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Month: October 2026

Why Logistics Must Take Security Seriously

Posted on by David Priestman

Traditionally, the transportation industry has taken a cautious approach to addressing business challenges and adopting new technologies, writes Lotte Vanden Wyngaert (pictured, below), Senior Manager in Applied AI, and Pablo Pires, Head of AI Safety, at Trimble.

Because assets are expensive, margins are consistently thin and mistakes can have massive real-world consequences, fleets simply cannot afford to be early adopters of unproven solutions. Yet, when it comes to artificial intelligence, our industry has set aside this pragmatic approach and entered a new period of rapid experimentation. Many fleets today are deploying AI-powered maintenance tools, using smarter TMS solutions and automating back-office workflows.

The opportunity this presents is real. But so is the risk. When a contract is executed incorrectly or a carrier is wrongly flagged, someone must explain what happened and why. In a multi-agent system, the audit trail can become confusing, making it difficult to pinpoint where the breakdown in communication occurred. A study by Gartner predicts that more than 40% of agentic AI projects will be cancelled by the end of 2027 due to governance and accountability complexities.

As AI becomes embedded throughout transport operations, many organisations are unintentionally creating a new form of fragmentation that poses serious security risks to the supply chain. Instead of deploying one secure AI agent that can automatically use data to connect all workflows and operations, organisations are accumulating dozens of disconnected AI tools that work independently across different data sources and security standards.

The result is a tech environment that may be more advanced on paper, but not necessarily more efficient, secure or manageable in practice.

Rapid AI adoption compounds security risks

Today’s off-the-shelf consumer-grade AI tools are inexpensive and easy to access, but most are unfit for logistics operations at scale. Many of these AI tools lack effective security oversight and often work around security controls in an attempt to complete requested tasks. True security demands those boundaries to be enforced without compromise. In extreme cases, AI agents have installed unauthorised software on host machines, creating new API connections and other unapproved actions.

The ‘slap it on’ AI strategy that many companies are using to try to move faster is opening a Pandora’s box of avoidable risks and security threats. Transport and logistics leaders should develop a strategic AI rollout plan that takes security risks seriously without moving too slowly and getting left behind. Finding the right balance is easier said than done.

Security must be baked into one single AI agent

One thing is clear: if businesses are to continue down the path of safely embracing agentic AI, fleets need to rethink the mix of AI tools that they have been leveraging for their business operations.

In order for a single AI agent to be successful, security must be baked into the very foundation of its development, with a standalone team focused on security as its main objective. Additionally, numerous overlapping layers of defence must be put in place to prevent both intentional and negligent use in real time, and bring a human into the loop whenever tasks are unclear or run into security restrictions.

Replacing 12 separate agents (and audit trails) with one eliminates much of the governance and accountability complexity organisations experience today. Fleets today would benefit from a single, powerful AI agent that is trusted to operate with access to live business data, internal servers, strict cost controls and strong user-permission constraints.

Fragmented AI reverses past efficiency and security gains

On the surface, it may appear that fleets who rapidly adopt new AI tools and throw them at gaps in their operations are getting ahead. But the reality is, despite this growing adoption, many fleets are left with fragmented systems and exposure to new security threats.

When AI is not deployed strategically across a business the efficiency gains these tools should deliver can begin to unravel, creating inefficiencies instead. In a survey of 68 freight professionals, about 55% of respondents said they were actively using, piloting or experimenting with AI in limited areas, but only about 15% were using AI agents.

With so much potential for efficiency, our industry should move towards seamlessly integrating a singular AI agent that touches all business aspects including telematics, third-party software and automated workflows to enable transport operations to move forward.

WMS Gives Traceability for Nonwovens

Posted on by David Priestman

Polímeros y Derivados, a company that develops technologies for manufacturing nonwoven fabrics, has implemented Mecalux’s Easy WMS warehouse management system in its centre for finished goods in León, Guanajuato, Mexico.

For years, the business relied on manual processes supported by ERP software to operate its extensive facility. Now, the manufacturer — which serves customers in the automotive, cleaning, construction and plastic tarpaulin sectors — has taken a major step towards digitalisation. Polímeros y Derivados’ primary objective was to achieve total traceability of its rolls of material, streamline warehouse operations and further strengthen customer service. The Mexican company turned to Mecalux specialists to optimise its logistics operations and eliminate manual inventory procedures.

