Logistics optimization firm Logility Inc. said Monday it had acquired supply chain analytics supplier Halo Business Intelligence, a move designed to help users apply predictive and prescriptive analytics to their omnichannel delivery processes and other supply chain management operations.
San Diego-based Halo provides data visualization and business intelligence (BI) tools for the supply chain market to support algorithmic planning and machine learning strategies.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Atlanta-based Logility said it would embed Halo's analytics functionality into its Logility Voyager Solutions software platform, allowing customers to use artificial intelligence (AI) to proactively identify business opportunities and to mitigate risks. Logility will also offer Halo's tools to users of its Demand Solutions and NGC Andromeda platforms, as well as selling Halo's services on a standalone basis to complement other enterprise systems, the company said.
The deal is the second recent acquisition for Logility, which bought systems integrator AdapChain Inc. in 2016 in a move that Logility said would help it to link multiple software platforms and ensure that data flowed properly to support inventory movement.
We are now into the home stretch of the holiday shopping season—the biggest retail bonanza of the year. By now, many shoppers have already made their purchases and are putting the final touches on their gifts. Some of us procrastinators have not even started. Isn’t that why online shopping was invented?
Here are some interesting facts about Americans’ holiday shopping patterns. The National Retail Federation estimates that consumer spending for the holidays will average $902 per person. Some $641 of that will be for gifts, with the remainder spent on food, decorations, and other holiday items.
Many of those purchases will be online, where more than 21% of all consumer transactions now occur. A recent report from DHL eCommerce reveals that 61% of U.S. shoppers buy online at least once a week, and 84% browse online one or more times a week.
We also buy a range of goods that way—63% buy clothing and footwear through e-commerce sites, according to the DHL report. Next most popular were consumer electronics at 33%, followed by health supplements at 30%.
That first category is interesting, because apparel and footwear are also among the most widely returned items, especially when bought as gifts. Either they don’t fit properly, or they aren’t quite what the recipients had in mind—which means that each January, retailers must cope with a flood of returns.
Of course, returns are not a seasonal phenomenon; consumers return goods—particularly those bought online—year round. Between 25% and 35% of all goods purchased via e-commerce are returned, depending on whose figures you believe. By comparison, only 8% to 9% of products bought in stores, where we can see the actual items and try on clothing and shoes, end up being returned.
Try-ons are not possible with apparel sold online, which leads to the common practice of “bracketing,” where customers order an item in multiple sizes, pick the one that fits best, and send back the rest. The seller typically absorbs the reverse logistics costs—and those costs can be significant. The retail value of returned consumer items totals around $745 billion each year. According to Narvar, a company that helps retailers manage the post-purchase customer experience, more than 90% of returned products have nothing wrong with them. They simply weren’t wanted or needed.
So as you make those final holiday selections, help your fellow supply chain professionals. Choose your gifts wisely to reduce the chances they’ll be returned. And remember, gift cards are always nice.
Funds are continuing to flow to companies building self-driving cars, as the Swiss startup Embotech today said it had raised $27 million to expand autonomous driving solutions for logistics in Europe and beyond, including U.S. operations by the end of 2025.
The Zurich firm said it would use the new funding to help the company scale up its Automated Vehicle Marshalling (AVM) and Autonomous Terminal Tractor (ATT) solutions in Europe, and ultimately in the United States, Middle East, and Asia.
Embotech—which is short for “embedded optimization technologies”—says it has already secured multi-year rollout contracts for its AVM solution in finished vehicle logistics and for its ATT solution for port and yard logistics applications.
Specifically, Embotech began rolling out its AVM solution in 2023 with automaker BMW. The technology guides new BMW vehicles along a one-kilometer route between two assembly facilities, through a squeak and rattle track, and to the finishing area – with no driver needed at any stage of the journey. That will now expand under a multi-year contract to install the AVM solution in six additional BMW passenger car factories worldwide by the end of 2025, including BMW’s plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
And for its ATT business, Embotech is gearing up for a major rollout to haul shipping containers at Europe's largest port, the port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, with 30 units set to be deployed over the next 2 years. The electric ATTs are equipped with Embotech’s Level 4 Autonomous Vehicle (AV) Kit, which enables them to operate autonomously in complex, mixed traffic situations. Embotech’s autonomous tractors use a combination of LIDAR, cameras, and GPS to detect obstacles in all weather conditions and achieve localization accuracy of less than 5 cm.
