MassRobotics announced (May 18th) the release of what it claimed to be the “World’s First Open Source Autonomous Mobile Robot Interoperability Standards.” The MassRobotics AMR Interoperability Standard is designed to assist organizations in the deployment of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) from multiple vendors and have them work together in the same environment, better realizing the […]
ARC Advisory Group and DC Velocity magazine have closed our joint survey on the changes logistics operations have experienced in the upheaval of the Covid-19 operating environment in 2020; and the expectations these same executives have about their operating environment in 2021. The goal of this research effort is to capture measurable insights into the rapidly […]
Distribution is no longer a backwater of the economy, due in large part to the upheavals brought on by ecommerce. Today’s DCs and fulfillment centers are a major driver of employment growth and a highly visible proving ground for autonomous robots and other next-generation technologies. But there is a technology gap between gleaming new automated […]
I am interested in seeing how the warehouse robotics landscape evolves. It is becoming clear to me that heterogenous environments will c0ntinue to be a reality, and likely expand along with robot adoption. SVT Robotics is one of the first names I heard in this niche. And finally this week I learned more. During the […]
Boot Barn is a retail chain devoted to western and work-related footwear, apparel, and accessories. The company operates over 200 stores in the US and e-commerce websites consisting primarily of bootbarn.com, sheplers.com and countryoutfitter.com. The company also operates store support and distribution centers in California and Kansas. The Wichita, Kansas facility supports the company’s expanding […]
In December of 2019, the global grocery retailer Ahold Delhaize announced it was investing $480 million to transform and expand its US supply chain operations to support a strategy to transition the supply chain network into a fully-integrated, self-distribution model. My colleague Steve Banker published an informative article in 2020 about this extensive initiative Ahold […]
I recently had the opportunity to speak with Mike Khodl, VP of Differentiated Technologies at Dematic. We spoke mostly about achieving optimal warehouse performance. However, we discussed a number of key subtopics, beginning with the role of software intelligence in automated warehouses as a strategic value driver, and the critical role it plays in in […]
