Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 5.02
December 28, 2020
…coming in at two years or less, with both leasing and buying options, although payback time varies based on labor rates and other factors. Sullivan says AutoGuide has looked at how robotics as a service or “RaaS” might work for paying for robotic lift trucks, but the model gets complicated and isn’t really needed given the attractive equipment leasing rates that exist and relatively short payback timeframes for the AMRs. Getting there Perry Ardito, general manager of the Warehouse & Automation Products Group for Mitsubishi Logisnext Americas, also expects strong growth for automated lift trucks, but many customers will phase…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 23.20
September 02, 2020
…lift trucks are smart, robotic assets, is lift truck leasing going to morph into a robotics-as-a-service (RaaS) arrangement? The short answer, say lift truck providers, is not overnight. Robotics adds predictability, and associated Cloud for lift truck fleets is already typically subscription-based, but it will take time for RaaS models to mature. One reason, says John Rosenberger, director of global telematics for The Raymond Corp., is that some earlier variants of automated lift trucks required guidance infrastructure such as reflectors or tags embedded in the floor. Such installations go against the grain of the as-a-service concept, he adds. “With an…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 6.73
June 23, 2020
…offers a number of benefits over purchasing or even leasing robots. For cash-strapped operations, RaaS lowers the investment cost necessary to begin a project by moving the cost from capital expenditure (capex) to operational expenditure (opex) budgets and allows for almost instant return on investment (ROI). For companies prioritizing innovation, RaaS represents a lower-risk option and a far easier implementation process, said ForwardX. “The opex versus capex tradeoff is now relatively common amongst RaaS providers, but the market now expects more than a simple financial twist,” declared Remy Glaisner, research director at IDC and lead for its Worldwide Robotics and…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 3.94
March 01, 2020
…installed cloud architectures can become obsolete quickly,” Stucker says. “Leasing compute power makes more sense for companies than buying hardware and hiring a team to manage it.” Goel, meanwhile, thinks that the next computing frontier in additive manufacturing will be pushing compute resources to the edge of the network, right down to the printers themselves. “The printers are increasing in size and in resolution, which means there is more data required to print,” Goel says. “Something needs to be in place at the point of manufacture to handle that data.” As build volumes increase, the data required to create an…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 5.69
November 22, 2019
…department.” Angel Trains, one of the U.K.’s leading train leasing companies, is using the Stratasys Rail Industry Solution to manufacture a range of direct replacement parts including passenger arm rests, grab handles and equipment covers. “Sourcing obsolete replacement parts for older train fleets within short timeframes and at reasonable costs is becoming increasingly difficult and presents several challenges for train operators,” said James Brown, data and performance engineer, Angel Trains. “Stratasys Rail Qualified Materials and production-grade Fortus machines enable us to design and manufacture replacement parts quickly and reliably that meet all required railway standards. As such, we’re able to…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 27.02
June 13, 2019
…mobile robots (AMRs), today launched its new mobile robot leasing program. Often refered to as ”robots as a service” (RaaS), leasing lets companies of any size—from small start-ups to multinational enterprises—deploy mobile robot solutions with low (or no) upfront costs and low monthly payments. This lowers financial barriers for investing in AMRs and gives customers a near immediate return on investment (ROI). “While sales of our mobile robots continue to thrive, many companies still prefer to lease their logistics equipment rather than make a capital investment upfront,” said Thomas Visti, CEO, MiR. “Leasing the robots becomes an operational expenditure instead,…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 4.02
May 15, 2019
…this issue, some automation and robotics makers could offer leasing options similar to those traditionally used by forklift suppliers. This finds the robotics manufacturers keeping a bevy of robots on-hand and ready to lease as needed, and for a price that’s lower than the equipment’s purchase price. This also benefits the robot manufacturer, which can lease the equipment out multiple times “and make significantly more than if it just sold them,” says Jensen. Data collection, execution & management Data collection technologies continue to hold an important place in today’s warehouses, where 86% of companies are using bar code scanners, 74%…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 13.56
January 29, 2019
The Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA), which represents the $1 trillion equipment finance sector, has revealed its Top 10 Equipment Acquisition Trends for 2019. Given U.S. businesses, nonprofits and government agencies will spend more than $1.8 trillion in capital goods or fixed business investment (including software) this year—financing a majority of those assets, according to ELFA—these trends impact a significant portion of the U.S. economy. ELFA president and CEO Ralph Petta said, “Equipment acquisition plays a critical role in driving the supply chains across all U.S. manufacturing and service sectors. Equipment leasing and financing provide the source of funding…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 9.04
December 10, 2018
Angel Trains, one of Britain’s train leasing companies, has collaborated with engineering consultancy ESG Rail, and 3D printing technology provider Stratasys, to produce four fully approved interior components using 3D printing. The components approved for service include an arm rest, grab handle and seat back table—all of which will now be trialed on in-service passenger trains in 2019. The aim of this collaboration is to leverage additive manufacturing to help address the issue of obsolete parts, reduce whole life rolling stock costs and enable vehicles to remain in passenger service for longer. This has the added potential to lower costs…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 7.54
October 08, 2018
…In this area, they are in direct competition with leasing companies and above all with the big tech players, who are already planning autonomous truck fleets. This ultimately puts them in direct competition with their current customers - a delicate challenge,” concludes Gerhard Nowak. Automation Will Reduce Logistics Costs Throughout the Supply Chain by 47% by 2030 Download the Study The Era of Digitized Trucking: Charting Your Transformation to a New Business Model About Strategy& Strategy& is a global team of practice-oriented strategists. Our goal is to always give our clients the decisive advantage. We have over 100 years of…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 35.63
July 16, 2018
…control and drive system integration, recently announced a new leasing and renting finance model for both its automated systems and collaborative robotics products. “One of the largest roadblocks many organizations face today is the ability to scale a changing workforce,” noted Stan Prutz, President & CEO, QDS Systems. “While some of those same leading companies are beginning to understand the value collaborative robots (cobots) can have on the future of their organizations, they often identify the initial investment of these cobots as quite cost prohibitive. Leasing and renting turn this entire notion on its head.” Cobots can generate process data…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 6.12
July 09, 2018
…industry experience. Potential users also may be able arrange leasing or a “robotics-as-a-service” payment model. “Historically, we could not find leasing companies that would service a lease, but the last two years, the market has exploded for leasing,” says Hayes. Kenco Innovation Labs’ Ehrlich says Kenco has not yet deployed AMRs, but certainly sees the potential and is studying the various types available, the workflows they can support, and additional factors such as vendor experience, integration mechanisms to host systems, and software functions in areas like order processing and batching, or fleet monitoring. “There is not one best robot out…
