In our continuing series of discussions with top supply-chain executives, Mitch Smith talks about how the economy is affecting the material handling market and how conveyors and robotics can complement each other.
David Maloney has been a journalist for more than 35 years and is currently the group editorial director for DC Velocity and Supply Chain Quarterly magazines. In this role, he is responsible for the editorial content of both brands of Agile Business Media. Dave joined DC Velocity in April of 2004. Prior to that, he was a senior editor for Modern Materials Handling magazine. Dave also has extensive experience as a broadcast journalist. Before writing for supply chain publications, he was a journalist, television producer and director in Pittsburgh. Dave combines a background of reporting on logistics with his video production experience to bring new opportunities to DC Velocity readers, including web videos highlighting top distribution and logistics facilities, webcasts and other cross-media projects. He continues to live and work in the Pittsburgh area.
Mitch Smith is the chief revenue officer at Hytrol, a manufacturer of conveyors and sortation systems. He joined Hytrol in 2016 and led engineering groups before taking on his current role. Smith previously worked at Bastian Solutions for 23 years, designing and implementing material handling projects globally and serving as the president of the Hytrol Integration Partner Network. He holds a B.S. in industrial engineering and technology management from Morehead State University in Kentucky.
Q: How would you describe the current state of the conveyor and sortation industry?
A: Currently, Hytrol has a strong backlog going into 2023. While our integration partner network remains optimistic for the year, several industry associates and economists believe a slowdown is imminent. Hytrol is likewise forecasting a deceleration in business for the 2023 calendar year.
Q: Will an economic downturn affect industry growth and innovation?
A: Generally, an economic downturn does slow growth with regard to innovation as companies strive to conserve profits for core product and business offerings. That said, a slowdown in business gives technology-focused companies a chance to accelerate past those that stop developing new products and services.
Q: How has your background as an engineer helped you in your current role at Hytrol?
A: The companies that Hytrol serves are technology- or solution-oriented in nature. Having a technical acumen allows me to help provide immediate assistance for solving challenges. To be most effective, we cannot just sell and produce conveyors; we need to solve customers’ business needs. That requires an understanding of controls, software interfaces, and a variety of other industrial automation products.
Q: Hytrol goes to market through its dealer network, and you worked for many years at one of Hytrol’s integration partners. How has this model served the industry and its customers?
A: Hytrol goes to market exclusively through an integration partner network. This strategy has proved to be successful for more than 75 years. Hytrol’s partners are industry leaders in material handling automation and compete daily with international OEMs around the globe. The primary markets that Hytrol’s partners serve include warehouse and distribution, e-commerce, parcel and post markets, food and beverage, pharmaceutical, and a variety of manufacturing operations, to mention a few.
When I was working as an integrator, I knew Hytrol was our preferred equipment provider. Hytrol is the only company in the market that has never sold its products directly to an end-user. We are extremely loyal to our integration partners and that builds trust.
Q: How can conveyors and robotics complement, rather than compete with, each other?
A: Each type of equipment is designed for a specific and unique purpose. Some forms of equipment can have cross-functional or multiple uses, but one solution may excel over another. As an example, an AMR [autonomous mobile robot] may be functional for transporting and sorting low to medium volumes of products, but it will never compete with transporting or sorting high volumes of products. An AMR is simply not fast enough and it may be costly.
Likewise, each specific form of technology has a tradeoff in functionality versus price offering. That said, there is no single solution that fits all challenges. I believe conveyors and robotics will continue to complement each other for many years to come. In fact, when designed effectively, robots working together with conveyors provide the optimal benefit to the user. Robotic palletizing is a wonderful example of how the two technologies work well together.
Q: What should the industry do to find the technicians needed to install and maintain automated systems?
A: There are a couple of industry associations focused on training programs for automation technicians. This is critical as more material handling automation is being implemented throughout the world. Hytrol is working with our industry to develop a more broadly focused program while also offering training at our facilities. We’re focused on attracting talent that enjoys working with their hands from trade and vocational schools.
Supply chain planning (SCP) leaders working on transformation efforts are focused on two major high-impact technology trends, including composite AI and supply chain data governance, according to a study from Gartner, Inc.
"SCP leaders are in the process of developing transformation roadmaps that will prioritize delivering on advanced decision intelligence and automated decision making," Eva Dawkins, Director Analyst in Gartner’s Supply Chain practice, said in a release. "Composite AI, which is the combined application of different AI techniques to improve learning efficiency, will drive the optimization and automation of many planning activities at scale, while supply chain data governance is the foundational key for digital transformation.”
Their pursuit of those roadmaps is often complicated by frequent disruptions and the rapid pace of technological innovation. But Gartner says those leaders can accelerate the realized value of technology investments by facilitating a shift from IT-led to business-led digital leadership, with SCP leaders taking ownership of multidisciplinary teams to advance business operations, channels and products.
“A sound data governance strategy supports advanced technologies, such as composite AI, while also facilitating collaboration throughout the supply chain technology ecosystem,” said Dawkins. “Without attention to data governance, SCP leaders will likely struggle to achieve their expected ROI on key technology investments.”
