Customers today want equipment that's greener, more versatile, and more efficient than the machinery offered in the past. Manufacturers have responded with an array of new models and accessories.
Peter Bradley is an award-winning career journalist with more than three decades of experience in both newspapers and national business magazines. His credentials include seven years as the transportation and supply chain editor at Purchasing Magazine and six years as the chief editor of Logistics Management.
There's nothing like a downturn to accelerate a trend. For some time now, distribution center operators have been looking to their conveyor suppliers to help them do things like achieve higher throughput and accuracy, handle a greater variety of packages and other conveyable products, and conserve energy. Those demands have been driven by pressures faced by the DCs themselves to fill orders faster, ship orders that are complete and error-free (or face chargebacks), and generate faster turns.
William J. Casey, president of SI Systems, which specializes in piece and case picking automation on the order fulfillment side of its business, says much of what customers are seeking is based on their drive to reduce inventories and accelerate inventory turns. The growth of Internet sales has led to greater demand for automated or semi-automated piece picking, he adds.
When it comes to trends on the demand side, three in particular stand out, says Ken Ruehrdanz, market development manager for Dematic. First, he says, companies are looking to modernize and upgrade existing systems. Second, they're interested in adopting solutions that are more energy efficient. And third, they're asking for systems that can convey a wider variety of products, such as very lightweight goods and polybagged products.
Control issues
Ruehrdanz and others in the industry also report that they're fielding more requests for equipment that offers higher throughput and accuracy. "Essentially, that's about controls," he says, referring to the electronic devices that monitor and manage everything from conveyor speed to maintenance. "Control technology has to drive the air out of the system—the gaps between loads," Ruehrdanz adds. "We can design systems so that they actually run at a slower speed but offer a higher rate of throughput."
Tim Kraus and Kevin Klueber, product managers for Intelligrated, say their company is doing much the same thing. "We're keeping throughput up by keeping machine speeds at a minimum and improving handling and predictability," says Kraus. He adds that controlling the actual speed of the conveyor extends machine life, reduces energy use, and minimizes noise. By employing technology that reduces gaps, improves predictability, and eliminates errors such as side by sides, those goals can be achieved, he says.
John Clark, director of marketing for TGW, says his company is also focusing on controls. Improved controls, he says, provide greater visibility into the operation of a customer's system and enhance the customer's ability to manage it. "They make the conveyor smarter," he says. He adds that enhanced controls help accelerate return on investments in conveyors because the resulting improvements in throughput, accuracy, and energy efficiency can reduce power and labor costs.
Handle with care
Another trend noted by several companies was the emerging demand for conveyors that can handle a greater variety of goods. A spokeswoman for Intelligrated writes, "There has been a trend in the industry for [material handling equipment] systems to handle pieces rather than cases. This results in a demand on the [equipment] providers to improve small carton handling on all types of technologies used throughout a system, the goal being to reduce the number of non-conveyables without sacrifices to system throughput or capital investment budgets."
Klueber notes that the technological challenges have been further complicated by changes in packaging. "We have to handle more and more diverse products and carton types," he says. "The range of conveyables continues to expand." These include smaller and lighter cartons and polybags, which historically have proved a challenge for conveyors.
Conveyor makers have responded with adaptations that include segmented belt conveyors, which can handle polybagged items better than traditional long belts can, and sliding shoe sorters that turn light goods carefully before diverting them to the designated lane.
Get more from what you have
Not all buyers are focused on new equipment, however. Many DC managers, even from some of the nation's largest and best capitalized companies, have focused on getting more out of existing systems before investing in new equipment. Michael Bozym, director of engineering for HK Systems, says, "We've devoted a lot of effort to the aftermarket. With capital so tight, even big customers are looking for small cost projects that will improve throughput or reduce damage."
Ruehrdanz says, "There is a continued requirement to upgrade existing material handling or conveyor systems. Customers are asking if there is a way to go back in and upgrade controls and maybe make some mechanical upgrades. There are a lot of installed systems, and customers want to get the most out of them."
The decision whether to upgrade older equipment or invest in new systems can be a challenge. "A lot of automation technology investment happened 20 years ago," says Kraus. As a result, a large number of facilities are wrestling with that decision today, he explains. Kraus says Intelligrated is in the process of completing system audits for several customers to aid with those determinations.
Whatever adaptations or investments DC operators make, energy conservation is likely to appear near the top of their priority lists. "There is much more sensitivity toward designing systems with energy-efficient controls and technology," Ruehrdanz says. That has led to the development of both mechanical and control technologies that reduce energy use, including low-voltage motor-driven rollers and controls that can idle conveyor segments when no products are detected.
Finally, conveyor makers, like other players in the material handling equipment industry, continue to invest in their own operations to boost efficiency and control costs. For instance, Bozym reports that HK Systems has implemented lean principles in its own operations. "We've found ways we can execute jobs more efficiently and cost effectively," he says. "[That allows us to] offer goods at a more competitive cost."