Easy WMS integrates with Microsoft Dynamics ERP and manages multiple orders daily, each containing up to 40 lines. Thanks to Easy WMS’s ability to adapt to Polímeros y Derivados’ two-dimensional labelling system, RF devices capture essential information such as product dimensions, lot numbers, serial numbers and customer codes. This ensures accurate identification of pallets arriving from production.

Another key priority was ensuring compatibility with the manufacturer’s internal quality control procedures. To achieve this, the data captured by Easy WMS — used in hundreds of warehouses worldwide — was aligned with Polímeros y Derivados’ information management framework.

This digital transformation has streamlined the tracking of the company’s large rolls of nonwoven fabric, highly valued across multiple industries. Implementing the system has enabled Polímeros y Derivados to replace manual processes previously managed through colour coding with a computerised, scalable system aligned with its growth strategy. In addition, Easy WMS’s Supply Chain Analytics capability provides detailed visibility into warehouse performance, facilitating operational decision-making.

Loading Bays are the Last Blind Spot

Posted on by David Priestman

In the push to transform supply chain agility and responsiveness, the loading bay is now under the spotlight, with organisations looking both for rapidly improved performance through automation and essential insight to join up the final component in the end-to-end supply chain management view. Wouter Satijn, Chief Revenue Officer at Joloda Hydraroll, explains.

Constraints of Manual Operations

Real-time data driven transparency has become a fundamental component of effective supply chain management. In an increasingly volatile global economy, immediate, trusted information is a vital requirement to enable agile, responsive operations. And with organisations throughout the supply chain increasingly exploring the power of AI to transform planning, optimisation, warehousing, transportation and asset maintenance, the need for fast access to trusted data at every stage of the process is becoming paramount.

Yet while many warehouse and production operations have achieved high levels of automation, leveraging immediate data capture through IoT and RFID to deliver real-time insight, the loading bay remains a notable blind spot. The vast majority of organisations still endure manual unloading and loading processes that are both slow and completely invisible to the rest of the supply chain operation.

The sole reliance on forklifts to move goods on and off trucks is flawed on many levels. It is dangerous, with forklift accidents remaining one of the biggest risks associated with warehouse operations. Skilled forklift drivers are also increasingly hard to recruit, creating problems in resourcing this vital task. Plus, of course, even if drivers are available and the manual process goes smoothly, it is extremely time consuming. Loading/ unloading typically takes up to 45 minutes per truck – during which time partners up and down the supply chain are completely blind to the progress being made.

Understanding Automation Requirements

This pocket of static loading bay information is an extraordinary anomaly in a supply chain that is increasingly focused on automation and real-time visibility throughout. It can constrain innovation and compromise vital responsiveness. As organisations do look to replace forklifts with automation, however, it is also important to remember this is an opportunity to do more than improve visibility to remove the supply chain blind spot. Taking the chance to radically transform the speed of loading and unloading will unlock an array of efficiency and productivity gains.

Replacing forklifts with driverless AGVs, for example, doesn’t automatically accelerate processes. While an obvious solution to problems created by a reliance on forklift trucks, AGVs aren’t necessarily faster – even when operating at peak performance. And peak performance is rarely achieved in the hazardous loading bay: AGVs need a clean environment, and the grease, oil, loose packaging, uneven floors and awkward materials that are inevitable within the loading bay cause serious problems.

Rather than swapping forklift drivers for driverless AGVs, the adoption of automated loading technologies radically reduces the time taken to load and unload from 45 minutes to under five minutes. A range of automated trailer and container loading systems, including slipchain, moving floor and trailerskate, can be deployed in sites of any size or automation sophistication, including lightweight solutions for smaller and less automated warehouses. They can be easily retrofitted to existing brownfield sites.

End-to-End Operations

Leveraging automation to provide visibility and transform the speed of loading/ unloading unlocks an array of benefits that can reach throughout the supply chain. Reduced reliance on manual labour cuts costs and safety risks. Faster loading provides opportunities to rethink processes – from reallocating certain goods to specific bays to better utilisation of existing space. In practice, organisations that have automated the loading process can significantly increase capacity within existing production facilities while also adding a new level of flexibility to support innovations such as short run promotions.

Loading Bay blind spot

Real-time visibility provides unprecedented operational certainty at every stage of the process, building confidence that products will get to the right place at the right time. Any problems are rapidly surfaced, allowing early intervention. Trusted insight also supports the stronger relationships with transport and third-party logistics (3PL) partners required at times of global instability. It will support far more effective responses to supply chain glitches – from short term traffic problems to longer term transport challenges, such as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz – to ensure goods reach customers in the most cost-efficient way.

