warehouse automation

Warehouse automation: What’s in store for 2021

Among the select group of people who had a banner year in 2020 are founders of warehouse robotics startups, who saw venture capital investment in warehouse automation shoot up more than 50%. 

The money flow coincided with a massive surge in e-commerce orders and a shift toward smaller batch items (people ordering one pair of socks or a six-pack of baby formula).

These trends are sending manufacturers and brands on a frantic hunt for ways to bring down the costs associated with warehouse tasks —...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/warehouse-automation-whats-in-store-for-2021

Prologis Research says automation offsets only part of warehouse shortage

Prologis Research sees warehouse automation as partial offset to growing need for logistics space

The second installment in a two-part series on the benefits of automated logistics warehouses was published Wednesday by the world’s top logistics real estate investment trust, San Francisco-based Prologis Inc. (NYSE: PLD).

The company’s research team said the key hurdles facing the logistics real estate sector have been finding skilled labor and desirable locations for new sites. Additionally, limited last-mile delivery capacity is presenting further headwinds as parcel companies are turning...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/prologis-research-says-automation-offsets-only-part-of-warehouse-shortage

5 warehousing sustainability trends for 2021

Warehousing trends include sustainability and automation.

Warehouse and logistics companies are trying to shore up their sustainability efforts as they struggle to change their inventory strategies from just in time to just in case during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here are five trends in sustainable warehousing to look for when the dust settles.

Automation

As warehouse labor gets progressively tougher to find and the pandemic continues, warehouses are shifting to technology and automation to do some of the work. Wearable devices, such as those provided by...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/5-warehousing-sustainability-trends-for-2021

Hot trend in cold storage: Spec-space real estate (with video)

Building speculative space in traditional industrial warehousing has been a long-standing market segment, but it’s relatively new in the cold storage world and both real estate developers and design-build companies are positioning to take advantage.

“I will tell you that the amount of interest from developers and other investors – even developers that were in something other than industrial real estate – [they] see the allure of cold storage and want to get in and build spec freezer/cooler...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/hot-trend-in-cold-storage-spec-space-real-estate-with-video

Sarcos raises $40M for industrial ‘wearable robots’

Sarcos wearable robots
  • The industrial robotics company Sarcos Robotics has raised $40 million to commercialize a wearable robot aimed at boosting worker safety and productivity.
  • The full-body robot gives new meaning to ‘active wear,’ can lift up to 200 pounds

Technologists love the natural world. Earlier this week, FreightWaves reported on a route optimization platform that takes as its template the foraging behavior of honeybees.

Now comes news that a robotics company that takes its cues from the exoskeletons of...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/sarcos-raises-40m-to-advance-wearable-robots

Warehouse picking robot startup XYZ raises $17 million

Warehouse picking robot startup raises $17 million (Photo: XYZ Robotics)

Massachusetts-based logistics robot startup XYZ Robotics has raised a Series A+ round of $17 million, led by Source Code Capital, Gaorong Capital and Morningside Capital. XYZ, which develops picking robots for warehouses, said the financing would help scale up research and development and bolster its operational capabilities. This funding round brings the company’s total investment to $27 million.

E-commerce has steadily risen in prominence within the retail market, eating into the market share...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/warehouse-picking-robot-startup-xyz-raises-17-million

FreightCasts Weekly Recap: (7/27-8/2)

You can find every FreightWaves podcast conveniently in one feed via the free FreightCasts channel on freightwaves.com/podcasts, iTunes, Spotify or wherever podcasts are found. 

Subscribe to FreightCasts and never miss a FreightWaves podcast.

The full list of FreightWaves media can be streamed via the FreightWavesTV app available for your smartphone, Apple TV, Roku and Fire TV. The app is free on all platforms.

Users of the FreightWavesTV app also have access to a full lineup of FreightWavesTV...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/freightcasts-weekly-recap-7-27-8-2

Mobile robots feed warehouse demand for adaptability

GreyOrange warehouse robots
  • The pandemic and e-commerce demand are driving adoption of autonomous warehouse solutions
  • “The ability to flex up and flex down depending on what is really happening in the real world is going to be the wave of the future.”

The pandemic and seemingly unstoppable e-commerce surge is accelerating robotic takeover of the warehouse space, as brands seize on flexible automated solutions to address a variety of marketplace challenges.

“You can’t meet the demands of modern commerce with systems that...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/mobile-robots-feed-warehouse-demand-for-adaptability

This autonomous forklift isn’t afraid to ask for help

Third Wave forklift

Robotics startup Third Wave Automation has raised $15 million in Series A funding to scale its technology aimed at bringing shared autonomy to forklifts.

Innovation Endeavors led the round, joined by seed investors from Eclipse Ventures, Homebrew VC and Toyota AI Ventures. Heartland VC also joined as a new Series A investor. 

Third Wave’s approach means the forklifts the company modifies operate autonomously most of the time, but when they encounter a new situation, they signal a need for human...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/this-autonomous-robot-isn

Warehousing of the future automated, on demand and data conscious

The COVID-19 outbreak has doused global supply chains in cold water, with disruptions of declining supply followed by demand contraction forcing stakeholders to revise their logistics strategies, including sourcing, inventory management and distribution. 

Luckily supply chains had gradually been shoring up to change over the last decade, brought about by the rise of e-commerce that now takes up a significant chunk of the retail market — a chunk that has only grown bigger during the COVID-19...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/warehousing-of-the-future-automated,-on-demand-and-data-conscious

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