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67% of Consumers Indicate Inventory Visibility Across Stores, Online & Mobile is Important
The 2020 enVista Supply Chain Survey, sponsored by Kӧrber, reveals retailers are optimizing their supply chain organization, inventory management, processes and technology across their transportation network, distribution center, and stores
INDIANAPOLIS (August 25, 2020) – In today’s challenging market where supply, demand, and fulfillment variables are rapidly changing, retailers must continuously assess, adjust, and optimize their supply chains to reduce volatility, and improve agility and speed – all while continually balancing service and cost.
Retailers must elevate supply chain capabilities to serve the needs of today's consumers while increasing efficiencies, reducing costs, and continuing to improve the customer experience. According to enVista’s 2020 Supply Chain Survey, as retailers evolve their supply chain to meet short- and long-term requirements, the top three challenges they are encountering are the need to balance increased e-commerce demand with store demand (34%), demand planning and forecasting (33%), and improving efficiencies (30%).
enVista CEO Jim Barnes said, “We are proud to partner with Körber to provide the most comprehensive digital supply chain survey in the industry. The right digital supply chain strategy takes a holistic approach to optimize processes, technology, inventory, labor, and facilities. Advancing supply chain capabilities and control while leveraging next-generation, agile solutions remain imperatives for retailers’ omnichannel transformation strategies and profitability. enVista is helping hundreds of retail brands rapidly optimize and transform both physical and digital commerce end-to-end, from source to consumption and from order capture through fulfillment. Our software and consulting solutions improve the customer experience, optimize omnichannel order orchestration and fulfillment, improve gross margin return on inventory investment (GMROI), and accelerate omnichannel profitability.”
“Today’s retailers’ reputations rest on how well they can adapt to consumer demands – that means managing a wide variety orders delivered when, where and how their customers expect,” said Bill Ryan, chief executive officer, North America for Kӧrber Supply Chain – Software. “At Kӧrber, we’re dedicated to providing the software, automation technology and global team of experts, including partners like enVista, to assure retailers are empowered with the right solutions to conquer today’s supply chain complexities and meet heightening consumer expectations.”
With today’s immense challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic disrupting and debilitating the traditional retail model, plus the extreme volatility in supply and demand experienced by so many omnichannel organizations, the need for an efficient and agile supply chain has become ever more apparent. A not only resilient, but optimized supply chain is imperative to success, directly impacting sales, customer service, brand loyalty, and competitive advantage. According to enVista’s 2019 Consumer Study, consumers expectations include researching, purchasing and obtaining products wherever and however they desire as validated by these findings:
• 67% of consumers indicate that inventory visibility across stores, online and mobile is an important service to offer
• 65% of consumers indicate that the ability to buy anywhere, ship anywhere is an important service to offer
• 48% of consumers indicate that the ability to pick up an online purchase in-store is an important factor when choosing what store to shop at
The 2020 Supply Chain Survey of U.S. retailers offers insights into and an understanding of U.S. retailers' planned initiatives, priorities, and future trends regarding the supply chain, from warehouse through delivery to the customer.
Platinum Sponsor of the 2020 Supply Chain Survey is Kӧrber. The Körber Business Area Supply Chain is part of the international technology group Körber. This includes Aberle, Aberle Software, Cirrus Logistics, Cohesio Group, Consoveyo, DMLogic, HighJump, inconso, Otimis, Langhammer, Riantics and Voiteq. Körber has proven success with thousands of companies worldwide. All companies will officially transition to the brand name ‘Kӧrber’ in the fall of 2020.
The 2020 Supply Chain Survey report is available for download at:
https://www.envistacorp.com/2020-supply-chain-survey/
Des Plaines, Illinois – January 7, 2025: NOBLELIFT North America, a global leader in lithium-iron material handling technology, is excited to announce the appointment of Bill Pedriana as its new President. With nearly four decades of experience in the material handling industry, Pedriana is poised to lead NOBLELIFT North America into a new era of innovation, growth, and customer-centric success.
