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Month: June 2025

Samsara Unveils Major Safety and AI Upgrades

Posted on by David Priestman

Samsara has just launched more than a dozen new safety and AI-powered tools designed to make physical operations safer, smarter, and more efficient than ever before. Launched at its annual Beyond conference in San Diego, David Priestman reports.

Fuelled by Samsara’s open platform, these first-of-their-kind solutions empower organisations to operate smarter and fundamentally alter the industry’s approach to the safety of frontline teams. These new solutions include AI-powered safety tools, a new connected wearable, advanced routing and navigation capabilities and enhanced maintenance tools.

“We’ve entered the age of intelligence, and AI is helping our customers operate smarter,” said Sanjit Biswas, CEO and co-founder of Samsara. “We’re partnering with our customers to build products that help them run safer, more efficient operations and protect frontline workers while saving millions of dollars.”Samsara has invested more than $1bn in research and development to date. By leveraging its more than 14 trillion data points, the company is continuing its innovation leadership with the launch of several new products and enhancements.

Reward drivers, spot risks and prevent incidents in real time

Driving ranks among the top 10 most dangerous jobs. Over the past decade, there has been a 49% increase in fatal crashes, coupled with a 40% increase in associated insurance premiums in the USA. Samsara offers advanced technology to help detect risky driving events, such as phone use or speeding; now, several new AI-fuelled features have been added to improve fleet safety and reward safe driving:

● AI Multi-Cam: Drivers can now add up to four additional HD cameras, providing a 360-degree view to reduce blind spots, all accessible via an in-cab monitor. In addition, the AI Multi-Cam actively notifies drivers in real time of hazards, such as pedestrians and cyclists. Whether using a Samsara camera or a third-party device, administrators can retrieve historic video footage and corresponding audio to help quickly resolve incidents.

● Weather Intelligence: Administrators can now overlay real-time weather data pulled from the National Weather Service onto the existing dashboards to view and alert workers of imminent threats such as fire risks, heavy rain and more.

● Safety Coaching for Lean Teams: A new set of customisable features helps administrators with lean safety teams to scale driver coaching and recognition with AI and automation. AI analyses hundreds of risky driving events – considering factors such as severity, frequency, road conditions and total drive time – and automatically sends low-risk behaviours to drivers for self-coaching and escalates higher-risk events to managers. Furthermore, AI provides insight into big-picture behavioural trends across drivers and trips, so managers can coach based on driving patterns rather than just isolated incidents.

● Revamped Driver App: As the No. 1 driver app in both major app stores, the Samsara app now includes TikTok-style training videos to boost engagement and end-of-day reviews to help with driver coaching. Designed to act as a companion for drivers throughout the day, the app now offers new gamification features and recognition tools to reinforce positive, safe behaviour. For example, administrators can send gift cards that can be redeemed at popular dining, entertainment and shopping locations directly through the app.


“Getting drivers home safe is one of our primary goals at Samsara, a priority we share with every one of our more than 10,000 customers,” said Johan Land, SVP of Product and Engineering at Samsara. “Thanks to rapid advancements in AI technology, we’ve been able to build new products that are now empowering drivers to make better decisions on the road and equipping safety teams with the tools for faster, more effective feedback. AI is increasingly becoming a powerful ally in protecting drivers, and Samsara is at the forefront of this trend.”

Worker Safety Beyond the Vehicle: New wearable joins the fleet

The need to keep frontline teams safe extends beyond the vehicle to both local jobsites and remote locations. To help protect frontline workers outside of the vehicle, Samsara is introducing the Samsara Wearable. The new connected device is powered by the Samsara network of millions of devices and enables quick response and protection in any environment. With the addition of the wearable, organisations now have access to a holistic safety offering that can help predict risk, reduce accidents and alert administrators to urgent needs of their frontline workers. The new Samsara Wearable offers several benefits, including:

● More than one year of battery life: The Samsara network replaces the need for cellular connectivity, equipping the Samsara Wearable with a battery life of more than one year. This charge life far surpasses the industry standard of 24 hours, providing reliable access to everywhere customers operate.
● One-click protection: With one click, workers can connect to emergency services, who can immediately pinpoint their precise location and access a real-time audio recording of the situation. The small, lightweight device is easy to use and gives workers an added layer of protection in the field.
● Fall detection: The Samsara Wearable can automatically detect and respond to falls in situations such as slips on icy pavements and falls from heights such as scaffolding, cranes or trailers.
● Proactive threat alerts: In the case of severe weather or wildfires, fleet managers can proactively check in on workers and alert them of the unsafe conditions via push notifications to the device.
● One platform: Samsara connects driver and worker safety in one system, allowing for faster response times and visibility across the entire fleet.

Smarter, Easier Routing

Historically, commercial fleets have relied on a patchwork of incomplete maps and manual processes to plan routes and guide drivers. These legacy maps are updated as infrequently as every one to five years, leading to inefficient routes, missed delivery windows and increased driver stress. Samsara’s new Route Planning and Commercial Navigation products offer a modern, integrated alternative that helps fleets cut costs, stay compliant and deliver more reliably.

● Route Planning: Building on existing routing capabilities, Samsara now integrates directly with fleet operators’ sales systems to pinpoint the most efficient routes and delivery schedules for customers’ fleets. These advanced routing capabilities consider variables such as vehicle limitations, compliance requirements for drivers, customer delivery windows, as well as traffic and weather patterns, to stay within promised delivery windows and avoid unnecessary fuel usage. Early Samsara data suggests a 15% reduction in the number of vehicles required for deliveries and a reduction of manual back-office routing time, turning routing into a competitive advantage.

● Commercial Navigation: Samsara can now overlay fleet-specific restrictions such as weight, height and hazmat directly onto standard digital maps to provide more accurate turn-by-turn directions. By combining this insight with information such as hours of service within the Samsara Driver App, drivers can access everything they need in a single location to remain compliant and on time.

“Samsara has made a significant impact on our operations, saving $7.75 million annually across our three fleets by helping us optimise planned versus actuals route improvements,“ said Andy Yearout, VP of Transportation & Logistics at Mohawk Industries. “With the new Route Planning capability, we expect to see a reduction in daily route planning time from hours to minutes.”

Asset Maintenance and Visibility

Vehicle maintenance violations comprise 60% of all US Department of Transportation offences, resulting in substantial financial penalties and costly vehicle downtime. To help minimise these disruptions, Samsara has introduced several new preventative maintenance features, including Vehicle Inspection, Fault Code Intelligence, Automated Work Orders and Level Monitoring.

● Vehicle Inspection: Now, drivers can simplify the vehicle inspection process by automatically converting inspection notes from voice to text. In turn, managers can ensure that reports are properly completed by viewing drivers’ walkaround paths, the duration of the inspection and quality of the report photos. To help maintain compliance, the platform triggers real-time alerts for missing vehicle inspections, monitors FMCSA data, reviews inspection result and violations and audits driver behaviour. This AI-powered functionality works in low-connectivity and loud environments and results in faster inspections and streamlined repairs and maintenance.
● Fault Code Intelligence and Automated Work Orders: This optimisation extends to the back office, where fleet administrators can view the Vehicle Inspections in a unified dashboard. Fault code intelligence automatically deciphers the codes and uses AI to create maintenance work orders. In addition, Samsara now offers AI invoice scanning to help quickly upload external vendor invoices into the platform, reducing administrative time and errors associated with manual entries.
● Level Monitoring: With level monitoring, organisations have near real-time visibility into levels across a wide range of tank types. This insight enables improved tank utilisation and the ability to optimise inventory.

“Physical operations organisations are at the forefront of adopting AI because it saves lives. It also drives a more efficient use of labour, fuel and energy savings, and higher utilisation of capital assets,” said Kiren Sekar, Chief Product Officer, Samsara. “With the rollout of Samsara’s new AI-powered solutions, we are giving physical operations leaders a real partner on both safety and efficiency.”