Who's who in conveyors?
Here's a brief roundup of what some of the leading companies have been up to lately, plus a listing of several other leading service and equipment providers.
AmbaFlex is a manufacturer of specialty conveyors, including spiral conveyors, flexible conveyors, and dynamic accumulators used in distribution as well as in packaging, bottling, and printing lines.
Beumer Group says its acquisition of Koch Holding, a Czech Republic-based company, strengthens its position in tubular belt conveyors. Beumer Corp., the group's North American arm, serves the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean.
Dematic has expanded its Technical Support Call Center services. The added capabilities include self-service access to the technical support database and a new alert monitoring service. The self-service pOréal is available to Dematic customers with a support contract.
The new alert monitoring service uses software connected to the user's system to monitor activity and equipment in the system and report any anomalies in operation or equipment status to the Dematic Technical Support Call Center.
HK Systems has introduced the MB-100 Multi-Belt Sorter, a unit designed to handle and sort a variety of products into high-density after-sort divert lanes or work stations. The company says the MB-100's sortation rates can exceed 100 packages per minute for packages ranging from 6 to 36 inches in length and weighing up to 75 pounds. The transfers and diverts can be relocated when product sizes or field situations change. HK Systems says the new sorter is suited for the food and beverage, media, retail, postal, wine and spirits, manufacturing, and pharmaceutical industries.
Hytrol Conveyor Co. has introduced its Extenda Pusher, an accessory for systems where mounting space is minimal but products require 90-degree sortation. It has throughput rates of up to 50 cartons per minute and is available in four stroke lengths. The device mounts to units with overall conveyor widths of 18, 24, 30, and 36 inches. Proximity sensors for both extend and return signals allow users to adjust the stroke length.
Hytrol has also introduced an addition to its E24 motor-driven roller conveyor family. The company says its E24 Timing Belt Transfer, which sorts up to 40 cartons a minute, increases productivity by providing improved throughput.
Intelligrated says it has made advancements throughout its standard conveyor and sorter product line in response to demands from customers for equipment that can handle lightweight and delicate items previously considered to be non-conveyables. To maintain gapping, orientation, and carton integrity, Intelligrated has integrated improvements such as close-center roller conveyor and minimum diameter belt conveyor for carton control and software tools to minimize jams, eliminate side-by-side inefficiencies, and reduce the potential for product fall-through.
The company also recently added Crisplant tilt-tray and cross-belt sortation solutions to its product line as a result of its 2009 acquisition of FKI Logistex. In addition, Intelligrated has launched an expanded OnTimeParts operation, which offers more than 50,000 replacement and upgrade parts for material handling equipment.
Jervis B. Webb has introduced a new friction-drive conveyor system as an alternative to overhead and inverted power and free conveyors. The company, a subsidiary of Daifuku Co., says the heavy-duty model can move loads of up 2,500 pounds and the light-duty model can move goods as light as 250 pounds. Friction conveyor offers a smooth continuous flow of products and can travel up to 240 feet per minute. In addition, Webb offers variable frequency drives, which allow speeds to be adjusted.
Knapp Logistics Automation, which focuses on warehouse and DC automation, designs, manufactures, and installs integrated material handling and software solutions. Knapp specializes in semi- and fully automated order fulfillment and assembly systems focused on high-speed/high-volume "each" picking.
Ralphs-Pugh, a manufacturer of conveyor rollers and components, has introduced its Green (E) Series conveyor rollers. The new rollers with ABEC-1 Precision Bearings are now available with eco-friendly biodegradable grease. This new lubricant is a high-grade, high-performance grease that provides low-temperature starting torque. It also offers a long life over a wide range of working temperatures while eliminating the environmental concerns associated with petroleum-based lubricants.
SI Systems is a systems integrator that supplies branded automated material handling systems for manufacturing, assembly, order fulfillment, and distribution operations.
SSI Schaefer offers products for warehousing, materials handling, transport, and storage, including a wide variety of modular designed conveying systems.
TGW is an integrated logistics solutions and material handling equipment provider for both large and small companies. Its expertise is in the planning, design, implementation, and lifetime service of integrated logistics solutions to enhance a company's supply chain operations.
This article has been revised and expanded since it was originally published.
Here's our monthly roundup of some of the charitable works and donations by companies in the material handling and logistics space.
For the sixth consecutive year, dedicated contract carriage and freight management services provider Transervice Logistics Inc. collected books, CDs, DVDs, and magazines for Book Fairies, a nonprofit book donation organization in the New York Tri-State area. Transervice employees broke their own in-house record last year by donating 13 boxes of print and video assets to children in under-resourced communities on Long Island and the five boroughs of New York City.
