DC Velocity - June 2017

8 DC VELOCITY JUNE 2017 www.dcvelocity.com inbound

The company says its aim is to help users develop sophisticated fulfillment services on par with Amazon Prime’s. Shotput is backed by investment funding from the Mountain View, Calif.-based startup incubator Y Combinator and venture capitalist Justin Kan. The firm is now working on a pilot project that’s expected to go live by early 2018.

Micro-warehouses bring
Logistics gives back
fulfillment closer to
customers

Inventory is often delivered to warehouses in shipping containers. But what if you took the warehouse out of the equation and just built a fulfillment center inside the container itself? That’s the vision of Shotput, a San Francisco-based startup that’s looking to turn the traditional fulfillment model on its head.

Designed for fast-growing e-commerce companies, Shotput’s model would offer an alternative to building out a traditional warehouse network. Instead of contracting for fixed storage space, an e-tailer could simply arrange to have a “micro-warehouse” installed in a location close to its customers and use high-end automated systems to fill complex orders on the spot.

Here’s our monthly roundup of some of the charitable works and dona-
tions by companies in the material handling and logistics space.
b Material handling equipment supplier Raymond Handling Concepts
Corp. has donated nine pallet jacks worth about $1,500 apiece to the
American Red Cross. The donation will support the agency’s work dis-
tributing food and medical supplies for disaster relief.
b Columbus, Ohio-based 3PL Zipline Logistics donated $2,800 to “Dot
the I,” a nonprofit organization launched by one of its employees. The
“Dot the I” organization works to bring both tourism dollars and relief
supplies to the historically blighted area of south-central West Virginia.
b Chandler, Ariz.-based 3PL American Group hosted its fourth annual
“Loopers Against Leukemia” golf tournament in March, raising $10,000
for Rady’s Children’s Hospital, a pediatric care facility in San Diego.
b Irvine, Calif.-based logistics solu-
tions provider Aeronet Worldwide
arranged the shipping and delivery of
the “Beeper Eggs” used in an annual
spring egg hunt held by Blind Babies
Foundation, a program of Junior Blind

America. The specially designed eggs are hidden around the parks where the events are held, allowing blind children to find and then trade them for plastic eggs stuffed with candy.

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Shotput assembles these robotic micro-warehouses itself using off-the-shelf components. Each container is outfitted with pressure-sensitive shelves equipped with radio-frequency identification (RFID) receivers that can monitor inventory in real time. An end-of-line “autobagger” system allows multiple items to be packed in prelabeled bags by the system’s built-in robot, according to company CEO Praful Mathur.

CM
MY

Digital dealing: Startup rolls out e-commerce

CY

platform for wholesale pot trade

CMY
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The company plans to ship these micro-warehouses to manufacturers, which will stock the shelves directly, then send each container to the desired location via truck or rail. Once the micro-warehouse is in place, retailers could contract with local carriers to pick up parcels from the unit and deliver them to nearby homes.

Managing a supply chain is tough enough when your company trades in conventional commodities, like clothing, cars, or carrots. The challenges take on a whole new dimension when your target market is the uncharted—and increasingly regulated—territory of the legal cannabis business.

Now that pot is legal in nearly 25 states, one company thinks it’s high time the industry had its own online marketplace. New York City-based LeafLink Inc. recently rolled out an e-commerce platform that caters exclusively to marijuana retailers and their supply chain partners. The company, which according to press reports describes its product as “Salesforce of bud,” says its aim is to cut through the haze surrounding the wholesale marijuana trade.

Modeled on the supply chain systems used in the liquor business, the LeafLink B2B (business-to-business) platform is designed to help weed buyers and sellers exchange information and goods. Suppliers can use it to track orders, manage product availability and back orders, and promote their products. Dispensaries (which join the platform for free) can go to the site to order from multiple vendors, review order histories, learn about new products, and—yes—request samples.

In case you haven’t wandered into a marijuana dispensary lately, today’s retail weed business involves a far wider array of inventory than the classic trio of matches, rolling papers, and a plastic baggie. Customers can buy their pot in a dizzying array of forms, including THC-infused cookies and candy, tinctures, creams, herbal teas, and even bath salts.