HappyRobot Integration

Continuing its commitment to bring cutting-edge AI to its customers, Samsara today announced a new partnership with HappyRobot, a pioneer in AI-powered voice solutions for the logistics sector. Samsara Ventures also announced an investment in HappyRobot to reflect our belief in its vision and the transformative potential of agentic AI.

HappyRobot offers truly human-like agentic AI to automate communications via phone, email and text to boost efficiency and improve customer satisfaction. Organisations can use agents to automatically call drivers or customers to notify them of shift details or order status, to navigate phone trees, negotiate contracts with freight brokers and even for screening, hiring and onboarding.

HappyRobot users are automating more than 20 million conversations annually, reducing call times by half and cutting operational costs by a third. Existing Samsara customers like Werner are seeing tremendous value from HappyRobot’s technology.

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From Drive Systems to Solutions

Posted on by David Priestman

Whether conveying goods or lifting heavy loads, every movement needs a drive system. However, different applications have different requirements. As a developer of drive solutions, NORD offers via its modular product range all components of drive technology that can be combined in various configurations.

NORD implements the appropriate selection, design and calculation of the drives. Drive systems consisting
of gear unit, motor and drive electronics thus become tailor-made solutions for specific industry applications. Hence, the company is able to fulfil a wide range of specific requirements.

A modular system offering numerous solutions

One example is the requirement for energy efficiency. NORD has electric motors that can be used worldwide and comply with all relevant international regulations. With its IE5+ synchronous motors, the developer surpasses the efficiencies of the currently highest defined energy efficiency class (IE5). They are also part of the integrated gear unit/motor concept DuoDrive that combines the IE5+ motor with a single-stage helical gear unit in one housing. DuoDrive achieves one of the highest efficiencies on the market within this power class. Users also benefit from expertise and additional services, such as the NORD ECO efficiency analysis that allows the implementation of upcoming drive tasks with optimal energy consumption.

Another current example is condition monitoring that NORD can integrate into its drive solutions. With an IIoT solution, it is possible to determine and analyse drive and status data via the integrated PLC of the frequency inverter. The data can also be made available to the central systems of the users. This provides important information for predictive maintenance, allowing machinery and equipment to be maintained proactively, while reducing downtimes and increasing overall system efficiency.

Solutions to optimise user performance

“Requirements are changing – and we are actively following this path” reports Jörg Niermann, Head of
Marketing at NORD. “We are continuously developing our drive components to provide our customers with
solutions that help them progress technically, economically and environmentally.” By combining a wide
modular product range with technical expertise and knowledge in more than 100 industries, NORD creates
drive systems that are tailored to specific needs and delivered as complete solutions from a single source.

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DHL Supply Chain signs contract for sustainable battery recycling

Posted on by David Priestman

DHL Supply Chain has signed a long-term contract with Fortum Battery Recycling, a business of the Nordic energy company Fortum. The agreement covers the development and provision of customized service logistics solutions for the recycling of electric vehicle (EV) batteries. With this partnership, both companies are making an important contribution to promoting sustainable supply chains and conserving valuable resources.

Fortum Battery Recycling is the only player providing a European solution for every stage of the battery recycling value chain. The company is a pioneer in the development of processes to efficiently recover valuable raw materials such as lithium, cobalt, and nickel from used batteries with minimal waste residue, thus driving forward the circular economy in electromobility. Under the agreement, DHL Supply Chain will provide customized service logistics solutions to ensure that Fortum’s recycling processes run smoothly, safely, and efficiently.

Forward-looking service logistics solutions for battery recycling

DHL Supply Chain’s service logistics goes beyond conventional logistics services. The aim is to ensure the business success of customers by guaranteeing the functionality of products and technologies throughout their life cycle. In the field of battery recycling, this means that DHL Supply Chain is responsible for the entire spectrum of services in the logistics segment. These include the safe transportation, storage, and handling of used EV batteries, as well as timely delivery to Fortum’s recycling facilities.

“Our collaboration with Fortum underscores our commitment to providing innovative logistics solutions to meet the growing demands of e-mobility,” explains Hendrik Venter, CEO at DHL Supply Chain EMEA. “Through our expertise in service logistics and our global network, we can help Fortum expand their recycling capabilities while maintaining the highest safety and sustainability standards.”

