Decking system: Cargo handling and restraint system specialist Ancra Cargo has introduced AutoDeck, an automated integrated decking system (in photo above). The AutoDeck system lets loading dock staff and drivers set the height of each beam with the push of a button to easily create customized decking solutions. Prior to the introduction of manual decking systems decades ago, the space available in trailers was either not fully utilized or pallets were stacked on top of each other, potentially damaging cargo. According to the manufacturer, the new decking system allows for better shipping efficiency, reduces losses resulting from cargo damage, and increases load averages by 10 to 30 percent. (Ancra Cargo)
Modular sortation system:
Robotics and warehouse automation manufacturer GreyOrange has debuted its latest modular sortation system. Designed for distribution and logistics centers serving retail, courier, and express companies, the Flexo robotics system offers versatility, portability, and sortation efficiency thanks to fluid layouts that require minimal additional infrastructure, the company says. The system can operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, reducing the cost per shipment and dependence on additional labor during peak times. The artificial intelligence-enabled robotics system can be adapted to meet evolving business needs—for example, by scaling up to handle peak-period volumes and scaling down during nonpeak times to minimize operating costs. According to the manufacturer, Flexo is designed to allow for fast implementation—in as little as 15 days—due to its simple design, modularity, and standardization. (
Solution Net Systems (SNS) has expanded its automated sortation portfolio with the addition of the SNS Modular Sortation System. The new system is ideal for companies looking to improve their order and inventory accuracy as well as reverse logistics, order fulfillment, receiving, and picking and packing operations.
The SNS Modular Sortation System is built for a wide range of materials, including polybags, padded envelopes, and small and large cartons. This quiet, scalable solution can handle multiple divert points on a single belt and utilizes 24 motor-driven rollers to provide energy efficiency. SNS says the all-electric design saves money by eliminating the reliance on inefficient pneumatic solutions and the associated costs of installing, operating, and maintaining compressors.
Other benefits of the system include a safe divert mechanism that protects personnel by reducing their exposure to large mechanical pushers. Using the company's "FAST" software, the portable and modular sortation solution can integrate into an existing system and expand to meet an operation's growing needs, the manufacturer says. (Solution Net Systems Inc.)
Robotic package unloader:
Honeywell has introduced an automated robotic solution for unloading packages from truck trailers and shipping containers at distribution centers. The robotic unloader drives into a trailer or container and uses machine vision to identify various package shapes and sizes as well as the optimal approach to unloading. A robotic arm with a series of small suction cups conforms to the package shape to gently extract it from the stack. A conveyor below the arm can serve as a sweeper for packages to move them out of the trailer.
The robotic unloader uses artificial intelligence to operate fully autonomously inside of a trailer, which significantly reduces the manual effort required to operate receiving docks for retail merchandise and parcel distribution centers, the company says. This smart robotics offering works with existing fleets and is designed to help customers improve workplace safety, reduce staffing challenges, and minimize damage to packages. (Honeywell)
Automatic bagger:
Pac Machinery, a manufacturer of equipment and materials that are used in the flexible packaging industry, has unveiled the latest version of its Rollbag R1275 automatic bagger. Designed to increase production rates and simplify user interaction, the Rollbag R1275 features compact, low-profile seal-flattening fingers and a new, optional bag opener that stretches the bag to a specific opening size and shape to facilitate filling. A new bag profiler option helps maintain the bag's shape by keeping it flatter as the bag fills, thus preventing bulk materials from distorting the bag.
The most significant improvement, however, is the new infeed funnel mounting system. The funnel mount is designed to accommodate a wide variety of automatic feeding devices, making funnel changes easier and faster to accomplish. For extra versatility, this automatic bagger can be used with scales, counters (including an advanced vision-counting system for small products), and other feeding devices. In addition, the automatic bagger is engineered to connect with robotic systems.
An optional thermal printer enables the printing of graphics, bar codes, date codes, and text. (Pac Machinery)
Picking robot: With e-commerce and distribution businesses facing staffing shortages, Kindred Inc., a manufacturer of piece-picking robots, has unveiled Sort, a picking robot with human-like grasping capabilities that separates multi-SKU batches into individual customer orders. According to the company, Sort picking robots utilize AutoGrasp, a robotics intelligence platform that becomes smarter, faster, and more accurate over time. This platform combines vision, grasping, and manipulation algorithms to deliver fast, accurate picking. Sort was designed to easily integrate with any warehouse management software and can evaluate items in real time, picking and matching them to individual customer orders. (Kindred Inc.)
Drive technology:
The eXtended Transport System (XTS) from Beckhoff Automation is now available in the United States. According to the manufacturer, the EtherCAT-enabled XTS offers paradigm-shifting capabilities for motion control and mechatronics by combining rotary- and linear-drive principles into a new modular platform. With its compact and flexible design, the advanced mechatronic system can reduce machine footprint by up to 50 percent, the company says.
XTS was engineered to support efficient integration for motion-control applications in many industries. With attached mechanical guide rails, XTS motor modules feature directly integrated power electronics, EtherCAT communication, and position measurement. An unlimited number of wireless XTS movers can be controlled with high dynamics at up to four meters per second on customizable paths. (Beckhoff Automation)
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.
The Swedish supply chain software company Kodiak Hub is expanding into the U.S. market, backed by a $6 million venture capital boost for its supplier relationship management (SRM) platform.
The Stockholm-based company says its move could help U.S. companies build resilient, sustainable supply chains amid growing pressure from regulatory changes, emerging tariffs, and increasing demands for supply chain transparency.
According to the company, its platform gives procurement teams a 360-degree view of supplier risk, resiliency, and performance, helping them to make smarter decisions faster. Kodiak Hub says its artificial intelligence (AI) based tech has helped users to reduce supplier onboarding times by 80%, improve supplier engagement by 90%, achieve 7-10% cost savings on total spend, and save approximately 10 hours per week by automating certain SRM tasks.
The Swedish venture capital firm Oxx had a similar message when it announced in November that it would back Kodiak Hub with new funding. Oxx says that Kodiak Hub is a better tool for chief procurement officers (CPOs) and strategic sourcing managers than existing software platforms like Excel sheets, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, or Procure-to-Pay suites.
“As demand for transparency and fair-trade practices grows, organizations must strengthen their supply chains to protect their reputation, profitability, and long-term trust,” Malin Schmidt, founder & CEO of Kodiak Hub, said in a release. “By embedding AI-driven insights directly into procurement workflows, our platform helps procurement teams anticipate these risks and unlock major opportunities for growth.”
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.”