Ben Ames has spent 20 years as a journalist since starting out as a daily newspaper reporter in Pennsylvania in 1995. From 1999 forward, he has focused on business and technology reporting for a number of trade journals, beginning when he joined Design News and Modern Materials Handling magazines. Ames is author of the trail guide "Hiking Massachusetts" and is a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism.
Under terms of the "strategic partnership," XPO will become the only logistics provider that's allowed to use the robots in those regions, although other customers—such as shippers—will still be able to buy the bots, XPO said in an email.
Singapore-based GreyOrange makes rectangular, rolling robots that combine with pick-and-put stations, mobile storage racks, and the firm's GreyMatter software to form a goods-to-person fulfillment system. The company's "Butler" autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) navigate underneath racks of goods, lift them off the floor, and deliver them to a human employee who can then perform piece-picking work while minimizing the time required for walking and training, Chris Barber, CEO of GreyOrange North America, said in an interview at the CSCMP Edge conference in Nashville on Monday.
Barber did not respond to a request for comment for further details about the XPO partnership.
The large scale of XPO's adoption of the firm's robots follows GreyOrange's announcement in August that it had opened a U.S. headquarters in Atlanta and planned to build a research and development center in Boston and a U.S. manufacturing facility by 2019. At that time, GreyOrange said that it plans to deploy 20,000 robots in the U.S. in the next three years for applications in e-commerce and omnichannel retail and third party logistics (3PL). The firm also said in September that it had collected $140 million in venture capital to help fuel that expansion.
Adopting the GreyOrange units is the latest move by Greenwich, Conn.-based XPO to streamline its operations with industrial robotics. In its most recent earnings call, the company said it is working with 29 separate robotic suppliers in order to improve speed and accuracy in e-commerce and omnichannel retail fulfillment in its facilities across North America and Europe. In other applications, XPO has also used articulated robotic arms and a mobile security bot that patrols parking lots.
In an email, XPO said that adding GreyOrange to that mix is expected to reduce pickers' walking time by 80 percent and eliminate most heavy lifting, to improve picking accuracy by close to 100 percent, and to help shorten the time between receiving an order and getting it out for distribution. The GreyOrange robots are expected to increase fulfillment speeds from a typical manual pick rate of 50-to-80 units per hour to a collaborative robot-assisted rate of 200-to-300 units per hour, XPO said.
XPO will control the GreyOrange system with its own proprietary warehouse management system (WMS) software, which the company launched in March.
"We've developed our logistics technology to integrate the latest intelligent automation and adapt it at lightning speed. This allows us to dramatically improve efficiency, fulfillment time, and costs," XPO CEO Bradley Jacobs said in a statement. "The addition of 5,000 collaborative robots will make our logistics operations safer and more productive in picking, packing and sortation. These are important benefits for our customers—particularly in the e-commerce and omnichannel retail sectors, where order speed and accuracy are essential ways to compete."
The GreyOrange deal is part of XPO's planned $450 million technology investment this year, joining other initiatives such as the XPO Direct shared-space distribution network, voice integration with Amazon Echo and Google Home to track the last mile delivery of heavy goods, and the XPO Connect digital freight marketplace with multimodal infrastructure, the company said.
States across the U.S. East and Southeast are continuing to recover this week from a triple-whammy of logistics and transportation disruptions that happened in quick succession earlier in the month, according to analysis by supply chain visibility provider Project44.
Within a short span, Hurricane Helene devastated the Southeast, the ILA port strike shut down ports along the East and Gulf Coasts for three days, and Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida as a Category 3 storm. These consecutive disruptions hit an already fragile supply chain environment, amplifying delays and creating widespread challenges across all transportation modes, Project44 said.
Because they occurred in such short order, Hurricane Milton exacerbated existing supply chain vulnerabilities in the wake of Hurricane Helene and the ILA port strike, leading to widespread delays across ocean freight, truckload shipments, and last-mile deliveries, the report found.
Some of the lingering delays are found at ports; while inbound container vessel traffic recovered quickly after the strike, port congestion, especially in Savannah and Norfolk, continues to cause delays. Meanwhile, truckload shipments in the Southeast remain particularly impacted, with on-time performance significantly lower than in other regions. And Florida's last-mile deliveries have also faced severe disruptions, but service levels are gradually improving, Project44 said.
In a statement this week, the Florida Ports Council said its members had shown resiliency in coping with those challenges. Specifically, the ports were able to keep critical supplies of fuel flowing to affected areas despite the damage, thanks to tight coordination with Florida’s Division of Emergency Management, the Florida Department of Transportation and the U.S. Coast Guard.
“In the last 30 days, several of our ports have overcome two hurricanes and a port worker strike. While each presented very different challenges, strong leadership at our 16 public ports were able to quickly recover and resume their essential roles in Florida’s supply chain,” Mike Rubin, President & CEO of the Florida Ports Council, said in a release. “It is standard protocol that after a hurricane makes landfall, our ports prioritize petro, people and perishables as they come back online. Florida’s fuel ports play an outsized role in helping all Floridians recover.”
Regular online readers of DC Velocity and Supply Chain Xchange have probably noticed something new during the past few weeks. Our team has been working for months to produce shiny new websites that allow you to find the supply chain news and stories you need more easily.
It is always good for a media brand to undergo a refresh every once in a while. We certainly are not alone in retooling our websites; most of you likely go through that rather complex process every few years. But this was more than just your average refresh. We did it to take advantage of the most recent developments in artificial intelligence (AI).