Logistics real estate investment and development firm Dermody Properties has recognized eight community organizations in markets where it operates with its 2024 Annual Thanksgiving Capstone awards. The organizations, which included food banks and disaster relief agencies, received a combined $85,000 in awards ranging from $5,000 to $25,000.
Prime Inc. truck driver Dee Sova has donated $5,000 to Harmony House, an organization that provides shelter and support services to domestic violence survivors in Springfield, Missouri. The donation follows Sova's selection as the 2024 recipient of the Trucking Cares Foundation's John Lex Premier Achievement Award, which was accompanied by a $5,000 check to be given in her name to a charity of her choice.
Employees of dedicated contract carrier Lily Transportation donated dog food and supplies to a local animal shelter at a holiday event held at the company's Fort Worth, Texas, location. The event, which benefited City of Saginaw (Texas) Animal Services, was coordinated by "Lily Paws," a dedicated committee within Lily Transportation that focuses on improving the lives of shelter dogs nationwide.
Freight transportation conglomerate Averitt has continued its support of military service members by participating in the "10,000 for the Troops" card collection program organized by radio station New Country 96.3 KSCS in Dallas/Fort Worth. In 2024, Averitt associates collected and shipped more than 18,000 holiday cards to troops overseas. Contributions included cards from 17 different Averitt facilities, primarily in Texas, along with 4,000 cards from the company's corporate office in Cookeville, Tennessee.
Electric vehicle (EV) sales have seen slow and steady growth, as the vehicles continue to gain converts among consumers and delivery fleet operators alike. But a consistent frustration for drivers has been pulling up to a charging station only to find that the charger has been intentionally broken or disabled.
To address that threat, the EV charging solution provider ChargePoint has launched two products to combat charger vandalism.
The first is a cut-resistant charging cable that's designed to deter theft. The cable, which incorporates what the manufacturer calls "novel cut-resistant materials," is substantially more difficult for would-be vandals to cut but is still flexible enough for drivers to maneuver comfortably, the California firm said. ChargePoint intends to make its cut-resistant cables available for all of its commercial and fleet charging stations, and, starting in the middle of the year, will license the cable design to other charging station manufacturers as part of an industrywide effort to combat cable theft and vandalism.
The second product, ChargePoint Protect, is an alarm system that detects charging cable tampering in real time and literally sounds the alarm using the charger's existing speakers, screens, and lighting system. It also sends SMS or email messages to ChargePoint customers notifying them that the system's alarm has been triggered.
ChargePoint says it expects these two new solutions, when combined, will benefit charging station owners by reducing station repair costs associated with vandalism and EV drivers by ensuring they can trust charging stations to work when and where they need them.
New Jersey is home to the most congested freight bottleneck in the country for the seventh straight year, according to research from the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI), released today.
ATRI’s annual list of the Top 100 Truck Bottlenecks aims to highlight the nation’s most congested highways and help local, state, and federal governments target funding to areas most in need of relief. The data show ways to reduce chokepoints, lower emissions, and drive economic growth, according to the researchers.
The 2025 Top Truck Bottleneck List measures the level of truck-involved congestion at more than 325 locations on the national highway system. The analysis is based on an extensive database of freight truck GPS data and uses several customized software applications and analysis methods, along with terabytes of data from trucking operations, to produce a congestion impact ranking for each location. The bottleneck locations detailed in the latest ATRI list represent the top 100 congested locations, although ATRI continuously monitors more than 325 freight-critical locations, the group said.
For the seventh straight year, the intersection of I-95 and State Route 4 near the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee, New Jersey, is the top freight bottleneck in the country. The remaining top 10 bottlenecks include: Chicago, I-294 at I-290/I-88; Houston, I-45 at I-69/US 59; Atlanta, I-285 at I-85 (North); Nashville: I-24/I-40 at I-440 (East); Atlanta: I-75 at I-285 (North); Los Angeles, SR 60 at SR 57; Cincinnati, I-71 at I-75; Houston, I-10 at I-45; and Atlanta, I-20 at I-285 (West).
ATRI’s analysis, which utilized data from 2024, found that traffic conditions continue to deteriorate from recent years, partly due to work zones resulting from increased infrastructure investment. Average rush hour truck speeds were 34.2 miles per hour (MPH), down 3% from the previous year. Among the top 10 locations, average rush hour truck speeds were 29.7 MPH.
In addition to squandering time and money, these delays also waste fuel—with trucks burning an estimated 6.4 billion gallons of diesel fuel and producing more than 65 million metric tons of additional carbon emissions while stuck in traffic jams, according to ATRI.
On a positive note, ATRI said its analysis helps quantify the value of infrastructure investment, pointing to improvements at Chicago’s Jane Byrne Interchange as an example. Once the number one truck bottleneck in the country for three years in a row, the recently constructed interchange saw rush hour truck speeds improve by nearly 25% after construction was completed, according to the report.