The British logistics robot vendor Dexory this week said it has raised $80 million in venture funding to support an expansion of its artificial intelligence (AI) powered features, grow its global team, and accelerate the deployment of its autonomous robots.
A “significant focus” continues to be on expanding across the U.S. market, where Dexory is live with customers in seven states and last month opened a U.S. headquarters in Nashville. The Series B will also enhance development and production facilities at its UK headquarters, the firm said.
The “series B” funding round was led by DTCP, with participation from Latitude Ventures, Wave-X and Bootstrap Europe, along with existing investors Atomico, Lakestar, Capnamic, and several angels from the logistics industry. With the close of the round, Dexory has now raised $120 million over the past three years.
Dexory says its product, DexoryView, provides real-time visibility across warehouses of any size through its autonomous mobile robots and AI. The rolling bots use sensor and image data and continuous data collection to perform rapid warehouse scans and create digital twins of warehouse spaces, allowing for optimized performance and future scenario simulations.
Originally announced in September, the move will allow Deutsche Bahn to “fully focus on restructuring the rail infrastructure in Germany and providing climate-friendly passenger and freight transport operations in Germany and Europe,” Werner Gatzer, Chairman of the DB Supervisory Board, said in a release.
For its purchase price, DSV gains an organization with around 72,700 employees at over 1,850 locations. The new owner says it plans to investment around one billion euros in coming years to promote additional growth in German operations. Together, DSV and Schenker will have a combined workforce of approximately 147,000 employees in more than 90 countries, earning pro forma revenue of approximately $43.3 billion (based on 2023 numbers), DSV said.
After removing that unit, Deutsche Bahn retains its core business called the “Systemverbund Bahn,” which includes passenger transport activities in Germany, rail freight activities, operational service units, and railroad infrastructure companies. The DB Group, headquartered in Berlin, employs around 340,000 people.
“We have set clear goals to structurally modernize Deutsche Bahn in the areas of infrastructure, operations and profitability and focus on the core business. The proceeds from the sale will significantly reduce DB’s debt and thus make an important contribution to the financial stability of the DB Group. At the same time, DB Schenker will gain a strong strategic owner in DSV,” Deutsche Bahn CEO Richard Lutz said in a release.
Transportation industry veteran Anne Reinke will become president & CEO of trade group the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) at the end of the year, stepping into the position from her previous post leading third party logistics (3PL) trade group the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), both organizations said today.
Meanwhile, TIA today announced that insider Christopher Burroughs would fill Reinke’s shoes as president & CEO. Burroughs has been with TIA for 13 years, most recently as its vice president of Government Affairs for the past six years, during which time he oversaw all legislative and regulatory efforts before Congress and the federal agencies.
Before her four years leading TIA, Reinke spent two years as Deputy Assistant Secretary with the U.S. Department of Transportation and 16 years with CSX Corporation.
Serious inland flooding and widespread power outages are likely to sweep across Florida and other Southeast states in coming days with the arrival of Hurricane Helene, which is now predicted to make landfall Thursday evening along Florida’s northwest coast as a major hurricane, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
While the most catastrophic landfall impact is expected in the sparsely-population Big Bend area of Florida, it’s not only sea-front cities that are at risk. Since Helene is an “unusually large storm,” its flooding, rainfall, and high winds won’t be limited only to the Gulf Coast, but are expected to travel hundreds of miles inland, the weather service said. Heavy rainfall is expected to begin in the region even before the storm comes ashore, and the wet conditions will continue to move northward into the southern Appalachians region through Friday, dumping storm total rainfall amounts of up to 18 inches. Specifically, the major flood risk includes the urban areas around Tallahassee, metro Atlanta, and western North Carolina.
In addition to its human toll, the storm could exert serious business impacts, according to the supply chain mapping and monitoring firm Resilinc. Those will be largely triggered by significant flooding, which could halt oil operations, force mandatory evacuations, restrict ports, and disrupt air traffic.
While the storm’s track is currently forecast to miss the critical ports of Miami and New Orleans, it could still hurt operations throughout the Southeast agricultural belt, which produces products like soybeans, cotton, peanuts, corn, and tobacco, according to Everstream Analytics.
That widespread footprint could also hinder supply chain and logistics flows along stretches of interstate highways I-10 and I-75 and on regional rail lines operated by Norfolk Southern and CSX. And Hurricane Helene could also likely impact business operations by unleashing power outages, deep flooding, and wind damage in northern Florida portions of Georgia, Everstream Analytics said.
Before the storm had even touched Florida soil, recovery efforts were already being launched by humanitarian aid group the American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN). In a statement on Wednesday, the group said it is urging residents in the storm's path across the Southeast to heed evacuation notices and safety advisories, and reminding members of the logistics community that their post-storm help could be needed soon. The group will continue to update its Disaster Micro-Site with Hurricane Helene resources and with requests for donated logistics assistance, most of which will start arriving within 24 to 72 hours after the storm’s initial landfall, ALAN said.