The ability to capture loading bay activity in real time also supports far better understanding of processes, such as issues with specific transport partners or trailer types. Combining data capture with load management unlocks opportunities to explore AI to improve predictive management.

Conclusion

Removing the loading bay blind spot through automation is a key driver for the next 12 months. It is important to remember, however, that the goal is not simply to remove forklifts and address staff shortages through automation.

Automated loading and unloading provides an essential opportunity to transform operational performance, improve productivity and gain the data capture required to deliver end to end supply chain visibility. By removing the last pocket of operational invisibility, companies can achieve the next level of integrated thinking that will support efficient and responsive, end to end supply chain integration.

Paris CDG Perishable Centre Automated

Posted on by David Priestman

Growing demand for temperature-sensitive pharmaceuticals and perishable goods is driving investment in automated cold-chain infrastructure at major air cargo hubs worldwide. As cargo operators expand their temperature-controlled handling capabilities, making efficient use of available space while maintaining reliable and compliant processes is becoming increasingly important.

Against this backdrop, Air France KLM Martinair Cargo is expanding and automating its Perishables Centre at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG). The investment will increase the facility’s capacity and improve cargo handling while further strengthening its capabilities for temperature-sensitive shipments. To maximise the use of the available building volume and support future cargo growth, the dedicated air cargo business of the Air France KLM Martinair Group is implementing an elevating transfer vehicle (ETV) from Lödige Industries for the automated multilevel storage and retrieval of ULDs and pallets.

By automating storage and retrieval processes, the ETV system reduces manual handling, streamlines internal cargo flows and makes efficient use of the available storage capacity. It also supports reliable handling processes for temperature-sensitive shipments within the facility’s dedicated cool areas.

Expanding our temperature-controlled cargo capabilities at Paris-Charles de Gaulle is an important step in strengthening our cold-chain operations. The new automated storage solution will enable us to handle growing volumes more efficiently and further enhance the cargo handling flow for temperature-sensitive shipments at CDG

says the project team at Air France KLM Martinair Cargo.

The installation comprises a 10-ft wide edge ETV serving a total of 58 storage decks, including 17 located within temperature-controlled areas.

“Cold-chain logistics place particularly high demands on reliability, efficient use of space and consistent handling processes. This project demonstrates how automation can help cargo operators optimise storage capacity and internal material flows while supporting the stringent handling requirements of temperature-sensitive shipments. We are delighted to support Air France KLM Martinair Cargo with an efficient and scalable solution that also provides a solid basis for future expansion of automated storage processes at Paris-Charles de Gaulle,” says Björn Ussat, Director Airport Logistic Solutions at Lödige Industries.

The system is being supplied by Lödige Machine Warburg and Lödige Machine Romania and is scheduled to become operational at the end of September 2027.

Würth Australia Strengthens Fulfilment Capacity

Posted on by David Priestman

Würth Australia is investing in automated order fulfilment at its facilities in Yatala, Queensland, and Keysborough, Victoria, through a new partnership with Dematic.

The investment is designed to strengthen fulfilment operations across Würth Australia’s national distribution network, supporting the company’s commitment to fast, accurate and reliable service while providing a scalable platform for future growth. Würth Australia distributes more than 22,000 products to over 56,000 active customers across sectors including automotive, transport, earthworks, fabrication, maintenance, repair and operations, construction and mining.

To support these operations, Dematic will deliver an integrated fulfilment solution designed to accommodate Würth Australia’s extensive and diverse product range. The solution combines automated and manual fulfilment processes, including an AutoStore™ Goods-to-Person system that provides high-density automated storage and supports both split-case and full-case picking. Dedicated manual picking areas will support products with different storage and handling requirements.

“The customer experience is incredibly important to us here at Würth, and a big part of that is ensuring our customers receive accurate and complete orders when they expect them,” said Serge Oppedisano, Chief Executive Officer of Würth Australia and Senior Vice President of the Würth Group Oceania.

He said the automation investment would also support the company’s approach to inventory management.

“This investment reflects those same values in our own operations – strengthening how we manage inventory, fulfil orders and move products through our national distribution network.”

Under the solution, orders will move between automated and manual picking areas before progressing through automated conveyor transport, document insertion, carton optimisation and sealing, labelling and despatch sortation. Dematic’s Warehouse Control System will integrate with Würth’s warehouse management system to coordinate picking tasks and the movement of goods across the automated equipment.

