To help manufacturers avoid costly equipment downtime, the Crane Manufacturers Service Committee has issued new standards for servicing overhead traveling cranes.
... in good working order. To help manufacturers avoid costly equipment downtime, the Crane Manufacturers Service Committee has issued new standards for servicing overhead traveling cranes. The committee, part of the Crane Manufacturers Association of America (CMAA), has issued Specification No. 78, Standards and Guidelines for Professional Services Performed on Overhead Traveling Cranes and Associated Hoisting Equipment.
Formed by safety-minded manufacturer-trained and-certified technicians, the committee developed the new specification to provide guidelines and standards for servicing overhead traveling cranes and associated hoisting equipment. Through the introduction of Specification 78, CMAA intends to set higher performance standards and raise customer expectations related to the servicing of this equipment.
The 40-plus-page Specification 78 will be available for $30 per copy. Orders can be placed through the MHIA Online Bookstore or via phone to the Literature Department at (704) 676-1190.
That strategy is described by RILA President Brian Dodge in a document titled “2025 Retail Public Policy Agenda,” which begins by describing leading retailers as “dynamic and multifaceted businesses that begin on Main Street and stretch across the world to bring high value and affordable consumer goods to American families.”
RILA says its policy priorities support that membership in four ways:
Investing in people. Retail is for everyone; the place for a first job, 2nd chance, third act, or a side hustle – the retail workforce represents the American workforce.
Ensuring a safe, sustainable future. RILA is working with lawmakers to help shape policies that protect our customers and meet expectations regarding environmental concerns.
Leading in the community. Retail is more than a store; we are an integral part of the fabric of our communities.
“As Congress and the Trump administration move forward to adopt policies that reduce regulatory burdens, create economic growth, and bring value to American families, understanding how such policies will impact retailers and the communities we serve is imperative,” Dodge said. “RILA and its member companies look forward to collaborating with policymakers to provide industry-specific insights and data to help shape any policies under consideration.”
Logistics service provider (LSP) DHL Supply Chain is continuing to extend its investments in global multi-shoring and in reverse logistics, marking efforts to help its clients adjust to the challenging business and economic conditions of 2025.
The company’s focus on improving e-commerce parcel flows comes as a time when retailers are facing an array of delivery challenges—both international and domestic—triggered by a cascade of swift changes in reciprocal tariffs, “de minimis” import fees, and other protectionist escalations of trade war conditions imposed by the newly seated Trump Administration. While business groups are largely opposed to those policies, they still need strategies to accommodate those rules of the road as long as the new rules remain in place.
Accordingly, DHL last week released a new study on the growing importance of multi-shoring strategies that go beyond the classic “China Plus 1” philosophy and focuses on diversifying production and supplier locations even further, to multiple countries. This expanded “China Plus X” strategy can help companies build resilient supply chains by choosing more diverse production locations in response to global trade disruptions. The study offers five criteria for sourcing goods from countries outside China such as India, Vietnam, Hungary, and Mexico, depending on the procurement needs of each particular industry.
As the Trump Administration threatens new steps in a growing trade war, U.S. manufacturers and retailers are calling for a ceasefire, saying the crossfire caused by the new tax hikes on American businesses will raise prices for consumers and possibly trigger rising inflation.
Tariffs are taxes charged by a country on its own businesses that import goods from other nations. Until they can invest in long-term alternatives like building new factories or finding new trading partners, companies must either take those additional tax duties out of their profit margins or pass them on to consumers as higher prices.
The Trump Administration on Thursday announced it may impose “reciprocal tariffs” on any country that currently holds tariffs on the import of U.S. goods. That step followed earlier threats to apply tariffs on the import of steel and aluminum beginning March 12, another plan to charge tariffs on the import of materials from Canada and Mexico—now postponed until early March—and new round of tariffs on imports from China including a 10% blanket increase and the elimination of the “de minimis” exception for individual items under a value of $800 each.
Various industry groups say that while the Administration may have legitimate goals in ramping up a trade war—such as lowering foreign tariff and non-tariff trade barriers—applying a strategy of hiking tariffs on imports coming into America would inflict economic harm on U.S. businesses and consumers.