Sustainable solutions for electromobility

For Fortum, the cooperation with DHL Supply Chain is an important step in further expanding its sustainable recycling solutions and making the market for electric vehicles even more environmentally friendly. “We are proud to be working with DHL Supply Chain to develop an efficient and sustainable logistics solution for the recycling of EV batteries,” comments Anssi Airas, Head of Business Line Battery at Fortum. “We believe that electrification of Europe is not possible without sustainable recycling of batteries taking place in Europe, for Europe. The cooperation with DHL is an essential building block for our mission to promote the circular economy and maximize resource conservation.”

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Superior Shopping Experience with Supply Chain Optimisation

Posted on by David Priestman

ASOS, a global fashion destination, has announced a collaboration with Celonis to optimise supply chain operations. Through the Celonis Process Intelligence platform, ASOS is connecting its end-to-end supply chain to provide full visibility, transparency and accountability, enabling reductions in process variation, increasing speed to market, and improving the customer experience.

“ASOS is a prime example of how leading retailers can use Process Intelligence to transform their operations,” said Rupal Karia, General Manager for UKI and MEA at Celonis. “With Celonis, ASOS gets unprecedented visibility into its end-to-end supply chain and can identify and act upon opportunities for improvement in real-time. Together, we’re unlocking the full potential of ASOS’ supply chain to deliver faster, smarter, and more efficient operations at scale.”

Transforming ASOS’ Supply Chain and Driving “Speed to Customer” with a Process-first  Approach

As a leading online fashion retailer, ASOS operates in a highly dynamic and competitive market where speed to customer is a critical differentiator. Leveraging the Celonis Process Intelligence platform and its game-changing object-centric process mining (OCPM) technology, ASOS can connect its product, inbound supply chain, logistics and outbound delivery & returns teams, providing a holistic, real-time view of the full supply chain process—from purchase order to putaway to products on the doorstep. This enables ASOS to gain actionable insights into key supply chain performance metrics, which will help drive faster, more reliable order fulfillment​.

“With Celonis, we’ve connected our entire supply chain—from intake and inbound to outbound and returns—enabling teams to break down silos, streamline processes, cut costs, and deliver the latest trends to customers faster,” said Laurence Moore, Head of Strategic Projects, Supply Chain at ASOS.

A Vision for the Future: Scaling Process Intelligence across ASOS

As part of its long-term digital transformation strategy, ASOS is exploring ways to expand Celonis across multiple business functions, including Purchase-to-Pay, Order Management, IT Service Management, and Warehouse Management​. With real-time process monitoring, ASOS can further enhance efficiency, reduce costs, and continue delivering an outstanding customer experience.

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Future for Supply Chains Starts with Partners

Posted on by David Priestman

A new future for supply chains starts with your partners, writes Scott Lehmann VP of Product Management at Sphera.

The last few months have been busy for every CEO of a global business. The launch of increased tariffs by the US has added new complexities to global trade. Firms have been forced to take fast action to shore up their supply chains, ranging from stockpiling in warehouses to rethinking the locations of suppliers and networks around the world. While it’s still early days, the impacts are starting to be felt further down the chain of business’ operations. China’s response with additional export restrictions on rare earth metals even forced some automotive manufacturers to temporarily shutter production.

Disruption is clearly becoming the new norm. It is worth remembering that supply chain resilience is not a new topic for 2025. We have lived through five years that have seen events that have profoundly tested global supply chains, including the once-in-a century COVID-19 pandemic and the Ever Given incident on the Suez Canal – the latter of which obstructed up to $10 billion cargo per day.

Scott Lehmann, Sphera

Building resilience into supply chains is no longer a nice to have, it’s an imperative. Businesses need to prepare for the unprecedented and strategically plan for intelligent, proactive supply chain management.

No more reactive

It is critical for leaders to, as the saying goes, see the wood for the trees. Organisations should resist reacting too quickly to the turmoil the tariffs have created worldwide. It may only exacerbate the issue, kicking off even larger unforeseen supply chain disruptions and vulnerabilities.