Terry Jamieson, Business Development Manager at Dematic, said the combination of automated and manual processes was intended to accommodate Würth’s broad product range.

“Würth’s extensive product range means there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to fulfilment,” Jamieson said. “Bringing together AutoStore with dedicated picking areas and downstream automation allows different products and orders to move through the most appropriate process.”

The Queensland solution is expected to become operational in August 2027, with the larger Victorian facility scheduled to follow in December 2027.

How to Survive Packaging’s Peak Season

Posted on by An Industry Expert

For ecommerce businesses facing the all-important Christmas peak, the combination of high demand, huge product variability and acute time constraints can create a packaging nightmare. Chris More, UK Sales Director at Packsize, suggests a simple way of securing process resilience.

The dedicated Christmas TV channels are listing on Freeview, so it’s time to check how prepared you are for the festive season peak. For many ecommerce businesses the ‘golden quarter’, up to and through Christmas and New Year, represents a disproportionate share of business revenue and, if handled effectively, profit too. But this comes with many challenges, many of which reveal themselves within the despatch packing operation.

Variability is the enemy of fulfilment efficiency, and the festive season has this in spades. Not only is the required throughput greatly elevated, and meeting delivery date promises more critical than ever, but there is often a much greater range of goods being handled – some only seen at this time of year. Even year-round staples may be presented by the manufacturers in seasonal product packs of novel size and shape. Many more orders will be for multiple, apparently random, lines which need to be consolidated and despatched together, and no two orders are alike.

Meanwhile, the operational constraints of fulfilment are mounting: labour availability remains poor and its associated costs are increasing significantly, rising diesel prices are heavily impacting transport prices – which are typically based on ‘volumetric weight’, so size matters – and packaging materials aren’t getting any cheaper, and are increasingly regulated. What’s more, with regards packaging waste, consumers do not welcome excesses of cardboard and bubble wrap when the next recycling bin collection may not be until the New Year.

Throwing casual or temporary labour at the problem, training them to select the right carton or how to manually form boxes, insert void fill properly, and so on, is costly, time consuming, and introduces more variability and rework – even if you can get the labour. Reliability and performance at this sensitive time is critical, failure to deliver on-time in the all-important Christmas peak can do significant harm to customer sentiment, repeat business and ultimately, overall profitability.

So how do you ensure process resilience at peak, without breaking the bank or eroding margin? The solution to the packing problem, the boxing bottleneck, lies in automation. But not all forms of transit-boxing solutions deliver the versatility, scale and exacting size requirements needed to cope with highly variable product shapes and order quantities. An oversized box is fundamentally wasteful. ‘Right-sizing’ each box for every order makes the most sense – saving on materials, transit volumes and packaging waste. And doing this at immense speed, with high reliability – backed-up by a 24/7 service hotline – is the key to building process resilience at peak.

Automated packing solutions from Packsize can create boxes ‘right-sized’ for each individual order, to be filled manually or erected around each selection of goods, closed, sealed and labelled fully automatically ready for despatch. Packsize customers experience an average 40% reduction in box size.

Automated ‘right-size’ packing systems address many of the challenges of peak. They dramatically reduce labour requirements, often replacing up to 20 manual packing stations, and eliminate the issue staff face in recognising what size and shape of carton is appropriate, and how to fill it efficiently.

Ending reliance on ‘briefly-trained’ casual staff greatly reduces product damage, both in the packaging process and later in transit. Also, the need to procure and store a wide range of preforms or erected boxes is eliminated, freeing up space and funds. ‘Right sizing’ yields significant economies in use of corrugate, up to 30%, while all but eliminating void fill – often bubble wrap, so there are environmental and consumer satisfaction gains as well.

Critically for peak season, automation converts a highly variable set of operations into one which can be predicted and planned, so that pick rates, movements, staff allocation and other factors can be optimised to meet demanding fulfilment requirements. New products with different optimal package shapes and sizes are readily accommodated from existing material stock, offering maximum flexibility.

Of course, not all businesses need high-speed, high-volume throughput. Right-sizing solutions are available for all businesses, large or small, with varying levels of automation, capacity and throughput.

But it’s worth remembering, automated packing stations aren’t just for Christmas. Even off-peak, savings in material inventory and usage, transport, and labour provide a solid RoI case. Automation can be integrated with warehouse management/control systems, conveying, sortation and picking processes, bringing structure and consistency to an otherwise variable and unpredictable environment.