According to Embotech, its autonomous driving solutions deliver benefits such as increasing operational efficiency through 24-hour operation, flexible peak handling, and improved transparency with digital integration.
The “series B” round was led by Emerald Technology Ventures and Yttrium, with additional funds from BMW i Ventures, Nabtesco Technology Ventures, Sustainable Forward Capital Fund, RKK VC and existing investors. “Embotech impressed us with their unique, highly adaptable autonomous logistics solution,” Axel Krieger, Partner at Yttrium, said in a release. “The company tackles the global logistics challenge for both commercial and passenger vehicles. With a strong orderbook as well as proven industry partnerships, Embotech is uniquely positioned to lead the market. An investment that aligns perfectly with Yttrium’s goal to empower tomorrow’s B2B technology champions."
The private equity-backed warehousing and transportation provider Partners Warehouse has acquired PSS Distribution Services, a third-party logistics (3PL) provider specializing in warehousing, distribution, and value-added services on the East Coast, the company said today.
The move expands Partners Warehouse’s reach from its current territories, which stretch from its Elwood, Illinois, headquarters to its two million square feet of warehousing and rail transloading facilities across eight locations in Illinois, California, and Dallas.
In addition to adding East Coast operations to that footprint, the move will also strengthen Partners’ expertise in the food and ingredients sector, enhance its service capabilities, and improve the business’ capacity to support existing and new clients who require a service provider with a national footprint, the company said.
From its headquarters in Jamesburg, New Jersey, PSS brings experience across industries including food, grocery, retail, food service, direct store distribution (DSD), and e-commerce. The company is known for its state-of-the-art facilities and food-grade warehousing options.
“This acquisition marks a significant milestone in Partners Warehouse’s expansion strategy,” Nick Antoine, Co-Founder, Co-CEO, and Managing Partner of Red Arts Capital, said in a release. “The addition of PSS enables us to grow our capacity and broaden our service offerings, delivering greater value to our clients at a time when demand for warehousing space continues to rise.”
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Photo courtesy of the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM)
Think you know a lot about manufacturing? Your hard-won knowledge might be about to pay off in the form of a brand-new pickup truck. No, you don’t have to physically assemble the vehicle. But you could win a Ford F-150 by playing an industry-themed online game.
The organization says the game is available to anyone in the continental U.S. who visits the tour’s web page, www.manufacturingexpress.org.
The tour itself ended in October after visiting 80 equipment manufacturers in 20 states. Its aim was to highlight the role that the manufacturing industry plays in building, powering, and feeding the world, the group said in a statement.
“This tour [was] about recognizing the essential contributions of U.S. equipment manufacturers and engaging the public in a fun and interactive way,” Wade Balkonis, AEM’s director of grassroots advocacy, said in a release. “Through the Manufacturing Challenge, we’re providing a unique opportunity to raise awareness of our industry and giving participants a chance to win one of the most iconic vehicles in the country—the Ford F-150.”
Makers of robotic truck-unloading solutions are refining their offerings now that the technology is being used in many warehouses—and that means solutions are getting “smarter” and more adept at handling challenges that arise in real time. Increased handling capabilities, better dexterity, and even more autonomy are at the heart of the updates.
“There are certain behaviors you don’t see in the lab but you do see in the real world,” explains Pete Blair, vice president of product and marketing for Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Pickle Robot, which completed its first commercial installation in the summer of 2023 and now has roughly 12 truck-unloading robots up and running around the country. “We’ve been improving the system over that time period. Right now, [we’re] moving forward with the next generation of the robot.”
As of this past fall, all customers had been upgraded to the new robot, which features better wheels on its custom-built base, a sturdier onboard conveyor, additional sensors, and an improved gripper, according to Blair. The updates are making the robot more efficient and are in line with enhancements other robotic developers are making as well—all in the name of automating one of the toughest jobs in the warehouse.
“This technology is something [warehouses have] wanted for so long,” Blair says, emphasizing the difficulty of manually unloading box after box from a trailer, often in extreme temperatures. “The value at the end of the day is just so big and easy to recognize. [Truck unloading] remains one of the worst jobs in the warehouse … these jobs are getting harder and harder to fill.”
