IN BRIEF: New Services & Solutions-May 2009

Products

• Shippers can fully utilize the space inside a trailer with the Ancra Cargo AutoDeck system, which adjusts the height of each beam to create a customized decking solution. The automated system reduces losses resulting from cargo damage because pallets don’t have to be stacked on top of each other, and increases load averages by 10 to 30%.
• The Tive Solo is a single-use supply chain tracker that eliminates return logistics hassles for manufacturers and shippers who deploy Tive to maintain end-to-end visibility into their in-transit goods. The Tive Solo measures temperature every 15 minutes, reports that data together with the shipment location every hour, and offers a 30-day battery life.
• Seegrid’s GT10 Series 6 Plus self-driving vehicle uses rear-facing sensors to detect obstacles while autonomously hitching to carts. The vehicle offers fully automated material movement from pick-up to drop-off, removing the need for human assistance.

• Steel King Industries’ Steel Guard Heavy Duty Guard Rail protects people, products, and facilities from collisions. Available in either single or double heights, Steel Guard can be employed in worker areas and aisles, and near HVAC and electrical panels, equipment, and conveyors.
• Shippers can monitor temperature-sensitive products through the last mile with SpotSee’s Cold Chain Complete solution, a dual indicator that alerts users when their shipment is exposed to unacceptably high or low temperatures. Packaged as a single-use device, the solution is suited for medical, food, and chemical shippers.
• The Raymond Courier 3030 stacker automated lift truck with guided vision technology is designed to handle and transport goods between connected manufacturing and warehouse facilities. The 2,500-pound-capacity automated stacker can reach heights up to 72 inches and features reverse motion and auto-engagement functions to optimize workflow.

Transportation

• Sao Paulo, Brazil, joins Virgin Atlantic Cargo’s network in 2020. Flying daily between London Heathrow and Sao Paulo Guarulhos International Airport, the Boeing 787 service will offer shippers tons of daily capacity and represents Virgin Atlantic’s first foray into South America.
• Shippers in the Hong Kong and Europe trade lane can now access 280 direct flights with the expanded business agreement between Lufthansa Cargo and Cathay Pacific’s cargo division. The service directly connects Hong Kong to Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Brussels, Dublin, London, Madrid, Manchester, Milan, Munich, Paris, Rome, and Zurich. Shippers can access capacity provided by the airlines’ dedicated cargo fleet, belly space of passenger aircraft, and the road feeder services of both partners.
• AirBridgeCargo Airlines (ABC) expanded freighter operations at Rickenbacker International Airport, Ohio, to twice-weekly. The additional service complements ABC’s existing Thursday flights from Columbus.
• Ocean shippers can tap a new U.S. West Coast-Vietnam service from the Port of Oakland. Pacific International Lines (PIL) launched the direct Vietnam links using vessels that can carry up to 11,900 20-foot containers. PIL’s new service is called AC5 and operates in partnership with Cosco and Wan Hai.
• Atran Airlines, the Russian air express carrier within Volga-Dnepr Group, launched a route linking Xi’an, China, with Moscow. The first flight was operated by one of Atran’s Boeing 737-400SF freighters with further plans for Boeing 737-800BCF deployment to provide more than 25 tons of capacity per flight.
• Indianapolis-area shippers can expect enhanced service and increased capacity from Dayton Freight Lines, a provider of regional LTL transportation services, which nearly doubled the size of its Indianapolis, Indiana, service center, adding 136 doors and 12 truck bays.
• DT Research DT380CR and DT380Q rugged tablets, which weigh less than 2 pounds, are lightweight for all-day use and feature hot-swappable batteries that eliminate work interruptions in warehouse environments. The tablets simplify information capture and transfer with a built-in 2D barcode scanner and 5-megapixel back camera or 3D built-in Intel RealSense Depth Camera.