Automated ‘right-size’ boxing technology offers the flexibility, speed and reliability to secure process resilience throughout the busiest peaks – and, of course, the rest of the year too.

Opportunity for Better AI Adoption

Posted on by An Industry Expert

The UK is lagging behind on AI, but it’s an opportunity for better adoption, writes Mark Hughes, VP Sales & Country Manager UK & Ireland, Infor.

We’ve just finished the second wave of Infor’s Enterprise AI Adoption Impact Index, our global survey of senior business leaders and AI decision-makers. This wave polled over 2,100 of them across seven countries – and the results stopped me in my tracks.
Of the seven major markets we surveyed (Australia, France, Germany, Japan, United Kingdom, United States of America, Singapore) the UK sits at or near the bottom on almost every measure that matters: how much return businesses are getting from AI, how much oversight it still needs, and how confident and comfortable they are running it.

Line up all the questions and the picture remains: the UK comes bottom in three and second bottom in eight more, finishing above only Japan. However, it’s not necessarily a verdict on UK business’ capacity to embrace the AI age, indeed it is far from it – the appetite is there. Rather it ought to be seen as an opportunity for better adoption of AI: addressing the demand for tailored, industry-specific tools that Infor provides, rather than generic (or ‘off-the-shelf’) tools which are burdening businesses with the workload of adoption to generic models, which impacts their ability to get on with the business of business and leaves them falling behind a market that is not slowing down in the slightest.

The UK is lagging behind. Let’s start with the headline figures – UK businesses using AI report an average efficiency gain of 23% over the past year. That’s the lowest of the seven markets we surveyed, against an average of 34% across the other six. The UK also reports needing more human review of what their AI produces – 53% in the UK, with the US next at 49%. This echoes our global findings of our first survey (published in April), but four months on, and across three more markets, it’s most acute in the UK.

Confidence in – and comfort with – AI tells a similar story. Since April, confidence in managing AI rollout without disrupting operations has fallen from 75% to 66%. Comfort with autonomous agents handling routine-to-critical processes has fallen from 11.7% to 6.3% (a 5.4pt drop). That decline in comfort matters as much as the return figures: it’s a sign that UK businesses want AI that stays accountable to the people running it, not just AI that moves fast.

UK full-scale AI deployment alone rose from 21.8% to 23.6% since April, and broader partial deployment lifts the total running AI in some form above 60%.

UK businesses aren’t short on ambition, they’re short on AI which is actually suitable for what they do. Off-the-shelf often doesn’t cut it. The ability to combine technology, industry expertise and operational control will increasingly be what sets successful AI strategies apart – and Infor’s industry-specific solutions are designed to help close that gap

Appetite isn’t the problem. Execution is. UK business hasn’t gone cold on AI – half of business plan to increase their AI investment further over the next 12 months. It’s the same ambition to execution gap we highlighted in April’s publication – it hasn’t closed yet. Meanwhile, ask what businesses want from AI and the picture is a practical one:

  • Cutting time spent on routine tasks (39%)
  • Operational costs (34%)
  • Automating workflows (26%)

Businesses seek solutions to day-to-day problems and frictions; they’re not chasing tomorrow’s hype. And today, generic off-the-shelf solutions aren’t meeting those needs, with 67% of respondents agreeing they don’t meet the specifics of their business or even industry.

Data, ownership and uncertainty

Beyond generic AI, there are broadly three issues sitting underneath the shortfall – data readiness, ownership, and uncertainty. All of which paint a picture of why UK businesses feel they are not seeing the returns from AI that they’re hoping for.

  • Data readiness: Only 62% of UK businesses agree their own data is mature and well-governed enough to support reliable AI – the second lowest of the seven markets, ahead of Japan only (and essentially unchanged since April). The US clears 74%, while the others are all above 80%. That’s a significant opportunity. Meanwhile, almost a quarter of UK business (24%) say that legacy or disconnected systems have driven higher integration and readiness costs, with 22% saying it’s slowed deployment.
  • Ownership: 14% of UK businesses (considerably above the global average) say that no single person is responsible for governing how AI is used, managing its risks, or ensuring it is compliant. Responsibility is instead split across the CEO, CIO, CTO or an AI committee – all with competing priorities and workflows. Singapore meanwhile is down at 3.5%.
  • Uncertainty: Uncertainty remains a concern with 28% of respondents pointing to compliance and regulatory concern. It’s a fast-moving picture and businesses don’t know how to best proceed.

