Robotics and AI Deployed in Bucharest DC

Dexory has announced today that their global partnership with Maersk is expanding into the Maersk and iB Cargo managed site in Romania, a distribution centre for a top home furnishing brand globally. The Bucharest deployment is the first of many outside of the UK to go live with the innovative technology, as part of the company’s expansion across Europe.

A. P. Moller – Maersk & iB Cargo operate a major distribution and logistics centre in Romania, serving one of the largest global furniture and interior decoration companies. For the first time in Romania, the two partners announce the deployment of Dexory’s technology and robots, in order to maximise and streamline the use of the centre, optimise its resources and shelf space.

The warehouse operated by A.P. Moller – Maersk & iB Cargo opened in September 2021 with 76,000 sqm, and less than 2 years later, it expanded to 100,000 sqm, offering customised logistics solutions and serving 8 countries in Europe and the Balkans. The unit is located in the CTPark Bucharest West industrial park and is BREEAM certified.

The robot called ‘NEO’ operates daily at the site in Bolintin-Deal, Romania, scanning over 100,000 pallet locations – allowing operations to move from 150 locations/h, with the current processes, to 10,000 locations/h via automation. It covers wide, narrow and hard to navigate aisles, reserve and picking locations – which is a time-consuming and prone to human error process, integrating into the day-to-day warehouse operations, working alongside the warehouse teams 24/7.

Dexory, the logistics start-up founded by Andrei Danescu, Oana Jinga and Adrian Negoita in London, is already working with Maersk in the UK and Ireland. This expansion into new territories is a great enabler of Maersk’s commitment to integrating new technologies as well as to sustainability.

Dexory’s unique solution combines hardware and software to provide instant visibility into inventory and operations at the click of a button. Using 12-metre-tall autonomous robots to capture warehouse data and images in real-time, the revolutionary digital twin technology enables instant analysis of stock, occupancy and stock movement.

The digital twin then offers instant access to the data captured, highlighting any discrepancies with other warehouse systems in an intuitive, easy-to-access digital format. The analytics extracted address operational bottlenecks, increase efficiencies (allowing for faster put-away and picking) and unlock powerful insights into site operations (for real-time occupancy fluctuation, route planning) – all of which used to be manually done before. Using AI it then provides companies with information to forecast and plan more accurately across their warehouse estate and have smarter management of their workforce.

Andrei Danescu, Chief Executive Officer & Co-founder of Dexory comments: “We are thrilled to collaborate with Maersk and iB Cargo and bring the power of real-time data and insights to this impressive site in Romania, supporting a powerful company in interior decorations. Teams across the board have already embraced the Dexory technology and are constantly using our digital twin to make more informed decisions and drive efficiency.”

“Our business model is about long-term partnerships. We build them through quality, integrity and bringing added value to our clients’ businesses through innovative solutions at every level.”, shared Cătălin Putineanu, Founder and Managing Partner of iB Cargo.

Dragos Dumitrescu Country Manager Maersk Romania, “Maersk remains steadfast in its unwavering commitment to implementing cutting-edge technology across its operations, reinforcing its position as an industry leader at the forefront of innovation. Embracing the latest advancements, Maersk continues to drive efficiency, enhance sustainability, and deliver exceptional value to its customers while shaping the future of global trade”.

Digital twinning is key to supply chain transformation

Digital twins are becoming big business, says Toby Mills, CEO of Entopy. But there is still a lot of confusion about what they are, what they do – and why they matter.

A digital twin is a virtual representation of an object or system that spans its lifecycle, is updated from real-time data, and uses simulation, machine learning and reasoning to help decision-making. It acts as a bridge between the physical and digital worlds. Businesses use digital twins in a variety of ways – from product development to operational performance improvements. Increased digitisation is making it easier to build accurate digital twins and drive adoption of the technology.

For the logistics industry, digital twins open the door to a new way of keeping track of goods moving between different organisations and physical locations. Data from multiple supply chain systems can be captured and combined to create a ‘digital twin’ of a consignment – providing a single data product from which all stakeholders can get the visibility they need.

This novel approach has been made possible by the latest ‘data mesh’ technology, based on distributed architecture for analytical data management. It enables end users to easily access and query data where it lives – without first transporting it to a data lake or data warehouse. Leveraging data across the supply chain enables a much fuller picture to be achieved at a granular level. And using data from existing systems used in the day-to-day running of the organisations involved means the data is of high quality, can be trusted and the systems are well maintained.

The digital twin concept is central to the work of supply chain visibility pioneer Entopy – providing the backbone for the company’s unique intelligent data orchestration technology, which is the secret of success for the supply chain. Just like in a traditional orchestra, a ‘conductor’ takes centre stage and synchronises all the various data inputs. Each separate system communicates directly and only to the conductor platform – removing the need for numerous discrete connections and maintaining data integrity.

As each digital twin is created, proprietary algorithms define and assign policies to it to ensure only relevant data is captured from each connected system. Data from order management and transport management systems is combined with more real-time data sources from other systems present across the supply chain. For example, consignment and inventory data can be combined with transport schedules and allocated transport.

Digital twinning

The telematics system of the associated transport vehicle provides real-time location and condition data from the consignment which, when combined with analytics, generates detailed consignment lifecycle records, capturing key events throughout. These events can be communicated across the supply chain, improving communication and paving the way to automation of processes.

Research suggests that businesses with optimal supply chains can halve their inventory holdings, reduce their supply chain costs by 15% and triple the speed of their cash-to-cash cycle. Yet the increasing complexity of supply chains is making optimisation more challenging than ever, while the cost of inefficiencies is growing. Digital twins and intelligent data orchestration are now providing a new route to unlock supply chain value and deliver competitive advantage.

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Industry View: The Age of the Digital Twin

 

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