Services

• To help shippers boost speed to market, supply chain solutions provider Averitt Express opened a distribution and fulfillment center near Austin, Texas. The new location includes 21,000 square feet of dock space and 39 doors. In addition to offering LTL and TL services, the facility features 50,000 square feet of warehousing space.
• XTRA Lease, which provides over-the-road trailers for rent or lease, is investing $300 million to buy more than 10,000 new trailers. With the purchase of new dry vans, reefers, flatbeds, and chassis, XTRA Lease’s fleet will grow to approximately 85,000 trailers featuring fuel-saving side skirts and air disc brakes.
• Companies looking to optimize their supply chains can tap into the expanded resources offered by the partnership between the Association for Supply Chain Management (ASCM) and the Supply Chain Management Association (SCMA). The collaboration between ASCM, the largest nonprofit supply chain association, and SCMA, an advocate of Canada’s end-to-end supply chain profession, enhances their thought leadership and joint training programs.
• GoShip.com, an online LTL shipping exchange, expanded its shipping services to and from Canada. GoShip.com customers are able to use their own customs broker or the self-service customs broker provided by GoShip.com, which prepares documents and a customs invoice.
• 3PL MD Logistics opened its fourth warehouse on its Plainfield, Indiana, campus to meet demand for compliant storage in the life sciences and retail goods sectors and to fulfill increased needs from current customers. The facility consists of 180,000 square feet of temperature-controlled storage.
• E-commerce technology provider MetaPack launched MetaPack Returns, a solution for managing retailers’ cross-border and domestic returns. Offering pre-printed returns labels and a branded returns portal, MetaPack Returns lets retailers refund customers faster and gives them access to warehousing for fast asset recovery and consolidation to ensure stock is back on sale in days.
• To help automotive suppliers reduce logistics costs and packaging waste, CHEP Automotive & Industrial Solutions opened a new container management service center in Querétaro, Mexico. The new facility’s location in central Mexico, close to many automotive and industrial suppliers, strengthens CHEP’s ability to support container movements in and out of the region.
• RightPick2 from RightHand Robotics is an integrated software and hardware piece-picking platform that picks and places individual items as part of the warehouse workflow. The solution includes RightHand’s GripperV5 fifth-generation intelligent gripper with an approximately 4.4-pound payload, Universal Robots e-Series collaborative robot arms, and Intel RealSense Depth Camera D415 for precise measurements.

Technology

• Companies can plan, budget, and control their supply chain’s digital transformation with HighJump’s new supply chain simulation software. HighJump CLASS provides a virtual world for warehouse layout design and modeling to optimize the flow of goods, allowing businesses to evaluate future capacity requirements and technology systems.
• Enabling distributors to improve customer service, retain existing business, and grow market share, WMS provider PathGuide Technologies released Advanced Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI). The standalone Advanced VMI runs independently outside of the warehouse for a distributor’s customers, providing full inventory control and order management, including visibility to shelf life requirements and traceability of inventory lot numbers, expiration dates, and serial numbers.
• Global trade management (GTM) solutions provider Amber Road launched two solutions to help companies rapidly configure supply chains: enhanced support for customs filing in Europe and a multi-country customs warehousing platform. The Amber Road GTM solution integrates trade content from more than 170 countries with order-to-cash processes while the new warehousing solution provides cost savings and supply chain efficiencies when moving bonded and non-bonded inventory in and out of Europe.
• Realtime Despatch’s latest OrderFlow 4.0 WMS release supports product lots, new case and carton functionality, and the GS1 barcoding standard. The WMS associates a group of items with a lot number, an expiry date, and other related information. The information captured at goods-in follows the products through every stock move and process in the warehouse.
• Shippers can increase supply chain predictability with the partnership between logistics technology provider Transplace and Riskpulse, which offers cloud-based applications that quantify risk across networks. The partnership enables Transplace to further integrate machine learning and predictive analytics into its logistics management solutions.
• Echo Global Logistics, a technology-enabled provider of transportation management services, launched EchoDrive, a web portal and app that displays Echo’s available loads for the company’s carrier network to bid on. EchoDrive users get real-time access to search, view, and bid on available freight. This complements Echo’s self-service shipping platform EchoShip, enabling shippers and carriers to interact on a common platform.
• Seaboard Marine launched a direct, all-water service connecting northern Central America to the Port of Savannah. The service includes two Seaboard Marine vessels and provides both refrigerated and dry container service to and from the Port of Savannah.