The innovator’s dilemma is at play in the bin/tote segment of the AS/RS market – today’s proven solutions face the future prospects of fierce competition from a new set of technologies with a promising future.
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Author Archive for Clint Reiser
Earlier today I came across a CNBC article about a “secret” logistics summit hosted by Alphabet, the parent company of Google. The reported objective was to “explore potential business models and investment opportunities in the e-commerce space with a focus in logistics and fulfillment.” The article and the meeting that it discusses gives me the impression that logistics is being viewed as a game changing competitive differentiator. I like that! A few weeks ago, I […]
Read More →The US-China Trade Conference discussed implications of tariff increases, China production advantages, established supply chain capabilities, ASEAN alternatives, and strategies for mitigating any negative impacts from recent 301 tariff increases. Attendees and speakers valued their established capabilities in China and articulated the difficulties with replicating these capabilities within another an alternative nation in the region.
Read More →Micro-fulfillment center automation is poised for rapid growth. Customer proximity, throughput, responsiveness, and space utilization are critical factors for success. Innovative companies are addressing the micro-fulfillment challenge with cutting-edge technology and process innovations. Front and center is a number of automation technologies that can be categorized as a hybrid of shuttle system and robotic technologies.
Read More →The US Supreme Court Wayfair tax decision is likely to have second-hand effects on warehouse investments. We will see more facilities opened in states with a sales tax, as the tax benefits of remaining out of state have diminished, while fulfillment responsiveness becomes increasingly more important in today’s direct-to-consumer market.
Read More →As I conduct research on the global warehouse automation market, I hear statements such as “warehouse automation demand from Amazon and other e-commerce behemoths is draining automation providers of available resources and capacity.” Furthermore, Amazon purchased Kiva to capture essentially all of Kiva’s output capacity for its own use. So when I signed up for a tour of Amazon’s fulfillment center in Fall River, MA, I expected to witness large amounts of advanced automation. This […]
Read More →What is this inverted yield curve talk all about? Well, I know a little about it. A little bit. Does it mean that a recession is coming? No. Does it indicate that a recession might be coming? Maybe. A yield curve is an XY plot of the annualized yields of US Treasury securities at different maturities. Typically, the longer the maturity, the higher the yield. An inverted yield curve is the terminology for the reversal […]
Read More →Fulfillment repsonsiveness is the warehouse capability most expected to increase in importance over the next five years, according to the results from our best practices survey of logistics executives. A full 77 percent of respondents expect it to become even more important than it is in today’s fast-paced environment. I attribute this increasing importance to consumer expectations for next day delivery, driven the new “Amazon Effect.”
Read More →My search for warehouse automation patents uncovered an unlikely assignee, Google. It turns out that Google was awarded a patent in May 2019 for “Dynamically Maintaining a Map of a Fleet of Robotic Devices in an Environment to Facilitate Robotics Action.” The contents of the patent were geared toward use in the warehouse and features the ability to predict future locations of members of a robotics fleet to optimize collaborative tasks.
Read More →It happens about as frequently as snow in San Diego, but this week there were two confirmed tornados that touched down on Cape Cod. Cape Cod is a magnet for summer vacationers from the Northeast and is familiar to others that have seen the movies Summer Catch and Jaws. It conjures up images of summer baseball, sandy beaches, and traffic jams. But this year’s tourist season included this out of character weather event. The National […]
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