There is an alternative path available to them. This strategy is centred around supply chain risk management. Risk is not something to engage with after the fact, or on a case-by-case basis. It should be foundational to every firm’s supply chain strategy. These risks are diverse and should be viewed in holistic terms. The risks do, certainly, involve exposure to large tariffs that risk forcing them to hike up prices for their direct customers. They could also be tied into climate regulation, geopolitics, sanctions, human rights, reputational – the list goes on.

Supply chain risk management is guided by principles that aim to avoid, mitigate, transfer or accept risks in order to effectively manage overall risk exposure.

To start, look at a prioritization of suppliers to better understand the risk, its impact and what mitigation strategies are most appropriate. This is a complex, multi-faceted exercise. Too many corporations engage with this question on a surface level. They might try to map out where their suppliers are operating, who their suppliers, and their suppliers, are buying from so they have a more complete picture of their risk posture. Our research shows that, for the majority of businesses, their intelligence ends at their direct, tier 1 suppliers. Firms are not going deeper in the layers of the supply chain and thus are exposed to risks they may be unaware of.

Factors behind this problem range from outdated and/or new technology promising the world but delivering a lot of noise and confusion to problems in cooperating on supplier data with direct suppliers. Solving it requires a shift towards real-time supplier intelligence, extending beyond immediate partners to include true N-tier visibility, ensuring businesses understand the risks deep within their networks.

Looking ahead

Taking a more proactive, modernised approach to supply chains is critical. Supply chain resilience is a necessity for business survival. Companies can no longer prioritise cost efficiency over resilience. Firms need a holistic view of supplier risk, built around real-time supplier intelligence that goes far beyond immediate partners to achieve full N-tier visibility.

It will help firms to comprehensively ask the biggest questions affecting supply chains today including: Who am I doing business with all the way down the supply chain? Is there a diamond supplier risk? What specific country risk exposure do they have in their sub-tiers? Are there human rights issues in their supply chains? To what extent are they exposed to the new US tariff regime? How are they affected by EU climate regulations? Do they have exposure to sanctions from the war in Ukraine? How will the ongoing Middle East conflicts impact them directly and indirectly?

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Real-Time Cargo Insurance for Freight Forwarders

Posted on by David Priestman

CocoonFMS®, a provider of digital freight solutions, has announced a new integration with Breeze, the embedded cargo insurance platform, to deliver instant, per-shipment insurance quoting directly within CocoonOPS, its transport management system (TMS).

Through the API integration, freight forwarders using CocoonOPS can now obtain real-time, all-risk cargo insurance quotes powered by Breeze without leaving their workflow. Shipment data is passed seamlessly to Breeze, which returns a live quote and enables one-click policy confirmation, significantly reducing the time and operational burden of securing cover.

“We built CocoonOPS to simplify freight management,” said James Blackman, Co-Founder of CocoonFMS®. “Partnering with Breeze supports that mission by eliminating one of the most persistent inefficiencies in the process: manual, delayed insurance quoting. It’s a practical solution that helps forwarders save time and reduce admin.”

The integration reflects a shared focus on reducing operational friction across the freight lifecycle. Traditional cargo insurance workflows (often reliant on broker emails, paper-based documentation, and delayed quotes) are increasingly misaligned with the pace of modern logistics. Breeze’s API-based platform delivers embedded, instant insurance at the point of booking, allowing for faster quoting, clearer coverage, and improved claims outcomes.

“Cargo insurance shouldn’t slow down the shipment process, it should keep pace with it,” said Matthew Phillips, Co-Founder of Breeze. “CocoonFMS is aligned with our vision for a more connected and responsive freight ecosystem, and we’re proud to bring real-time protection directly into their TMS.”

The partnership aims to deliver measurable efficiency gains for forwarders, particularly in a volatile shipping environment where risk exposure is rising and margin pressure remains high. By streamlining how insurance is quoted and confirmed, the integration enables teams to spend less time on manual coordination and more time focused on core operations.

The Breeze integration is now live and available to all CocoonOPS users.

