SAP SE has devised new capabilities for workforce management. It has integrated the products of SuccessFactors, a developer of cloud-based human capital-management applications, and Fieldglass, a provider of vendor-management system software.
With robots like BigDog and the Terminator-like Atlas, Google's robotics efforts have been a smash success - if you measure by YouTube views and buzz. Amazon's work has been more behind scenes (apart from the widely discussed plans for delivery drones). But Amazon's energies in robotics have also had a more immediate payoff than Google's "moonshots." The differing philosophies illustrate how Amazon and Google have taken starkly different paths so far in the race to automate the physical world.
Automation is the buzzword of the moment when it comes to distribution. But many small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) feel that automation is cost prohibitive - that it's something for the big guys. An investment in automation, however, doesn't have to be an all or nothing proposition.
Warehouses and distribution centers are undergoing a quiet revolution in the adoption of advanced technologies. The warehouse is on the trajectory to implement many of the capabilities sought in the vision of the Industrial Internet of Things.
E-commerce has already transformed the world of warehousing and logistics, and according to Colliers International Group Inc., everything indicates that this process will continue.
Robot orders and shipments in North America set new records in the first nine months of 2015, according to Robotic Industries Association (RIA), the industry's trade group.
The holiday shopping season is upon us, and retailers are bulking up their supply chains to handle the expected surge in sales. Finding enough warehouse workers to fill the orders, however, could prove to be a tough challenge.
In a mock warehouse stocked with granola bars, breakfast cereal, sponges, and other household goods, a worker plucks items from shelves and places them in a plastic bin. The bin is set atop a small wheeled robot that follows the employee’s every step like a puppy.
Shippers are forever on the lookout for ways to reduce their transportation costs. Brooks Bentz, president of supply chain consulting with Transplace, offers his view of where the most promising opportunities lie.