More broadly (and perhaps unsurprisingly) there is a further divide for small UK businesses and larger ones in the UK with 40% of small UK businesses saying they have no AI deployment of any kind, against just 9% of large ones. When looking at large UK businesses, AI has delivered an average efficiency gain of 23% over the past year.

Why it matters

Infor has spent years working with UK businesses on this problem, and these findings corroborate what we have learned through these ongoing discussions – businesses aren’t asking whether to use AI, they’re asking what’s best to use, how to best use it, and, if they’ve already started their journey before engaging with Infor, why the “solution” provided by another vendor doesn’t actually fit their needs.

In our experience, generic AI, dropped into a specific business with specific processes, data, expertise and regulatory obligations, can deliver a smaller return and need more handholding before it can be used to any substantive effect. It can also undermine confidence.

With this, data, ownership, and uncertainty aren’t three separate problems. They’re just the same shortfall, showing up in three places. UK businesses can’t run AI on top of gaps that generic, one-size-fits-all tools were never built to close. This goes to demonstrate the value of purpose-built, industry-specific solutions – the solutions Infor provides customers. Rather than retrofitting generic software, Infor platforms are engineered around the precise operational processes that manufacturers, distributors, and retailers actually run.

Infor’s Velocity Suite is a great example. It’s an all-inclusive AI package built for specific industries, bringing an agentic layer, built on micro-vertical processes across manufacturing, distribution and service industries. This is also the direction the wider platform is heading. Infor’s Industry AI Agents – built around how an industry actually operates – are now generally available across CloudSuite, and our latest updates add AI Governance through Infor Governance, Risk & Compliance, designed so that agents can be registered, monitored and audited, and people stay accountable for the decisions that matter.

End of the ‘Logistics Black Hole’

Posted on by An Industry Expert

Real-time shipment visibility no longer has to be a luxury. A pallet leaves a warehouse in Europe, bound for a customer on another continent. For the next three weeks, nobody really knows where it is. The buyer calls the supplier, the supplier calls the forwarder, and the forwarder relays an estimate from a carrier’s system or multiple transporters. Everyone is working from second-hand, often outdated, information. Meanwhile, the customer’s production line may grind to a halt, with losses that can run into millions.

This is what the industry calls the ‘logistics black hole’: the stretch of an international journey where goods are physically moving but their status is invisible to the people who depend on them.

Where the black hole comes from

The problem is not a lack of data, but a lack of continuity. An international shipment passes through a supplier, a road haulier, a port, customs, a shipping line, a forwarder and a last-mile carrier. Each one runs its own tools and shares updates on its own schedule.

The status of a shipment is therefore declared rather than observed. It depends on someone scanning a document or updating a system. Every handover point is a place where information can be delayed, lost or never recorded. The consequences are familiar. A misrouted or stolen consignment is often only noticed on the expected delivery date, when it is too late to act. Damage or temperature excursions cannot be attributed to a specific leg of the journey, which complicates insurance claims. And because transit times are uncertain, buyers hold extra safety stock, which ties up capital.

Why GPS never closed the gap

GPS trackers have been used for years on containers, trailers and high-value cargo. But they were designed for assets, not everyday shipments. A conventional GPS device needs a large battery, which adds weight and bulk, and it is expensive enough that it must be recovered at destination and sent back for reuse, creating a reverse logistics flow of its own. For a company shipping a hundred pallets of mid-value goods a month, the numbers rarely add up. Most freight still travels without direct visibility.

A lighter model of tracking

What is changing is the economics. Single-use Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) trackers weigh a few grams and cost around a tenth of a typical GPS unit. Instead of carrying satellite and cellular hardware, they are detected by any surrounding smartphone, IoT gateways and networks along the route, which relay their position to a cloud platform.

This is the approach UBI Solutions has taken with UBI Shipping Track. A tracker is attached to a carton or pallet in seconds and linked to an order by scanning a code. Because it is disposable and costs a few euros, there is no return flow to manage. Optional sensors record temperature, shocks or openings, and alerts flag a prolonged stop or route deviation while the shipment is still in transit.

Sharing visibility, not just collecting it

The most significant shift is in how information is shared. Rather than asking each partner to update a status, the shipper generates a secure web link, called UBI Tracklink, and sends it to the customer, forwarder or receiving site. Anyone with the link sees the live position of the shipment, without creating an account and without any operator entering data. The information comes from the goods themselves, not from a chain of intermediaries.