SMOOTHING OUT THE PROCESS
Pickle’s truck-unloading robot consists of a robotic picking arm on a wheeled base, with sensors, cameras, and an advanced software system that enable it to move boxes of different shapes and sizes out of trailers and into the warehouse. The robot, whose gripper can handle cartons measuring up to 36 inches long, 24 inches high, and 24 inches wide, can retrieve boxes weighing up to 60 pounds from high up in the trailer and handle floor-loaded boxes of up to 100 pounds. The robot then places the items on a flexible conveyor that moves them into the warehouse for the next step in the receiving process.
Some of the next-generation updates are part of ongoing refinements to the system—such as the ability to move smaller items, perform multipick moves, and recover boxes that fall on the floor during unloading. Today, Pickle’s robot can grip items as small as six-inch cubes for multipick moves, for example. And it can autonomously respond to changing conditions in the trailer, just as a human would.
“If you pick something and something shifts and falls on the floor, the robot picks it up, just takes care of it,” Blair explains. “We had been field testing that function; now we can do it.
“We’re making the robot smarter, making it do things differently—with more sophisticated path-planning algorithms. Now it can make more sophisticated moves that are more efficient, faster—grabbing two things rather than one, for example.”
Other changes are a direct result of the robots actively working in the field. For example, the robot’s gripper is designed to break away if it’s under too much stress, but users found that the process of reattaching the gripper was difficult and time-consuming—and ultimately slowed the unloading process.
“This has been completely redesigned and is now a one-minute fix,” Blair says.
BUILDING A SYSTEM
Global robotics supplier Mujin is also continuing to refine its truck-unloading solution—TruckBot. Although the developer does not disclose the number of TruckBots in use around the world, company leaders say user feedback from pilot tests and recent rollouts is playing a large role in refining the system. Mujin is working to improve the robot’s capacity—so that it can handle an increasing array of sizes, shapes, and weights—and also ensure that the TruckBot, which is part of a larger effort to automate the entire inbound logistics workflow, can operate effectively alongside other types of warehouse robots, according to Josh Cloer, vice president of sales and marketing.
“Truck unloading is only part of the challenge; [you also have to consider] what happens next [in a warehouse’s inbound freight operation],” Cloer explains, pointing to downstream functions such as sorting the unloaded boxes and building pallets. “We focus on areas where we can solve all those problems.”
The company starts with its MujinController, a robotic platform that powers its products and allows them to work autonomously. TruckBot is different from other unloading solutions in that it doesn't use a robotic arm to grab and move boxes—instead, it uses advanced gripper technology attached to a standard telescoping conveyor. Powered by the controller, and using sensors and advanced software, TruckBot can reach as far as 52 feet into the truck trailer, grasping boxes weighing up to 50 pounds from the front and seamlessly transferring them to the conveyor, which transports the packages into the warehouse. Cloer says the design allows for faster unloading so that warehouses can turn those trailers around quickly: TruckBot can move up to 1,000 cases per hour.
Although customers can use TruckBot on its own, the robot is designed to work in concert with Mujin’s other robots—including its automated case-handling solution, called QuickBot, which can depalletize, palletize, and repalletize boxes in the warehouse. The combination allows for a smoother, more efficient inbound process.
“We provide the whole inbound automation solution,” Cloer explains. “We put these processes in parallel—unloading and palletizing really fast and sorting downstream.”
On the human side of the equation, labor can be reallocated from the loading dock to other parts of the warehouse. Cloer notes that many warehouses have multiple workers in a trailer performing the unloading tasks along with another set of workers handling the removal of boxes and building pallets. Automation solves that challenge.
“You can more greatly reduce the [number] of operators you need on the inbound side of the warehouse,” he says.
MAKING STRIDES
Vendors agree that interest in robotic truck unloading is growing as more systems are put in place. Quite simply, the ability to show systems in action, achieving real results, helps seal more deals, according to Blair.
“Being able to show other prospects … just [gives] the whole market confidence that this is ready for prime time,” he says, adding that Pickle just signed three more deals with customers this past summer. “Being able to automate this function—it remains a huge interest for a broad swath of customers.”