18 DC VELOCITY APRIL 2019 www.dcvelocity.com
newsworthy
Raj Subramaniam took over
as president and chief operating officer (COO) of FedEx
Corp. on March 1, succeeding
David J. Bronczek, who retired
as president and COO and
from the company’s board,
the company said. The move
follows Subramaniam’s Jan. 1
promotion to president and CEO of FedEx Express, a position he
will retain; he will also serve as co-president and co-CEO of FedEx
Services, the Memphis, Tenn.-based transportation and logistics
giant said.
Subramaniam has been with FedEx for more than 27 years in
various executive-level positions, according to FedEx. He began his
career in Memphis and subsequently moved to Hong Kong, where
he oversaw marketing and customer service for the company’s Asia
Pacific region. Subramaniam then took over as president of FedEx
Express in Canada before returning to the U.S.
In other news last month, FedEx said it was teaming up
with Segway scooter creator Dean Kamen, founder of Deka
Development & Research Corp., to develop an autonomous
mobile robot to help retailers step up local delivery service.
The FedEx Same-Day Bot is engineered to travel both on sidewalks and along roadsides, delivering smaller shipments to customers’ homes and businesses. The zero-emission battery-powered
bot features pedestrian-safe technology from Deka’s iBot as well
as lidar scanning technology and multiple cameras, allowing it to
be aware of its surroundings, developers said. Those features are
coupled with machine-learning algorithms that enable the bot to
detect and avoid obstacles, plot a safe path, and follow road and
safety rules, FedEx said.
Set to be tested in select markets this summer, the bot will help
retailers respond to increasing demand for fast deliveries, allowing
them to accept orders from nearby customers for same-day delivery, the company said. FedEx said it is collaborating with retailers
such as AutoZone, Lowe’s, Pizza Hut, Target, Walgreens, and
Walmart to determine their autonomous delivery needs.
FedEx names Subramaniam
president and COO; unveils
same-day delivery robot
Rehrig Pacific Co., a supplier of plastic bins,
crates, and pallets, has chosen Orbcomm
Inc., a provider of machine-to-machine
and Internet of Things solutions, to provide analytics services to power Rehrig’s
Vision pallet-tracking software suite. …
Scanlog, a Swedish logistics company specializing in international transportation
solutions, will integrate ShipChain’s block-chain-based track and trace platform into
its global logistics network. ShipChain’s
technology will monitor up to a dozen
Scanlog trucks by the end of the year.
… Easyship’s 40,000-plus retail and e-tail
customers are gaining improved access
to cross-border e-commerce solutions in
Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, and
Australia through the cloud-based shipping platform provider’s new global partnership with Seko Logistics. … In a move
that will expand both companies’ global footprints, aerospace logistics service
providers B&H Worldwide and Compass
Forwarding have signed a memorandum
of understanding to extend their existing
partnership. U.S.-based Compass provides
coverage in six locations between its
American, Brazilian, and Middle Eastern
operations. U.K.-based B&H has nine strategically located offices in Europe, Asia,
and the Americas. … Prestage Foods,
a producer of pork and poultry products, has selected Cloud Logistics by
E2open’s TMS to manage transportation
and increase visibility into orders. … I.D.
Systems Inc., a provider of enterprise
asset management and Industrial Internet
of Things technology, has signed a mul-tiyear fleet management system agreement covering several thousand units
with material handling solutions specialist
Jungheinrich AG. … SeaCube Container
Leasing International has been awarded
contracts for the leasing and transportation of intermodal container equipment
by the U.S. Transportation Command.
… Kalmar, a provider of cargo-handling
solutions to ports, terminals, and DCs,
has signed a deal to supply six Kalmar
zero-emission rubber-tired gantry cranes
to South Florida Container Terminal LLC.
alliances
In the March issue of DC VELOCITY (Newsmakers, p. 22), S&H
Systems was incorrectly identified as a material handling
equipment manufacturer. The company is a systems integrator. DC VELOCITY regrets the error.
oversight
