify Plus, Magento and others, to accelerate implementation and time to value.

Descartes solution integrates with WMS

Descartes’ multi-carrier shipping solution is integrated with its ecommerce warehouse management solution to seamlessly execute the entire ecommerce fulfilment process, improving accuracy and productivity, reducing order lead-time, and minimising shipping costs. The quick-to-deploy solution allows businesses to grow their shipping volume through advanced automation capabilities, a powerful business rules engine, and a robust set of APIs for rating, shipping and tracking. The solution also connects ecommerce companies to their parcel and LTL carriers of choice using negotiated rates or using rate discounts available through the platform.

“We’re pleased to help BW Retail improve fulfilment performance across its growing operations with our ecommerce warehouse and shipping solution,” said Troy Graham, VP Business Development at Descartes. “For ecommerce service providers and retailers alike, the combined solution drives fast, accurate warehouse and shipping workflows and this type of operational excellence in fulfilment translates into a great customer experience.”

BW Retail replaces manual picking with Descartes solution

Descartes Systems Group, a global leader in uniting logistics-intensive businesses in commerce, has announced that Michigan, US-based BW Retail, a leading ecommerce marketing, fulfilment and data analytics service provider, replaced manual pick, pack and ship practices with Descartes’ integrated ecommerce warehouse management and shipping solution to efficiently scale fulfilment operations and improve customer satisfaction.

“BW Retail has grown rapidly to become an industry leader in end-to-end ecommerce retail brand management and logistics operations. As we expanded from one warehouse in Michigan to additional locations in Georgia and Ontario, Canada, things we used to be able to do manually we no longer could,” said Christopher Ball, Chief Executive Officer at BW Retail. “We needed to have more real-time visibility into fulfilment across our facilities and to reduce efforts to manage inventory. With over one million shipments annually today, the Descartes solution has been essential to our growth, helping us gain greater control and improve the efficiency of our operations.”

Descartes’ ecommerce warehouse management solution helps ecommerce services providers, like BW Retail, direct-to-consumer brands and ecommerce retailers gain significant efficiencies across order fulfilment processes to improve the customer experience. It helps retailers ship the right items on time, prevents overselling of existing inventory, and provides full transparency into warehouse operations. The cloud-based solution is pre-integrated with major ecommerce platforms, like Channel Advisor, Shopify Plus, Magento and others, to accelerate implementation and time to value.

Descartes solution integrates with WMS

Descartes’ multi-carrier shipping solution is integrated with its ecommerce warehouse management solution to seamlessly execute the entire ecommerce fulfilment process, improving accuracy and productivity, reducing order lead-time, and minimising shipping costs. The quick-to-deploy solution allows businesses to grow their shipping volume through advanced automation capabilities, a powerful business rules engine, and a robust set of APIs for rating, shipping and tracking. The solution also connects ecommerce companies to their parcel and LTL carriers of choice using negotiated rates or using rate discounts available through the platform.

“We’re pleased to help BW Retail improve fulfilment performance across its growing operations with our ecommerce warehouse and shipping solution,” said Troy Graham, VP Business Development at Descartes. “For ecommerce service providers and retailers alike, the combined solution drives fast, accurate warehouse and shipping workflows and this type of operational excellence in fulfilment translates into a great customer experience.”

G-forces “could spark cost-of-returns crisis”

Christmas presents are likely to be accelerating at rates greater than a Formula 1 driver as they make their way to our front doors this season. Packages ordered online have been recorded at G-forces akin to motor races and rocket launches by sustainable packaging provider DS Smith, who have uncovered that extreme G-forces could result in a staggering £3.2bn returns bill this Christmas.

To help understand the tough environment that packages must withstand to reach consumers in perfect condition, DS Smith is experimenting with accelerometers, which track the speed of a package through its journey and provide data that can then explain the damage it sustains.

The DS Smith research has shown that a typical online parcel undergoes G-forces measuring up to an astronomical 50G. This is more than five times the level of G-forces that would cause an experienced astronaut to lose consciousness (at 9G) and 10 times more G-forces than are typically experienced on a rollercoaster (at 5G).

The details of the experiment come as almost half (49%) of British shoppers reported receiving a damaged delivery in the last year, resulting in 83 million broken deliveries. Those who had received a damaged item said that on average the item cost £38.40 – adding up to a potential £3.2bn worth of damaged goods sent each year.

The cost of G-forces

Consumers have less tolerance for broken parcels and the increase in the cost-of-living is prompting more people to return lower-value items. Britons reported that the average value that a damaged item would need to be for them to return it has decreased from £22 last year to £18 this year, suggesting that there will be an increase in the number of returns.

Compounding the problem for businesses, and as an increasing number of brands consider charging for returns, 38% of UK shoppers say they expect free delivery and returns.

Gavin Mounce, E-commerce Design Manager, DS Smith comments: “While clearly part of everyday life, ecommerce is still a relatively new form of shopping and we have found through our research that the conditions that packages are exposed to are volatile. Packages need to be ready to travel at astonishing speeds, and that means businesses need to be ready to protect products en route.