Bill Pedriana served as Chief Marketing Officer at Big Joe Forklifts, where his visionary leadership helped rebuild the brand, develop groundbreaking products (including the Joey series of access vehicles and their cobot pallet truck concept), and execute comprehensive sales and marketing strategies. For 14 years, Pedriana played an instrumental role in achieving an extraordinary 14x growth in sales and helping to drive the global expansion of Big Joe’s parent company, EP Equipment.
Pedriana’s track record of aligning business strategies with customer needs has consistently delivered exceptional results throughout his career. Drawing from his wealth of experience, he now brings his expertise to NOBLELIFT to continue building on the strong foundation established by his predecessor, Loren Swakow. Under Swakow’s leadership over the past eight years, NOBLELIFT North America experienced unparalleled growth and built a reputation for providing innovative and high-performance material handling solutions.
“I became attracted to NOBLELIFT over the past few years due to their exceptional manufacturing quality, progressive equipment design theory, and their sophistication when it came to deploying intelligent material handling systems,” said Pedriana. “As the incoming President of NOBLELIFT NorthAmerica, I aim to continue the strong growth the organization experienced under Loren Swakow over the past 8 years by utilizing my sales and product development expertise to enhance the value of NOBLELIFT for its distributors and OEM partners. In 2025, we will be introducing a number of new products and programs and expanding our team and capabilities to support our growth.”
Leading the Material Handling Industry Forward
NOBLELIFT North America is known for its wide range of innovative material handling equipment, including electric pallet trucks, sit-down forklifts, rough terrain forklifts, narrow aisle forklifts, walkie- stackers, order pickers, electric pallet trucks, scissor lifts, tuggers/tow tractors, scrubbers, sweepers, automated guided vehicles (AGV’s), lift tables, manual pallet jacks and more. With products trusted in over 100 countries, NOBLELIFT continues to deliver on its promise of high performance, low maintenance, and advanced ergonomic designs at an unbeatable value.
"As part of NOBLELIFT’s focus on delivering exceptional customer experiences, we are excited to have Bill Pedriana join us in this pivotal leadership role," said Wendy Mao, CEO at Noblelift Intelligent Equipment Co., Ltd. “His passion for the industry, proven ability to execute innovative strategies, and dedication to customer satisfaction make him the perfect leader to guide NOBLELIFT into our next phase of growth.”
Pedriana’s values extend beyond operations and product development. “Our industry was built by family businesses and handshakes,” shared Pedriana. “While it’s great to win, it’s how you play the game that delivers true long-term success. I’m grateful for the opportunity to bring everything I’ve learned during my 30+ year career to NOBLELIFT—a brand that aligns perfectly with my beliefs.”
Delivering on What’s Next
With Pedriana’s strategic vision, NOBLELIFT North America will continue to lead advancements in material handling solutions. Plans for 2025 include the launch of cutting-edge equipment and innovative programs designed to empower dealers, and end-users alike. NOBLELIFT North America invites dealers, OEM partners, and businesses to experience how its products and services are transforming operations across industries. To learn more about NOBLELIFT North America’s offerings, visit www.NOBLELIFTna.com or contact your local dealer.
About NOBLELIFT North America
NOBLELIFT® North America (www.nobleliftna.com) is a global leader in Lithium-iron technology. We manufacture a comprehensive range of high-performance, low-maintenance manual, electric, and internal combustion equipment with more than 200 categories and around 30 series of each product. Our products are designed to meet different application demands and are well accepted by our customers in more than 100 countries and regions in Europe, America, Asia, Africa and more. Products include: sit-down forklifts, rough terrain forklifts, narrow aisle forklifts, walkie-stackers, order pickers, electric pallet trucks, scissor lifts, tuggers/tow tractors, scrubbers, sweepers, automated guided vehicles (AGV’s), lift tables, manual pallet jacks and more. Noblelift® North America builds tough, durable products that deliver high productivity, low total cost of ownership, easy serviceability, and advanced ergonomic features; accompanied by outstanding parts, service, and training support.
For more information about our company and our products, visit www.nobleliftna.com or follow us on social media.
Des Plaines, Illinois – Loren Swakow, Managing Director of NOBLELIFT North America, has announced his retirement effective January 31st, 2025, leaving behind a legacy of unprecedented growth, innovation, and strong relationships built over nearly a decade at the helm of the company.