BLE tracking does not replace GPS everywhere. For very high-value cargo, or routes with poor network coverage or low smartphone density, a dedicated GPS device may remain the better choice. But for the large volume of regular, mid-value shipments that have so far travelled blind, low-cost tracking makes continuous visibility a realistic default rather than an exception.

Could One Simple Packaging Change Save Your Business £200,000 a Year?

Posted on by Will Priestman

Think your packaging operation is already optimised? Think again. One business discovered it could save £200,000 every year without replacing its entire packaging system. So, how much money could your operation be wasting?

Packaging might seem like a relatively small part of the fulfilment process, but the true costs go far beyond cardboard boxes. Material waste, labour, storage, shipping charges and even customer returns can quietly eat into margins.

In the latest episode of Logistics Business Conversations, recorded at Parcel+Post Expo in London, host Paul Hamblin is joined by Victor Queiroz of CMC Packaging Automation to uncover the hidden costs of packaging and explain why simply producing smaller boxes isn’t necessarily the smartest solution.

A £200,000 Saving Hiding in Plain Sight

During the conversation, Queiroz shares a real-world example of a business that believed its automated packaging operation was already running efficiently.

However, a closer examination of its packaging data revealed an unexpected opportunity. By introducing an additional corrugated material width into its existing operation, the company could save approximately £200,000 in material costs annually.

And that’s just one example of the savings businesses could be overlooking.

The discussion explores how intelligent packaging automation can reduce waste, improve warehouse productivity and lower shipping costs, while also supporting increasingly demanding sustainability requirements.

Queiroz also explains why packaging needs to work seamlessly alongside warehouse automation, how businesses can avoid costly bottlenecks and what the rise of fully autonomous fulfilment could mean for the industry.

With some automated packaging investments targeting payback in as little as 12–18 months, the financial implications are difficult to ignore.

Could your packaging operation be costing far more than you realise? And what would it take to uncover those hidden savings?

Find out in the latest episode of Logistics Business Conversations.

Listen to the Full Episode Below

Out of Many, One

Posted on by David Priestman

Having a unified platform of logistics software across supply chain operations could bring synergies. Manhattan Associates’ Exchange event in Milan was a gathering of users including ASDA, Bauhaus, CEVA Logistics and Nespresso looking for supply chain advantages, reports David Priestman.

Imagine a warehouse that solves problems before the manager notices? We’re in the agentic era, but it is also one of cyber risks, nearshoring, holding extra stock for resilience, thin margins and the need for cost-effective flexibility. Manhattan Associates have a well-earned reputation as a market leader in WMS, with an estimated 20% market share, but has broadened its suite in recent years, under the ‘Active’ name, with products for planning, order management, retail stores and transport management (TMS). These 5 come as a unified, cloud-native platform to orchestrate complex scenarios, called ‘Active Editions’, with ‘Essentials’, ‘Enterprise’ or ‘Enterprise Premier’ service levels.

I asked Eric Clark (pictured, above), President & CEO, what emphasis he puts on these different products and how he seeks to position the firm. “The gap between us and our competitors is getting bigger,” he asserts. “We can show customers things they can’t see elsewhere. A less-siloed approach by customers helps us as we’re selling across all their processes.” Gartner estimates the logistics software sector will grow 15% p.a. and Clark is aiming for 20% growth for his company as there is a lot of addressable market to target, for example with small-medium sized users and cross-selling across the platform suite.

Pace of Deployment

Customers need fast ROI. “Our mantra is speed and simplicity,” Clark revealed. “While Manhattan has long been known for solving the biggest, most complex challenges in supply chain, if we don’t specifically focus on speed and simplicity our quarterly update releases just add complexity. So every new feature that we put in must help us deploy faster.” The target is to go-live in 100 days from signing.

Manhattan used to just have one price-point, which was only affordable for larger, ‘blue-chip’ users. No more. The new ‘Essentials’ package is aimed at smaller and less-complicated supply chain needs. It runs on the same full product platform, but with limited features, appropriate to the company’s size, at a lower cost via a tiered subscription. Customers can vary the level of features they need. Chief Product Officer Brian Kinsella explained that, “the onus is on us to be consultative on that and study the value proposition to upgrade the offering quickly, when suitable. Our most engaged customers will come to us interested in adding new features, but they’re busy. We help them along the journey.”