“Our Innovation and Design teams are testing how fast packages are travelling and how they are impacted, and we then use that information to work on different designs. We use circular design principles to not only reduce damage but reduce the amount of material used so that packages protect their contents and are as sustainable as possible. We want new ideas, so we will be looking for partners to work with us on this.”

Locus picks 230m units during holiday peak

Locus Robotics, a leader in autonomous mobile robots (AMR) for fulfilment and distribution warehouses, announced that its LocusBots picked more than 230 million units during the peak holiday shopping period on behalf of its global retail and third-party logistics customers – more than doubling the total number of items picked in the same period in 2021.

“Despite early predictions of lowered volumes, Locus customers once again picked a record number of items using LocusBots during this critical holiday shopping period,” said Rick Faulk, CEO of Locus Robotics. “It is now clear that scalable, cost-efficient robotics automation is an operational must-have as volumes continue to increase and the labour shortages persist. Locus is proud to help our customers again meet the seasonal challenge with robust, enterprise-scale automation solutions that position them for success today and in the future.”

During this same period, LocusBots averaged 3.3 million units picked per day, representing a 2x increase over 2021.

A record $281bn online global sales took place from Thanksgiving Day (24th November) through Cyber Monday this year according to Salesforce.com and Adobe Analytics Data, with total US online sales over $68bn, representing a 9% increase over 2021.

Cyber Week 2022 continued several notable industry trends that first appeared in 2021:

  • Retailers again started peak season earlier in an effort to mitigate supply chain concerns and ensure product availability
  • Online shopping is now a central aspect of the retailers’ omnichannel shopping strategy as online spending increased 8.6%
  • Mobile shopping continues to be a favourite, growing more than 15% over 2021

Locus reaches industry first

Locus recently reached an industry-first, its 1 billion pick milestone, reflecting the exponential growth of order fulfilment volume. By way of comparison, it took Locus 1,542 days to pick its first 100 million units and just 40 days for the most recent 100 million picks. Locus robots now average more than three million picks per day around the world. LocusBots have travelled more than 20 million miles in customers’ warehouses, the equivalent of more than 670 times around the Earth or 35 round trips to the Moon.

The Locus warehouse execution platform disrupts large-scale warehouse fulfilment and distribution with an industry-leading, intelligent, and dynamically scalable robotics-driven solution. Locus delivers 2X-3X productivity by seamlessly coordinating both human labour and AMRs to dramatically improve order fulfilment efficiency and workplace ergonomics, while lowering operational costs.

With more than 230 sites under contract around the world – some having as many as 500 LocusBots per site – the Locus solution efficiently and seamlessly orchestrates the operation and management of multiple robot form factors, and provides forward-looking, real-time business intelligence, critical for optimizing productivity, proactively managing labour, and managing costs.

 

 

Locus picks 230m units during holiday peak

Locus Robotics, a leader in autonomous mobile robots (AMR) for fulfilment and distribution warehouses, announced that its LocusBots picked more than 230 million units during the peak holiday shopping period on behalf of its global retail and third-party logistics customers – more than doubling the total number of items picked in the same period in 2021.

“Despite early predictions of lowered volumes, Locus customers once again picked a record number of items using LocusBots during this critical holiday shopping period,” said Rick Faulk, CEO of Locus Robotics. “It is now clear that scalable, cost-efficient robotics automation is an operational must-have as volumes continue to increase and the labour shortages persist. Locus is proud to help our customers again meet the seasonal challenge with robust, enterprise-scale automation solutions that position them for success today and in the future.”

During this same period, LocusBots averaged 3.3 million units picked per day, representing a 2x increase over 2021.

A record $281bn online global sales took place from Thanksgiving Day (24th November) through Cyber Monday this year according to Salesforce.com and Adobe Analytics Data, with total US online sales over $68bn, representing a 9% increase over 2021.

Cyber Week 2022 continued several notable industry trends that first appeared in 2021:

  • Retailers again started peak season earlier in an effort to mitigate supply chain concerns and ensure product availability
  • Online shopping is now a central aspect of the retailers’ omnichannel shopping strategy as online spending increased 8.6%
  • Mobile shopping continues to be a favourite, growing more than 15% over 2021

Locus reaches industry first

Locus recently reached an industry-first, its 1 billion pick milestone, reflecting the exponential growth of order fulfilment volume. By way of comparison, it took Locus 1,542 days to pick its first 100 million units and just 40 days for the most recent 100 million picks. Locus robots now average more than three million picks per day around the world. LocusBots have travelled more than 20 million miles in customers’ warehouses, the equivalent of more than 670 times around the Earth or 35 round trips to the Moon.

The Locus warehouse execution platform disrupts large-scale warehouse fulfilment and distribution with an industry-leading, intelligent, and dynamically scalable robotics-driven solution. Locus delivers 2X-3X productivity by seamlessly coordinating both human labour and AMRs to dramatically improve order fulfilment efficiency and workplace ergonomics, while lowering operational costs.

With more than 230 sites under contract around the world – some having as many as 500 LocusBots per site – the Locus solution efficiently and seamlessly orchestrates the operation and management of multiple robot form factors, and provides forward-looking, real-time business intelligence, critical for optimizing productivity, proactively managing labour, and managing costs.

 

 

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