“This tariff-heavy approach continues to gamble with our economic prosperity and is based on incomplete thinking about the vital role ethical and fairly traded imports play in the prosperity,” Steve Lamar, president and CEO of The American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) said in a release. “Putting America first means ensuring predictability for American businesses that create U.S. jobs; affordable options for American consumers who power our economy; opportunities for farmers who feed our families; and support for tens of millions of U.S. workers whose trade dependent jobs make our factories, our stores, our warehouses, and our offices function. Sweeping new tariffs — a possible outcome of this exercise — instead puts America last, raising costs for American manufacturers for critical inputs and materials, closing key markets for American farmers, and raising prices for hardworking American families.”
A similar message came from the National Retail Federation (NRF), whose executive vice president of government relations, David French, said: “While we support the president’s efforts to reduce trade barriers and imbalances, this scale of undertaking is massive and will be extremely disruptive to our supply chains. It will likely result in higher prices for hardworking American families and will erode household spending power. We encourage the president to seek coordination and collaboration with our trading partners and bring stability to our supply chains and family budgets.”
The logistics tech firm Körber Supply Chain Software has a common position. "The imposition of new tariffs, or the suspension of tariffs, introduces substantial challenges for businesses dependent on international supply chains. Industries such as automotive and electronics, which rely heavily on cross-border trade with Mexico and Canada, are particularly vulnerable,” Steve Blough, Chief Strategist at Körber Supply Chain Software, said in an emailed statement. “Supply chains that are doing low-value ecommerce deliveries will have their business model thrown into complete disarray. The increased costs due to tariffs, or the increased costs in processing time due to suspensions, may lead to higher consumer prices and processing times.”
And further opposition to the strategy came from the California-based IT consulting firm Bristlecone. “Tariffs or the potential for tariffs increase uncertainty throughout the supply chain, potentially stalling deals, impacting the sourcing of raw materials, and prompting higher prices for consumers,” Jen Chew, Bristlecone’s VP of Solutions & Consulting, said in a statement. “Tariffs and other protectionist economic policies reflect an overarching trend away from global sourcing and toward local sourcing and production. However, despite the perceived benefits of local operations, some resources and capabilities may simply not be available locally, prompting manufacturers to continue operations overseas, even if it means paying steep tariffs.”
The Google-backed humanoid robot maker Apptronik on Thursday announced it had raised $350 million in venture funding to fuel the deployment of its “Apollo” model and to scale up operations, accelerate innovation, and hire more staff.
That innovation push will be specifically aimed at expanding Apollo’s capabilities, enabling it to address a wide range of applications in industries like logistics and manufacturing, as well as eldercare and healthcare.
Texas-based Apptronik is also scaling up manufacturing of Apollo units to fulfill growing orders across priority verticals—including automotive, electronics manufacturing, third-party logistics providers (3PLs), beverage bottling and fulfillment, and consumer packaged goods.
The “series A” venture round was co-led by B Capital and Capital Factory, with participation from Google. It follows $28 million in previous funding. Apprtronik was founded in 2016 at the University of Texas at Austin’s Human Centered Robotics Lab.
“With Apptronik, we see a world in which humanoid robots play a vital role in addressing societal challenges—from assisting with disaster relief and elder care to supporting space exploration and medical advancements. Industry leaders like Mercedes-Benz and GXO Logistics are already seeing the real-world impact of Apptronik's technology,” said Howard Morgan, chair and general partner of B Capital.
Warehouse automation orders declined by 3% in 2024, according to a February report from market research firm Interact Analysis. The company said the decline was due to economic, political, and market-specific challenges, including persistently high interest rates in many regions and the residual effects of an oversupply of warehouses built during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The research also found that increasing competition from Chinese vendors is expected to drive down prices and slow revenue growth over the report’s forecast period to 2030.
Global macro-economic factors such as high interest rates, political uncertainty around elections, and the Chinese real estate crisis have “significantly impacted sales cycles, slowing the pace of orders,” according to the report.
Despite the decline, analysts said growth is expected to pick up from 2025, which they said they anticipate will mark a year of slow recovery for the sector. Pre-pandemic growth levels are expected to return in 2026, with long-term expansion projected at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8% between 2024 and 2030.
The analysis also found two market segments that are bucking the trend: durable manufacturing and food & beverage industries continued to spend on automation during the downturn. Warehouse automation revenues in food & beverage, in particular, were bolstered by cold-chain automation, as well as by large-scale projects from consumer-packaged goods (CPG) manufacturers. The sectors registered the highest growth in warehouse automation revenues between 2022 and 2024, with increases of 11% (durable manufacturing) and 10% (food & beverage), according to the research.