newsworthy
Llamasoft, a provider of enterprise supply chain design
and decision-making solutions, has partnered with JD
Logistics, the logistics arm of Chinese retailer JD.com.
Through the partnership, JD Logistics will exclusively
deliver Llamasoft’s solutions as part of its existing service
and technology offerings to select manufacturers, retail-
ers, and logistics service providers in China. … Freight for-
warder and logistics service provider Delmar International
has chosen 3Gtms’s 3G-TM transportation management
system for use in its trucking and ground-services busi-
ness unit. … Specialty lighting retailer Lamps Plus has
implemented Manhattan Associates’ Manhattan Point
of Sale solution across its entire chain of lighting and
home-furnishings stores in Arizona, California, Colorado,
Nevada, Oregon, Texas, and Washington. … Kion North
America Corp. has appointed Van Wall Lift to its dealer
network. Van Wall Lift offers new and used forklifts,
parts, and service as well as long- and short-term rentals.
… Kingsgate Logistics Services has gone live with Trucker
Tools LLC’s “Book-it-Now,” a new feature of the compa-
ny’s cloud-based software platform that fully automates
the process of booking truckload shipments with carriers.
… Automation integrator SilMan Industries has entered
into an agreement with Fetch Robotics to provide auton-
omous mobile robots (AMRs) and associated systems and
equipment to clients. … Resilinc, a provider of cognitive
supply chain monitoring and mitigation solutions, and
Flex, a global design and manufacturing company, have
announced a partnership that will deliver Resilinc’s
next-generation supply chain monitoring, analytics, and
collaboration applications to Flex. … Bangor, Maine-
based trucking company Pottle’s Transportation LLC has
selected Orbcomm Inc., a global provider of machine-
to-machine and Internet of Things solutions, to provide
its latest trailer-monitoring solution for the trucker’s dry
van fleet. … Commercial electric truck provider BYD has
selected Hudson County Motors as its fully authorized
truck dealer for Northern New Jersey. … The Walmart
Food Safety Collaboration Council (WFSCC) has chosen
Varcode, a maker of time- and temperature-sensitive
supply chain solutions, as one of eight companies to
participate in the Walmart Food and Safety Innovation
Pipeline. The “Innovation Pipeline” program was devel-
oped to fast-track the most promising startups and pilot
the chosen solutions in the real-world environments of
Walmart and its partners.
alliances
Self-driving vehicle maker Vecna Robotics celebrated
the opening of its new headquarters outside Boston in
September, using the event to showcase three automated
vehicles—a tugger platform, pallet jack, and tote retrieval
system—it says can help ease DC labor shortages.
The move will allow the company to consolidate
operations that had been scattered throughout
the metro area in a 77,000-square-foot building
in Waltham, Massachusetts, bringing manufacturing, technology demonstrations, research
and development, engineering, and customer
service under one roof, a company spokesper-son said.
Consolidating those functions
in a single facility will help the
firm to accelerate development
of its autonomous vehicle tech-
nology and increase its market share in a global
material handling market that saw 2018 sales of 1. 3 million
lift trucks, Vecna CEO Daniel Theobald said in remarks at
the opening event. Vecna intends to apply its technology to
help companies in that sector deal with a tight labor mar-
ket by using robotics to boost warehouse employees’
engagement and productivity, Theobald said.
As part of that initiative, Vecna Robotics
will team up with lift-truck manufac-
turer UniCarriers Americas (UCA) to
create a line of autonomous material
handling vehicles for warehouses, dis-
tribution centers, and manufacturing
environments, the companies said. The
arrangement will allow Vecna to
scale up its business quickly by
accessing UCA’s large dealer net-
work, a UCA spokesman said at
the event. In return, UniCarriers
will gain the ability to offer its
customers robotic solutions that
can address their labor challenges and help them keep up
with the demands of e-commerce fulfillment, he said. n
Vecna Robotics opens new HQ, announces partnership with
UniCarriers Americas