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New MD for Van and Truck Hire

Posted on by David Priestman

SIXT has announced the appointment of Yvonne Gabler as the new Managing Director for SIXT van & truck in the UK, effective from May 2025. Yvonne succeeds David Saint, who led the UK business with passion and commitment for almost four years.

With over a decade of experience in the automotive and mobility sector, Gabler brings a deep understanding of both B2B sales and commercial vehicle rental. She has relocated from Germany to Scotland to take on the new role and spearhead the next phase of growth for SIXT van & truck in the UK.

Dr. Peter Beermann, Executive Vice President SIXT van & truck commented: “Yvonne has a deep understanding of our business and a proven track record of driving growth through innovation and leadership. Her appointment marks an exciting step forward for SIXT van & truck in the UK. I’m confident she will lead the team to even greater success, and I’m personally happy to see such a strong female leader from within our own ranks take on this important role.”

Gabler began her career at SIXT Leasing in 2012 and has since progressed through a series of strategic leadership roles. In 2018, she transitioned from “SIXT Leasing” to “SIXT rent a car” division, leading the Special Sales Department, overseeing diverse B2B segments including luxury, movie production, van & truck, and replacement sales.

Her outstanding performance led to further promotion and most recently, in January 2023, Gabler took on a pivotal role focusing on van & truck B2B sales, helping to build and strengthen the international van and truck B2B sales organisation, leading teams dedicated to telesales, area sales, and key account management across the globe.

Now, in her new role, Gabler’s strategic focus will be on scaling the business, increasing brand awareness across the UK, and positioning SIXT van & truck as a bold and innovative force in the commercial vehicle rental sector.

“SIXT is already the most innovative player in the mobility market when considering hiring a car,” said Gabler. “We want to achieve the same level of brand recognition in the UK when hiring commercial vehicles. The goal is to grow and scale the business and to become a very competitive player in the commercial vehicle market.”

She added: “I am super delighted about having the chance to extend my responsibilities and to grow the already existing business with the experienced and highly motivated van & truck team here in the UK. The whole team has the ambition to grow and is ready to prove that SIXT has built a strong product and a compelling business proposition for the UK market.”

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Amazon to Invest £40 Billion in UK Logistics and Infrastructure

Posted on by David Priestman

Amazon has announced a major investment of £40 billion (US$54 billion) in the United Kingdom over the next three years, marking one of its largest-ever financial commitments outside the United States. The move will significantly expand Amazon’s logistics, fulfilment, cloud computing, and content production capabilities across the UK, while creating thousands of new jobs and reinforcing its strategic position in the market.

As part of the investment, Amazon plans to open four new fulfilment centres in Hull, Northampton, the East Midlands, and one additional location yet to be confirmed. The Hull and Northampton sites alone are expected to generate around 2,000 permanent jobs each. In addition, more than 100 existing logistics sites — including delivery stations and operations buildings — will be upgraded, supporting faster and more efficient distribution nationwide. New delivery stations will also be developed to strengthen last-mile delivery performance and meet growing consumer demand.

Beyond logistics, the company is also committing significant resources to technology and infrastructure. This includes an £8 billion investment in Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centres, announced last year and set to be rolled out through 2028. These facilities will support the growth of cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and big data services across the UK economy. Additional spending will go toward two new corporate office buildings in London and the redevelopment of Bray Film Studios in Berkshire, supporting Amazon’s growing content production efforts.

Amazon currently employs around 75,000 people in the UK, making it one of the country’s top ten private employers. With this new investment, the company aims to create thousands of new full-time roles across logistics, tech, and cloud services. The expansion not only deepens Amazon’s operational footprint in Britain, but also supports the broader economic agenda set out by the newly elected UK government.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomed the announcement as a “massive vote of confidence in the UK as the best place to do business.” The investment aligns closely with the government’s newly launched Modern Industrial Strategy, which emphasises growth through private investment, innovation, green energy, and skills development.

