Technology

By Sara Pearson Specter Today’s robotic solutions—both fixed and autonomous mobile robots—are increasingly being built as a platform upon which application-specific solutions can be built to handle unique manufacturing and warehousing tasks. But, in today’s highly dynamic, ever changing world, needs and strategies may likewise shift. Fortunately, due to their inherent flexibility and versatility, robots can be adapted to accommodate ...

By Christian Dow For high-end grocery chains seeking to provide a premium customer experience, it’s always a bad thing when customers are outnumbered in the aisles by fast-moving order pickers who often outcompete them for the same product inventory. Whether those order pickers are representing third parties such as Instacart or Shipt or are store employees hired during the pandemic ...

By John Paxton, CEO, MHI The pandemic has thrown many challenges into supply chains, and rarely have leaders faced such complex and changing conditions. What COVID-19 revealed is that many supply chains grew brittle in their decades-long quest for cost-savings while others that invested in emerging technologies and risk-planning proved to be agile and resilient enough to survive, and even ...

Proactive adoption strategies for robotics, automation and intelligent transportation management solutions for the supply chain providing greater operational resilience. By Mary Lou Jay There’s little downtime these days at companies that provide robotics, automation and intelligent transportation management solutions for the supply chain. Since the pandemic hit, they’ve been flooded with requests for their products. David Clear, chief revenue officer ...

Key figures from the International Federation of Robotics’ World Robotics Report 2020 and the 2020 MHI Annual Industry Report highlight robotics from a regional and global perspective and from a supply chain standpoint. Read More…

Can you imagine a future where technology allows your employees to manipulate machines with their brain waves instead of manual controls or a keyboard? It might not be as far off as you think. By David Coburn Emerging technologies always draw their fair share of naysayers and skeptics—no doubt there were those who sniffed when the first powered forklift was ...

Companies look to innovative solutions as pressure intensifies in the last mile of deliveries. Automation and robotics are receiving heavy investment and research, and offer some of the most promising possibilities. By Tom Gresham Increasing efficiency in the final mile of delivery has become an obsession in the supply chain logistics field as companies explore an array of solutions to ...

The trends in warehousing are based on new technologies, digitalization and IoT and Industry 4.0—with a high degree of automation and robotization. By Tone Lerher The emerging trends in warehousing—and in a variety of industries—are based on the development of new technologies, digitalization, the concept of the Internet of Things and the concept of Industry 4.0 with the high degree ...

The need for social distancing inside warehouses and distribution centers to prevent COVID-19 exposure is expected to persist until after widespread vaccination. Robotics can help. Using robotic systems for heavy or repetitive manual labor, especially in small enclosed spaces, means workers are farther apart and fewer workers are needed in these tight spaces, said Volker Schmitz, Ph.D., president and CEO ...

Staffing warehouses and distribution centers has been an especially difficult task in recent years, with historically low unemployment rates and growing wages fueling stiff competition for talented workers. Now, with COVID-19 and social distancing added to the mix, that task has become more challenging and complex than ever before, forcing many companies to embrace emerging technologies sooner than they had ...