“Delays inflicted on truckers by congestion are the equivalent of 436,000 drivers sitting idle for an entire year,” ATRI President and COO Rebecca Brewster said in a statement announcing the findings. “These metrics are getting worse, but the good news is that states do not need to accept the status quo. Illinois was once home to the top bottleneck in the country, but following a sustained effort to expand capacity, the Jane Byrne Interchange in Chicago no longer ranks in the top 10. This data gives policymakers a road map to reduce chokepoints, lower emissions, and drive economic growth.”
"Shrink" is the retail industry term for the loss of inventory before it can be sold, whether through theft, damage, fraud, or simple book-keeping errors. In the ongoing effort to reduce those losses, Switzerland-based retail tech company Sensormatic Solutions has expanded the scope of its Shrink Analyzer application to shine a light into previously unmonitored parts of brick-and-mortar stores where goods tend to go missing.
The newly enhanced, cloud-based application can now integrate radio-frequency identification (RFID) and electronic product code (EPC) data from overlooked parts of the building, like employee entrances, receiving doors, "buy online, pick up in store" (BOPIS) doors, or other high-risk areas selected by a store. It then integrates that data into Sensormatic's analytics engine to provide insights into when, where, and how shrink occurs to help users strengthen their loss-prevention strategies, the company says.
Those expanded capabilities allow the platform to provide enhanced "shrink insight" at locations beyond the store's main exit, Sensormatic says. For example, strategically placed RFID scanners at employee exits can reduce internal theft while providing item-level evidence for theft investigation efforts. Likewise, monitoring online-order pickup doors can help retailers both improve in-store e-commerce fulfillment accuracy and identify employee theft events, according to Sensormatic.
A few days before Christmas as I was busy preparing for the holiday, I received a text message from my bank asking if I had attempted to purchase a $244 Amtrak ticket in Orange County, California. Considering that I had the card in my possession and that I lived thousands of miles away from the attempted purchase location, I promptly replied "No." Almost immediately, a second message informed me that my card was locked and to contact my bank.
I'd like to say this was an isolated incident, but in 2024, I had to replace the same card four times. Luckily, it just took a quick trip to my local bank to replace the compromised card, but it was still an unwanted hassle.
Fraud is a never-ending issue facing not just consumers but businesses as well—no one is immune, it seems. In its latest industry report, "Occupational Fraud 2024: A Report to the Nations," the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) estimated that businesses lose 5% of their revenues to fraud each year. This report focused specifically on three basic types of occupational fraud: asset misappropriation, corruption, and financial misstatement. But what about other types of fraud?
The media often report on big organized theft rings stealing goods from trailers, trains, or containerships, or on bands of thieves breaking into warehouses or retail stores—but there are so many other ways in which fraudsters wreak havoc.
For instance, another area where fraud is rampant is consumer returns in the retail industry. Software company Appriss Retail, in collaboration with business management consultancy Deloitte, recently published its "2024 Consumer Returns in the Retail Industry" report. It states that "total returns for the retail industry amounted to $685 billion in merchandise in 2024." That might seem like a drop in the bucket compared to the $5 trillion in sales U.S. retailers racked up last year, but as the report's authors note in the executive summary, "the amount of fraud and abuse remains a significant issue that should be addressed. Fraudsters and abusers are often becoming adept at circumventing retailers' controls across all channels."
So what can businesses do? According to the ACFE study, internal controls (i.e., surprise audits, management reviews, hotlines or other reporting mechanisms, fraud training, and formal fraud risk assessments) are the best defense against occupational fraud.
When it comes to consumer returns fraud, Appriss Retail's report concludes that while retailers continue to adapt and refine their fraud prevention strategies, it's a delicate balancing act. The trick is for "retailers to implement solutions that have [a] minimal impact on the consumer experience," the report noted. "Brand loyalty can be fragile and competition continues to grow, so holding onto consumers is often a key to long-term success."
Then there's security and asset protection. Last October, I attended a session at the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals' EDGE 2024 conference that focused on security and safety. In that session, Lee Ambrose, vice president of business development for Remote Security Solutions (RSS), discussed advanced strategies and technologies for violence prevention. But he also touched on asset/transit protection and specific solutions that can help companies discourage theft.
As an example, Ambrose cited his company's transit surveillance unit (TSU)—a portable monitoring device that can be installed on trailers to protect in-transit freight. According to the company's website, the TSU uses AI (artificial intelligence) detection, security cameras, and two-way communication to deter criminal activity, providing real-time detection and notification when unauthorized persons attempt to enter the trailer. It claims the device has a deterrence rate of 98%.
In the end, sometimes there is only so much a company can do to mitigate fraud/theft. But we are fortunate to have resources we can turn to if we need help. It's an uphill battle, but one that we will keep on fighting.