From a logistics perspective, this development is transformative. The addition of new fulfilment centres and delivery stations will substantially enhance Amazon’s warehousing capacity, regional reach, and delivery speed. Locating facilities in areas such as Hull and Northampton enables more distributed operations and helps relieve pressure on London-based infrastructure. Meanwhile, investments in AWS and AI-driven data centres will further strengthen the integration of automation, predictive analytics, and smart logistics into Amazon’s supply chain — setting new benchmarks for operational efficiency and scalability.

While the long-term benefits to the UK economy are clear, Amazon still faces regulatory scrutiny. The company is currently under review by the UK’s grocery watchdog over concerns about delayed supplier payments, indicating that its growing influence will continue to be monitored by public authorities.

For the logistics industry, Amazon’s £40 billion commitment represents a decisive shift. The scale of investment will reshape the competitive landscape, fuel demand for third-party services, and open up new opportunities in warehousing, transport, and supply chain innovation. As Amazon doubles down on UK infrastructure, the entire sector may need to raise its game — or find smart ways to complement, not compete with, a rapidly evolving logistics giant.

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Tate & Lyle Sugars goes all-in on electric HGVs

Posted on by David Priestman

Tate & Lyle Sugars continue to push sustainability with the introduction of two brand-new 100% electric Volvo lorries, operating around London from April 2025.

Transport emissions are one of the leading contributors to urban air pollution, and Tate & Lyle Sugars’ investment in fully electric lorries marks a step towards supporting cleaner, healthier cities and reaching its carbon neutrality targets in the UK by 2041.

Unlike traditional diesel lorries, which emit pollutants such as nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide that exacerbate air pollution and climate change, these electric alternatives produce zero tailpipe emissions.

The investment highlights Tate & Lyle Sugars’ ambition and commitment to becoming the most ethical and sustainable cane sugar refiner in the world, and its pledge to reduce emissions, thereby improving urban air quality.

To honour its heritage while working for a cleaner future, Tate & Lyle Sugars unveiled one of its new electric lorries outside the British Commercial Vehicle Museum in Leyland, Lancashire, which charts the UK’s commercial vehicle history since the 1800s and proudly exhibits a number of the company’s retired commercial vehicles. Chorley is also a neighbouring Lancashire town where sugar merchant, philanthropist, and one of the founders of the company Sir Henry Tate, was born in 1819.

To emphasise its evolution, a number of historic vehicles were proudly lined up and displayed outside the museum, including a horse and cart, used by Tate & Lyle Sugars to move sugar within the refinery until 1954, and two vintage vehicles; a 1913 McCurd and a 1932 Latil.

The McCurd is the only surviving vehicle of its type in the world and even appeared in the film ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’. It was restored as a box van in the ‘Tate Sugars’ livery after being used by troops during the war.

The French manufacturer, Latil, produced the versatile Latil four-wheel drive road tractor under licence in England by Shelvoke and Drury and it was used by Tate & Lyle Sugars throughout the 1930s.

Two cutting-edge Volvo electric lorries are now in operation at Tate & Lyle Sugars, serving key logistics routes in East London. One vehicle handles palletised product transfers from the Thames Refinery to an external warehouse, while the other manages bulk deliveries to major customers within the M25 and also handles sugar movements between the Thames Refinery and Plaistow factories.

Volvo has provided comprehensive hands-on training to drivers, ensuring optimal performance and battery efficiency. They will also repurpose end-of-life EV batteries for second-life energy storage to minimise waste.

A recent survey by Tate & Lyle Sugars revealed that 67%² of consumers view businesses more positively when they utilise electric vehicles, further reinforcing the necessity of sustainable operations within the supply chain.

Saving 55,000 diesel miles annually, this is roughly the distance of driving from London to Sydney and back twice, 7 round-trip flights from London to New York, 82 return coach trips between London and Edinburgh or traveling the entire length of the UK (Land’s End to John o’ Groats) 63 times.

Andrew Jones, President of Tate and Lyle Sugars, commented:

“The introduction of our 100% electric lorries marks another step forward in our commitment to being one of the world’s most ethical and environmentally responsible cane sugar refiners.

“We continually explore ways to make our logistics more sustainable — from optimising vehicle payloads to choosing greener transport methods — and remain focused on working with our customers and suppliers to build a more sustainable supply chain.