Most of the AI work will take place behind the scenes. We will not, for instance, use AI to generate our stories. Those will still be written by our award-winning editorial team (I realize I’m biased, but I believe them to be the best in the business). Instead, we will be applying AI to things like graphics, search functions, and prioritizing relevant stories to make it easier for you to find the information you need along with related content.
We have also redesigned the websites’ layouts to make it quick and easy to find articles on specific topics. For example, content on DC Velocity’s new site is divided into five categories: material handling, robotics, transportation, technology, and supply chain services. We also offer a robust video section, including case histories, webcasts, and executive interviews, plus our weekly podcasts.
Over on the Supply Chain Xchange site, we have organized articles into categories that align with the traditional five phases of supply chain management: plan, procure, produce, move, and store. Plus, we added a “tech” category just to round it off. You can also find links to our videos, newsletters, podcasts, webcasts, blogs, and much more on the site.
Our mobile-app users will also notice some enhancements. An increasing number of you are receiving your daily supply chain news on your phones and tablets, so we have revamped our sites for optimal performance on those devices. For instance, you’ll find that related stories will appear right after the article you’re reading in case you want to delve further into the topic.
However you view us, you will find snappier headlines, more graphics and illustrations, and sites that are easier to navigate.
I would personally like to thank our management, IT department, and editors for their work in making this transition a reality. In our more than 20 years as a media company, this is our largest expansion into digital yet.
We hope you enjoy the experience.
Keep ReadingShow less
In this chart, the red and green bars represent Trucking Conditions Index for 2024. The blue line represents the Trucking Conditions Index for 2023. The index shows that while business conditions for trucking companies improved in August of 2024 versus July of 2024, they are still overall negative.
FTR’s Trucking Conditions Index improved in August to -1.39 from the reading of -5.59 in July. The Bloomington, Indiana-based firm forecasts that its TCI readings will remain mostly negative-to-neutral through the beginning of 2025.
“Trucking is en route to more favorable conditions next year, but the road remains bumpy as both freight volume and capacity utilization are still soft, keeping rates weak. Our forecasts continue to show the truck freight market starting to favor carriers modestly before the second quarter of next year,” Avery Vise, FTR’s vice president of trucking, said in a release.
The TCI tracks the changes representing five major conditions in the U.S. truck market: freight volumes, freight rates, fleet capacity, fuel prices, and financing costs. Combined into a single index, a positive score represents good, optimistic conditions, and a negative score shows the opposite.
A coalition of truckers is applauding the latest round of $30 million in federal funding to address what they call a “national truck parking crisis,” created when drivers face an imperative to pull over and stop when they cap out their hours of service, yet can seldom find a safe spot for their vehicle.
According to the White House, a total of 44 projects were selected in this round of funding, including projects that improve safety, mobility, and economic competitiveness, constructing major bridges, expanding port capacity, and redesigning interchanges. The money is the latest in a series of large infrastructure investments that have included nearly $12.8 billion in funding through the INFRA and Mega programs for 140 projects across 42 states, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The money funds: 35 bridge projects, 18 port projects, 20 rail projects, and 85 highway improvement projects.
In a statement, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) said the federal funds would make a big difference in driver safety and transportation networks.
"Lack of safe truck parking has been a top concern of truckers for decades and as a truck driver, I can tell you firsthand that when truckers don’t have a safe place to park, we are put in a no-win situation. We must either continue to drive while fatigued or out of legal driving time, or park in an undesignated and unsafe location like the side of the road or abandoned lot,” OOIDA President Todd Spencer said in a release. “It forces truck drivers to make a choice between safety and following federal Hours-of-Service rules. OOIDA and the 150,000 small business truckers we represent thank Secretary Buttigieg and the Department for their increased focus on resolving an issue that has plagued our industry for decades.”
“While there have been some signs of tightening in consumer spending, September’s numbers show consumers are willing to spend where they see value,” NRF Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz said in a release. “September sales come amid the recent trend of payroll gains and other positive economic signs. Clearly, consumers continue to carry the economy, and conditions for the retail sector remain favorable as we move into the holiday season.”
The Census Bureau said overall retail sales in September were up 0.4% seasonally adjusted month over month and up 1.7% unadjusted year over year. That compared with increases of 0.1% month over month and 2.2% year over year in August.
Likewise, September’s core retail sales as defined by NRF — based on the Census data but excluding automobile dealers, gasoline stations and restaurants — were up 0.7% seasonally adjusted month over month and up 2.4% unadjusted year over year. NRF is now forecasting that 2024 holiday sales will increase between 2.5% and 3.5% over the same time last year.
Despite those upward trends, consumer resilience isn’t a free pass for retailers to underinvest in their stores by overlooking labor, customer experience tech, or digital transformation, several analysts warned.
"The 2024 holiday season offers more ‘normalcy’ for retailers with inflation cooling. Still, there is no doubt that consumers continue to seek value. Promotions in general will play a larger role in the 2024 holiday season. Retailers are dealing with shrinking shopper loyalties, a larger number of competitors across more channels – and, of course, a more dynamic landscape where prices are shifting more frequently to win over consumers who are looking for great deals,” Matt Pavich, senior director of strategy & innovation at pricing optimization solutions provider Revionics, said in an email.
Nikki Baird, VP of strategy & product at retail technology company Aptos, likewise said that retailers need to keep their focus on improving their value proposition and customer experience. “Retailers aren’t just competing with other retailers when it comes to consumers’ discretionary spending. If consumers feel like the shopping experience isn’t worth their time and effort, they are going to spend their money elsewhere. A trip to Italy, a dinner out, catching the latest Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds films — there is no shortage of ways that consumers can spend their discretionary dollars,” she said.
Editor's note:This article was revised on October 18 to correct the attribution for a quote to Matt Pavich instead of Nikki Baird.