Looking at the calendar, I am mildly late with this type of column, which will endeavor to take a peek into 2020, as we are roughly one week into not only a new year, but also a new decade. But better late than never, is the working theme I will have to go with, in this case. And it stands to reason that it is not too late still. Where to begin? There are many areas that could lead the list, but let’s go with the economic outlook. Taking a look back at 2019, it goes without saying that it…
Roughly one month after receiving the United States government’s first full Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Part 135 Standard certification, which is required to operate a drone airline, Atlanta-based transportation and logistics bellwether UPS said today that, in a partnership with CVS Health Corporation, a subsidiary of CVS Pharmacy, it has competed the first revenue-generating drone delivery of a medical prescription from a CVS pharmacy directly to a consumer’s home on November 1. In October, UPS and CVS said they agreed to develop a variety of drone delivery use cases, including business-to-consumer operating models. And they added that he program will…
Earlier today, Atlanta-based transportation and logistics bellwether UPS said it received the United States government’s first full Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Part 135 Standard certification, which is required to operate a drone airline. This follows a July announcement it made, when UPS formally launched its new drone subsidiary, UPS Flight Forward, small drone delivery operation initially within the hospital network space. UPS said in July that this offering serves as a continuation of the partnership between UPS and drone startup Matternet operating special drone healthcare deliveries of medical samples under FAA Part 107 rules at Raleigh, N.C.-based WakeMed hospitals, transporting…
Earlier this week, Ottawa-based Shopify, a multi-channel commerce platform, announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire Waltham, Mass.-based 6 River Systems, a provider of collaborative warehouse solutions. The purchase price is $450 million, and the acquisition is expected to be made official in the fourth quarter. More than 130 6 River Systems employees will join Shopify as part of the acquisition. Established in 2015, 6 River Systems was founded by Jerome Dubois, Rylan Hamilton, and Chris Caciopppo, with Dubois and Hamilton previously serving on the executive team of Amazon Robotics, which was formerly known as Kiva Systems. 6…
While the changes occurring within the supply chain are, at times, in tandem with the rapid growth of e-commerce and technology, how companies approach things like their distribution networks and industrial building design is fundamentally changing. That was a key thesis of a new research report issued today by Chicago-based commercial real estate broker JLL. The report, entitled “Human Centric Design,” explained that “distribution center design is evolving, in large part to address the critical need companies are challenged with today-attracting and good people.” Bringing good people into the fold is clearly paramount for employers, but, as JLL, observes, in…
Warehouse of the Future The increase in sophisticated technologies and attributes needed to help meet growing e-commerce demand and warehouse throughput continues to rise, with no signs of slowing down, according to a research report issued this week by Chicago-based commercial real estate firm JLL. The 2 page report, entitled “Warehouse of the Future: 9 attributes that are redefining industrial properties today,” observes how as industrial vacancies continue to fall alongside rising operating costs and shrinking availabilities of prime land parcels, the continued growth of e-commerce, last-mile delivery, and warehousing are collectively driving significant demand for industrial properties, as well…
As increasing e-commerce activity continues to be the “new normal when it comes to emerging supply chain strategies and planning, one thing that comes with that premise, which cannot be overlooked, is the need for more United States-based warehouse and distribution center workers to keep up with growing demand. That is the main takeaway in research published today by Los Angeles-based industrial real estate firm CBRE. Entitled “The U.S. Supply Chain Quandary: Finding Enough Workers for an Expanding I&L Sector,” the report’s working thesis indicates that the current e-commerce environment is forecasted to create demand for an additional 452,000 warehouse…
XPO Logistics, a Greenwich, Conn.-based global provider of freight transportation and logistics services and global food and drink company Nestlé announced today they have partnered up to co-create a United Kingdom-based distribution center (DC), which is expected to be completed in 2020. The 638,000 square-foot DC, which XPO described as “a warehouse of the future,” is located at the new SEGRO East Midlands Gateway Logistics Park in Leicestershire and will mainly be occupied by Nestlé for its consumer packaged goods, such as Kit Kat, Maggi, and Nescafe. The DC will also be used as a testbed environment for XPO technology…
The advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology has been making inroads over the years in various sectors. But a joint report issued this week by global express and logistics services provider DHL and technology powerhouse IBM takes an in-depth look into the impact of AI within logistics. The report, entitled “Artificial Intelligence in Logistics: A collaborative report by DHL and IBM on implications and use cases for the logistics industry,” examines different ways in which AI can be used for augmenting logistics operations, especially now at a time when leveraging AI is more accessible and affordable than it has been…
Global freight transportation and logistics services provider XPO Logistics has rolled out a new cloud-based mobile software platform. Entitled WMx, XPO said this offering, which is geared towards mobile devices, paves the way for the “rapid development and integration of automation and robotics” that is much lower than typical start-up times. XPO said that WMx serves as a single solution for warehouse integration by meshing various supply chain components into a wide ranging application with various customer benefits, including: unified order management, maximum configurability, intuitive dashboard tools analyzing trends and guiding decision-making, and multilingual capabilities that synchronize XPO’s global warehouse…
When it comes to the state of what really feels like the never-ending truck driver shortage, everything is really out there for all to see as plain as day. We talk and read and hear about how about the projected shortfalls in the difference between the actual number of drivers out there and what is actually needed. And we talk about other things, too, like the aging truck driver workforce, potential drivers not wanting to be away from home for long stretches and, of course, the millennial effect, in which they would rather be doing something “cooler” than driving a…
While widespread usage of self-driving autonomous trucks is not upon us yet, it appears that things are now officially in the very early innings. And the reason is….(Budweiser) beer. OK, well, that is stretching it but maybe I have your attention now, grin. And the main party responsible for this development is the ubiquitous ride-sharing service Uber. Uber’s recent acquisition of self-driving truck startup company Otto last August turned a lot of heads in the trucking and logistics sectors, and this week it officially began to do the same over the road, hauling more than 50,000 cans, 51,744 to be…