“The commemorative event at the British Commercial Vehicle Museum also celebrated this progress, showcasing our journey from 1878 to today.

“This latest move honours our heritage while accelerating our vision for a cleaner future.”

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New Bin-mover Robot Launched

Posted on by David Priestman

Supplier of intelligent warehousing and mobile robotics, Quicktron, has launched a new solution for the UK market – the M5F bin-mover robot – which further enhances its Quickbin+ solution. The launch of the M5F robot marks a milestone in Quicktron’s expansion into Europe as the AMR specialist brings its innovative, affordable and intelligent robotic solutions to new customers across the continent.

Quickbin+ combines patented bin-picker and bin-mover robots in a breakthrough intelligent warehousing system that enhances storage density, optimises efficiency and delivers substantial cost savings to maximise ROI. The compact M5F robot delivers high performance to a broad range of industries and applications, from 3PL, retail and e-commerce, to healthcare, food & beverage and manufacturing.

Adaptable, efficient and agile

The M5F robot is a key component of the Quickbin+ solution, which integrates bin-picker and bin-mover robots to deliver a cost-effective, flexible entry into intelligent warehousing with lower investment and maintenance costs, and a faster payback period (as short as two years).

Enhancing efficiency, throughput and flexibility, the durable, streamlined M5F is the next generation of bin-mover robots. It has a long 11-hour battery life to minimise downtime and eliminate mid-shift charging, an acceleration of 2 m/s², and achieves speeds of up to 4.5 m/s and.

With agile horizontal transportation and curved-turn functionality, the M5F operates effectively in tight spaces to reduce operating times and cut the number of bin-mover robots required by up to 40%. Smooth performance is achieved with ±10mm accuracy using QR codes for position tracking, while inertial sensors gather real-time data to adjust orientation, detect obstacles, and ensure smooth navigation.

Working alongside other robots

The M5F is adaptable and scalable, offering easy and seamless integration with other mobile robots, including the C56 bin-picker robot. It can be reconfigured to suit an array of different workflows and applications, while its single-column, fork-arm design improves manoeuvrability and adaptability to a wide variety of different warehouse situations.

Combined with the C56 bin-picker robot, which can operate at heights up to 12m to enhance storage density, the M5F’s dual-layer buffer zones utilise both vertical and horizontal space. The dual-depth storage allows picking from two locations along the aisles, effectively doubling capacity and providing the flexibility needed to adapt to varying SKUs and seasonal demand.

Intelligent technology

Quicktron has a growing portfolio of high-performance robotic solutions and has expanded rapidly since it was founded in 2014. With businesses facing rising pressures to improve warehouse efficiency and reduce intralogistics costs, the company has more than 30,000 operational robotic units deployed worldwide, including over 1,000 AGVs in a single warehouse. The QuickBin (QB+) system is a core offering for Quicktron and a key part of its portfolio of comprehensive warehouse solutions, which integrate intelligent intralogistics technologies, including four-way shuttles, AMRs, and tote handling systems across full-scenario operations.

Quicktron has a strong focus on R&D and intelligent solutions, with more than 500 patents to its name. A long-term strategic partnership with Dematic combines both companies’ expertise, building on a proven track record of successful collaborations, including the joint delivery of multiple QuickBin and G2P picking system projects.

Yang Wei, the CEO and founder at Quicktron Robotics, commented: “The new M5F robot is part of our commitment to enhancing the competitiveness of companies, making the industry more sustainable, and freeing workers from mundane tasks, allowing them to focus on more engaging and valuable work.

“Our strong emphasis on R&D has delivered a faster, more agile, more efficient robot that reduces warehouse and intralogistics costs even further and enhances our flagship QuickBin+ solution. Integrating the new M5F with QuickBin+ provides a 50-60% saving in labour costs and a scalable, flexible future-proof solution that can adapt to companies’ changing needs.

“The M5F robot debuted at the 2025 ProMat show in Chicago in March and we’re excited to see how it can benefit companies across Europe as part of our core QuickBin+ solution.”

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