Always Ahead

Does Clark see any acquisitions to further the company’s growth? “We’re always looking and paying attention to what’s on the market,” he told me. “We don’t need it and haven’t done lots, for a couple of reasons. One, we have a product footprint and have built a platform so buying other software suppliers isn’t necessary in order to grow at 20%. Two, we don’t want to take old code and re-write it for the cloud. Having this platform and sticking to it over the years enables us to move at a different pace when it comes to AI. If we acquired something we’d have to re-write it on our platform. We’re not going to bolt it on. For those reasons we’re focused on continuing to innovate on the platform that we have.”

Agentic AI going rogue has hit the headlines. How can it be stopped? “We use our own LLM harness,” says Sanjeev Siotia, Chief Technical Officer. “We control each API agents can access, just as for people, so it’s sandboxed completely. The AI cannot go outside pre-defined areas. They don’t have the ability to break the rules. Every action an agent does is through our APIs. It’s the same as humans have done, but faster. We’re designing software to calm the complexity.” Data must be strong. Manhattan can set the rules and guardrails, then let the AI autonomously orchestrate. However, “no model is going to replace instinct. We need human ingenuity,” Siotia reassures.

The message is not to bolt AI on, but build it into the core. Manhattan regenerates 75% of its 60 million lines of code every night. So the Active platform is effectively re-born each day. “We haven’t written code for 10 years, so it’s AI native,” Siotia informs. This simplifies the configuration and makes it consistent. “Otherwise, code will look like an archaeological site – layered to reveal when it was written.”

Cyber attacks on warehouses are a cause of anxiety for logistics teams. If one facility goes offline how would orders be fulfilled? Manhattan simulates the kinds of attacks that disrupt DCs and then provides various scenario planning for alternative fulfilment.

Get Active

Not every customer also uses Manhattan’s WMS. TMS, where the company has single-digit market share, has features including interactive insight. The transport planning agent works after shipment planning is done and there is also a scheduling agent and shipment tracking agent, all displayed within current dashboard screens to solve specific tasks rather than a Q&A chatbot. “The success we’ve had selling transportation to our warehouse customers far exceeded the success we’ve had before we had a unified platform in place, so the strategy works,” says Kinsella.

Back in the warehouse, Manhattan say that 100 new WMS customers have been onboarded in the last 12 months, most with multiple site go-lives. ‘Operational program monitors’ show where resolutions are needed and diagnose real-time analytics, such as labour management and dock assigning for outbound loading.

Four customer testimonial presentations added colour to the picture. Alex Yates (pictured, below), CEVA Logistics’ Head of Transformation, has committed to a strategic, ambitious programme to use Manhattan. With 11 million sq.m of DC space and 8000 warehouse staff the third party logistics giant needs a flexible template, with next generation software across all its facilities, modes of freight transport and vertical sectors. Having gorged on Gefco, Bollore, FM and FedEx Supply Chain in recent years CEVA has gone from multiple IT systems to one global system.

“What are the tools going to do in the future?” Yates needed to know from Manhattan. “We wanted a best-in-class WMS, which Manhattan is, reduce implementation times and reduce the variety of systems and processes.” Yates is now overseeing the introduction of physical AI and rolling-out AI agents. “Make them work across the system and then work with each other,” is the goal here. From insight to execution.

Brains of the System

Asda in the UK has 43 distribution centres. Its separation from Walmart required changing every IT system, front end and back end, including WMS. The supermarket chain chose Active, alongside ERP from SAP. This tumultuous changeover took place while the supply chain was fully operational, of course. Incidents (errors of some sort) have since fallen to below 500 per month on the WMS, with a 100,000 reduction in pedestrian trips in the DC. More optimisation and automation is the next phase, such as doing multi-store picks in one trolley, lean time replenishment and retail put wall batch picking. All this is to make life easier for the warehouse staff. Compared to under the Walmart ownership, Asda appreciate the flexibility of choosing their own configurations for better labour management.

Nespresso’s coffee supply chain goes from farm to cup. Beans come from 18 countries to three highly-automated plants in Switzerland. From there billions of capsules head to consumers in 80 countries, with 20 million deliveries daily. Manhattan’s Active was selected to solve four challenges: WISMO (where is my order) – the need for visibility; assurance – the promise of delivery; reliability – guaranteed delivery; and flexibility – where do consumers get their order from, store or ecommerce.

Manhattan is the brains of the system, according to Nespresso. 50% of all the empty aluminium capsules are recycled, either by postal collection (when a new delivery is made), at Nespresso stores or via local authority recycling centres. Problem solved.

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