Logistech Monthly Roundup — October 2021

Published in

Supply Chain Tech Letter

5 min readNov 1, 2021

Welcome to the first monthly roundup of the Logistech industry where I’ll be providing quick tidbits and links about recent Logistech news about companies, supply chain, trends, and innovation.

In October’s roundup:

Warehousing and Order Fulfillment
Fundraising, Mergers & Acquisitions, and Stocks
Company News
State of the Industry
Companies Hiring

Warehousing and Order Fulfillment

GXO Logistics and Abercrombie & Fitch are partnering to open a high tech distribution center near Phoenix, AZ. The highly automated 750,000 square foot facility will be located in Goodyear, AZ. The facility features advanced automation including goods-to-person robots. Artificial intelligence and machine learning will be deployed at the site to deliver products to customers faster and more efficiently.

Companies lean on automation tech amid hiring crisis. According to West Monroe’s Quarterly Executive Poll 33% of executives are turning to automation due to labor shortages. Companies are looking towards automation to reduce redundant tasks and eliminate bottlenecks. One example discussed was Nike’s partnership with Geek+ to deploy 200 goods-to-person robots in Japan.

Kinetic reduced workplace injuries by 19% at Frito-Lay’s at their manufacturing and distribution centers according to their recent case study. PepsiCo, Frito-Lay’s parent company, turned to wearable technology to address ergonomic challenges for their frontline employees. Employees place the device on their belt and receive alerts when they are bending, twisting, or reaching without proper safety technique. Data from the devices allowed management to identify areas of the facility that had high rates of improper techniques. Access to this type of data allows companies like PepsiCo to make improvements and provide training where needed to reduce injuries.

Kroger Delivery Expands with New Automated Fulfillment Centers. Kroger’s new fulfillment centers are powered by the Ocado Group. The fulfillment centers will be using machine learning and robotics to provide affordable and fast delivery. The two automated centers placed in South Florida will serve customers in as fast as 30 minutes while offering 10,000 fresh food and essential products choices. Customers will also be able to get same day and next day orders with 35,000 items.

Fundraising, Mergers & Acquisitions, and Stocks

Skydropx announced $20 million in Series A funding. The company is based out of Mexico City. According to TechCrunch Skydropx enables businesses to have an end-to-end automated delivery experience for customers. There are over 250 shipping options and you can track notifications via WhatsApp. It also offers estimated delivery times and returns management. The company was founded in 2014 and is a Y-Combinator alum. They have plans to expand further into Latin America. They are also considering opening their own fulfillment centers and delivery branches in Mexico.

Flock Freight gains unicorn status after raising $215 million in their latest funding round. Flock Freight uses their proprietary AI software to pool goods from shippers with less than truckload (LTL) carriers. The company will be using the money to hire more employees, invest in their shipping pooling algorithm, and additional machine learning technologies. It is backed by companies such as SoftBank and Google.

ShipBlu secures $2.5 million in seed funding. ShipBlu, an African-based Y-Combinator backed startup, delivers packages for merchants and retailers to customers in Egypt. Egypt has been a notoriously hard country to ship in due to lack of infrastructure and inaccurate zip codes. CEO Ali Nasser has set an ambitious goal to reach 99% of Egypt’s population of 100 million people within a couple months.

Transfix to go public via SPAC merger in Q1 2022. Transfix is a digital freight platform that uses data analytics to connect shippers to transportation companies. The company would be merging with special purpose acquisition company G Squared Ascend I (NYSE: GSQD). Transfix plans to use the cash to invest in their technology, machine learning, and product development. It also opens up the door for potential mergers and acquisitions.

Company News

Shippo opens their second office in Austin, TX. Shippo offers multi-carrier shipping software to small and medium sized businesses. It compiles rates from across 85 shipping partners that shippers can choose from. The office is located on the east side of Austin in what was once an auto body shop. The office currently has 40 employees which they expect to expand to 100 by next year.

Ocado invests in self-driving startup Wayve to automate grocery delivery. Ocado will be adding Wayve’s autonomous driving technology to some of their vans in London. The company invested 10 million pounds ($13.6 million) into Wayve. Ocado will be running an autonomous delivery trial on London streets while being overseen by a human driver. Some of their vans will also be outfitted with data collection devices to improve Wayve’s technology.

Home Depot and Loadsmart partner up to give shippers visibility into cheaper flatbed capacity. Loadsmart, a freight technology company, has released Flatbed Messenger. Flatbed Messenger is an automated supply-led flatbed platform that pairs capacity and price to a shipment. It combines Loadsmart’s advanced algorithms with Home Depot’s dedicated capacity. According to Loadsmart’s blog post, backhauls in the flatbed industry, or cargo carried on a return journey, typically require two customers — one for each direction. As a result, fleets that are dedicated to one customer are often plagued with many empty miles. Flatbed Messenger feeds the truck’s location, its price, and its destination into algorithms that match the information to a shipment. Robin Baggs, Home Depot’s director of transportation, says the platform will increase collaboration, offer a more affordable alternative, and is more environmentally friendly.

FourKites rolls out enhancements to Dynamic Yard offering. FourKites, a provider of real-time tracking and visibility solutions across transportation modes, has released upgrades to their Dynamic Yard offering. FourKites first announced Dynamic Yard in August 2020 which they acquired from TrackX Holdings. Dynamic Yard is a yard management software that enables shippers to have end-to-end visibility with real-time tracking of in-transit and in-yard freight. Some of the key enhancements they announced were SKU-level visibility, automated door scheduling, and a customizable yard communication system.

State of the Industry

Amazon’s new state-of-the-art air hub in Cincinnati is gearing up for the holiday season. Check out their drive unit robots that sort customers’ packages. If you want a tour inside their facility check out this article.

This thread by Lauren Behrens Wu, CEO of shippo, on current supply chain challenges.

This thread by Ryan Peterson, CEO of Flexport, on what he learned after touring the port complex in Long Beach.

This thread by Ryan Peterson, CEO of Flexport, on what causes the supply chain bottlenecks.

This Reddit AMA by James Matthew, the CEO of Ocado Technology. Probably best known for their highly automated robotics warehouses they offer technology solutions across the online grocery ecommerce, fulfillment and logistics spectrum.

A 20 year truck driver’s Medium article with their interesting take on the shipping crisis.

Check out this drone video of the current state of the supply chain backlog by the Wall Street Journal.