Swakow joined NOBLELIFT in October 2016, tasked with the challenge of bringing an unknown brand into the highly competitive American market. At the time, NOBLELIFT had no dealer network and minimal brand recognition. Over the course of eight years, Swakow's strategic leadership and expertise have led to remarkable success, driving average annual growth of 43%. Today, NOBLELIFT is supported by a professional dealer network spanning the entire country, with sales growth consistently outpacing the industry, a true testament to Swakow’s vision and determination.
Swakow’s leadership also played a key role in expanding NOBLELIFT's footprint into Canada by helping to establish NOBLELIFT Canada. His unwavering belief in the brand and dedication to fostering partnerships were critical to this growth.
Reflecting on his tenure, Swakow remarked, “It takes a great team to do what we did in eight years, and that’s what we have—A Great Team! I have always believed in fostering open communication, creating a culture of trust, empowering individuals, leveraging diverse perspectives, and prioritizing collaboration. We have all worked very hard, and I am proud of them all.”
Swakow’s career in the material handling industry began long before his time at NOBLELIFT. He co-founded a lift truck dealership with his brother, representing brands like Komatsu, Mitsubishi, Tailift, and TCM. After decades of success, they sold the dealership and related businesses in 2012. Swakow also played a key role in the wider industry, serving as a founding member and Presidentof the Chicago Industrial Truck Dealers Association and as President of MHEDA (Material Handling Equipment Distributors Association) in 2004. His strong belief in the power of networking was critical to the formation of NOBLELIFT North America.
"MHEDA has always been the optimal association for networking," Swakow stated. "The connections and insights I gained through MHEDA were invaluable as we built NOBLELIFT North America from the ground up."
The succession plan for Swakow's role has been set, with the announcement of his successor scheduled for January 7th, 2025. Through January, Swakow will collaborate closely with his successor to ensure a smooth handover of responsibilities and to share his insights and guidance.
“We are grateful for Loren’s remarkable contributions to NOBLELIFT North America,” stated Wendy Mao, CEO at Noblelift Intelligent Equipment Co., Ltd. “His vision and passion have been instrumental in shaping our success. We are committed to building on the strong foundation he has established.”
Swakow’s dedication to excellence, his ability to inspire trust, and his relentless pursuit of success will leave a lasting impact on the material handling industry. While the company expresses enormous gratitude for his leadership, it is clear that his legacy will continue to guide NOBLELIFT on its upward trajectory.
About NOBLELIFT North America
NOBLELIFT® North America (www.nobleliftna.com) is a global leader in Lithium-iron technology. We manufacture a comprehensive range of high-performance, low-maintenance manual, electric, and internal combustion equipment with more than 200 categories and around 30 series of each product. Our products are designed to meet different application demands and are well accepted by our customers in more than 100 countries and regions in Europe, America, Asia, Africa and more. Products include: sit-down forklifts, rough terrain forklifts, narrow aisle forklifts, walkie-stackers, order pickers, electric pallet trucks, scissor lifts, tuggers/tow tractors, scrubbers, sweepers, automated guided vehicles (AGV’s), lift tables, manual pallet jacks and more. Noblelift® North America builds tough, durable products that deliver high productivity, low total cost of ownership, easy serviceability, and advanced ergonomic features; accompanied by outstanding parts, service, and training support.
For more information about our company and our products, visit www.nobleliftna.com or follow us on social media.
Grocery shoppers in Australia will soon be able to zip in and out of the store in record time, bypassing the lines for cashiers or self-checkout kiosks altogether. They can just walk in, make their selections, and walk out with their bags in hand.
The secret to this express shopping experience is the “Caper Cart,” an AI (artificial intelligence)-powered smart trolley from San Francisco-based Instacart. In its first deployment in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region, the system is being tested by Coles Supermarkets, a food and beverage retailer with more than 1,800 grocery and liquor stores throughout the country.
To get started, customers simply grab a grocery cart-sized smart trolley at the store’s entrance and begin shopping, depositing the items directly into shopping bags as they go. The Caper Carts use onboard AI, cameras, and a built-in scale to automatically recognize items as they’re added to the trolley. Customers can watch their running total display on a screen—just as if they were shopping online—then swipe their credit card on the trolley’s payment terminal to complete the purchase.
