Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

INBOUND

Toyota Material Handling Europe hosts logistics design contest

Challenge seeks solutions that minimize waste and use resources with little impact on the environment.

Toyota Material Handling Europe (TMHE) is looking for ideas on how to improve the “circular economy”—the reduction of material use by recycling—through logistics. To find the very best ideas, TMHE is again hosting the Toyota Logistic Design Competition, open to undergraduate and graduate students in university programs worldwide.

Specifically, this year’s participants are challenged to develop solutions for the future that improve lives, minimize waste, and use resources in a way that has little impact on the environment. 


This is the third year the Europe-based competition is welcoming contestants from the United States. Two U.S. students received top awards in 2022: an entry from the University of Houston for a highly maneuverable delivery cart for dense urban environments, and one from California State University for a modular drone fleet for warehouses and “micro hubs” that could streamline the process of handling and organizing goods.

Toyota has pledged a cash prize of 5,500 euros ($6,000) to the winners in each of three categories: 

  • Vehicle/transportation and industrial/product design: New ideas and designs for means of transport and products that promote circularity and sustainability in the logistics and mobility area.
  • User interface, user experience design, and service design: New ideas for apps, digital services, and Internet of Things solutions that promote circularity and sustainability in the logistics and mobility area.
  • Business innovation design: New ideas for revenue streams, business cases, and completely new business proposals that promote circularity and sustainability in the mobility and logistics area.
The deadline for submitting entries is December 18. Complete details can be found at https://tldc.toyota-forklifts.eu/.

The Latest

More Stories

people working in an office together

Business optimism is up as inflation fades

Global business leaders are feeling optimistic, according to a report from business data analytics firm Dun & Bradstreet showing a 7% increase in business optimism quarter-over-quarter, driven by gradual easing of inflation rates and favorable borrowing conditions.

However, that trend is counterbalanced by economic uncertainty driven by geopolitics, which is prompting many companies to diversity their supply chains, Dun & Bradstreet said in its “Q4 2024 Global Business Optimism Insights” report, which was based on research conducted during the third quarter.

Keep ReadingShow less

Featured

chart of economic conditions

Global economy continues to slow, GEP index shows

The level of global supply chain spare capacity in September rose to its highest level since July 2023, revealing a trend of economic weakness, according to a monthly report from market data provider S&P Global and New Jersey-based enterprise software vendor GES.

The firms’ “GEP Global Supply Chain Volatility Index” tracks demand conditions, shortages, transportation costs, inventories, and backlogs based on a monthly survey of 27,000 businesses.

Keep ReadingShow less
warehouse worker driving forklift

Total Distribution acquires REO Processing for latest expansion

The third-party logistics service provider (3PL) Total Distribution Inc. (TDI) is continuing to grow through acquisitions, announcing today that it has bought REO Processing & REO Logistics.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but REO Processing & REO Logistics is headquartered in West Virginia with 10 facilities across West Virginia in Parkersburg, Vienna, Huntington, Kenova, and Nitro as well as in Atlanta, GA.

Keep ReadingShow less
wabash insulated reefer trailer

Wabash project will build solar panels into refrigerated trailers

The freight equipment original equipment manufacturer (OEM) Wabash will use a federal grant to launch a project with the University of Delaware that will save electricity by incorporating lightweight solar panels into refrigerated trailers and truck bodies, the Indiana company said today.

Funding for the design will come from a $1.6 million grant award from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) to support a research and development project aimed at decarbonizing the commercial transportation industry.

Keep ReadingShow less
warehouse worker using mobile computer

Federal regulators delay pharma track and trace rule

Pharmaceutical groups are breathing a sigh of relief today after federal regulators granted many of them more time to come into compliance with strict track and trace rules required by the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA).

The initiative is intended to create an electronic track and trace network that allows the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to pinpoint the location of any drug throughout the supply chain and drill down to the individual package level, thus improving safety compliance and reducing counterfeiting. To enable that practice, third-party companies like TraceLink have built networks to manage the massive amounts of data required.

Keep ReadingShow less