“As the first retailer in Australia to introduce AI-powered trolleys, we’re excited to offer our customers a convenient and engaging way to shop in-store, helping them save time, manage their budget, and check out faster—or at their own pace,” Coles’ chief digital officer, Ben Hassing, said in a release. “The Coles smart trolley illustrates our omnichannel approach, leveraging digital capabilities to enrich the in-store experience.”
If you’re looking to make the packaging process more eco-friendly, the obvious place to start is with the box itself. And that’s exactly what Salt Lake City-based Packsize did when it made its initial foray into sustainable packaging back in 2002. That year, the company launched its first product, an innovative on-demand packaging system designed to reduce cardboard waste (and the need for filler material) by creating a right-sized box for each shipment.
Now the company is ready for the next step: greening up the glue.
According to Packsize, 300 billion boxes around the globe are sealed using 500,000 tons of hot-melt adhesive every year, contributing significantly to global emissions generated by the paper-based packaging industry. In a bid to cut those emissions, Packsize recently teamed up with Henkel Adhesive Technologies, a unit of the German chemical and consumer goods company Henkel, to launch Eco-Pax, a bio-based hot-melt adhesive designed to lower carbon footprints without sacrificing performance.
Eco-Pax is made from bio-based raw materials, forgoing traditional fossil-based ingredients. The adhesive will soon be used on more than 340 million boxes produced annually using Packsize’s right-sized packaging machines. That single change is expected to reduce Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi)-relevant greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions up to 32%, which is equivalent to the burning of 1.75 million pounds of coal, the partners said.
“Partnering with an innovative leader like Packsize to launch a bio-based adhesive solution is a big step toward building a more sustainable packaging value chain,” Kevin Heffernan, head of business development, North America, consumer goods adhesives, Henkel Adhesives Technologies, said in a release. “Together, we’re setting a new standard for sustainability in packaging while delivering the high-performance brands and consumers trust.”
MOORESTOWN, NJ (December 18, 2024) OPEX® Corporation, a global leader in Next Generation Automation providing solutions for document, mail, and warehouse automation, has been selected as a finalist in the 2024 NED (New Equipment Digest) Innovation Awards, which celebrates innovations in industrial technology, tools, and equipment that empower businesses to work faster, better, and more cost-effectively.
Introduced in March 2024, Sure Sort X with Xtract is a fully adaptable, turnkey offering designed to automate multiple manual tasks with a simple, one-touch solution.
The technology handles nearly 100% of customer-sortable items weighing up to 20 pounds and sorts items into a configurable array of mixed bin sizes and types, all while maintaining a consistent throughput of up to 2,100 items per hour.
“We are excited to once again receive this recognition, which honors our warehouse automation solutions that clients around the globe count on, as well as our culture of innovation,” said Alex Stevens, President, OPEX Warehouse Automation. “Sure Sort has long been a preferred warehouse automation solution for distribution centers and third-party logistics companies. Sure Sort X paired with Xtract has been developed to meet the evolving demands of the marketplace to deliver one integrated solution that automates the sort and order takeaway process.”
When Sure Sort X is paired with Xtract, totes are retrieved and their contents are transferred into shipping containers automatically, eliminating the need to manually sort and transfer boxes downstream. Xtract iBOTs can handle up to 200 extracted totes per hour.
The system can accommodate multiple market vertical workflows and greatly reduce the need for human interface. Installation can occur in as little as one week and return on investment can be realized within just two years.
For nearly five decades, OPEX has served as a trusted partner, collaborating closely with clients to develop customized, scalable solutions that transform how they conduct business.
About OPEX
OPEX Corporation is a global leader in Next Generation Automation, providing innovative, unique solutions for warehouse, document and mail automation. With headquarters in Moorestown, NJ, USA—and facilities in Pennsauken, NJ; Plano, TX; France; Germany; Switzerland; the United Kingdom; and Australia—OPEX has nearly 1,600 employees who are continuously reimagining and delivering customized, scalable technology solutions that solve the business challenges of today and in the future.