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Supply
Chain by the Numbers |
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- Oct. 24, 2024
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Amazon FC Robot Onslaught. Freight Recession Continues On New Combined Delivery Service from Walmart. Industrial Robot Sales Mixed
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That is how many different types of robots are in Amazon’s latest fulfillment center design, executed in a new FC opened recently in Shreveport Louisiana. While that number is impressive, more startling is the fact that this new FC will be deployed with 10 times the number of robots than its previous FC designs accommodated. All that according to an unattributed blog post last week. Despite the robotic onslaught, the 3-million, five-level Shreveport FC will still have some 2500 human operators when it fully ramps up. One example of the eight styles of Amazon robots: one it calls Proteus, its first fully autonomous mobile robot, which transport carts of packages to its outbound dock so they can be loaded into trucks. |
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That was the month-over-month fall in the American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index in September after rising 1.7% in August, as the freight recession continues on. Said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello: “Freight has been very choppy this year, but despite the latest drop, tonnage is up 1.8% since hitting a low in January. No doubt, the climb up has been slow and difficult as manufacturing activity remains flat, but the trend is up, not down.” The index itself fell to 113.2 versus the baseline level of 100 set for 2015. That means US freight volumes are up just 13.2% from that 2015 baseline nine years later. |
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4600 |
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| That is about how many Walmart stores operate in the US, most if not all including pharmacies. That’s what makes the retailers new program announced this week possible: delivery of medicines and food/general merchandise in one trip. Previously, this required separate orders/deliveries. The Walmart announcement also noted that coming soon, customers will have the option to choose On-Demand or Express Delivery. With these options, they’ll be able to receive their prescription within hours or with Express Delivery in as soon as 30 minutes. No news on fees for these faster delivery options. The combined deliveries are available now in Arkansas, Missouri, New York, Nevada, South Carolina and Wisconsin. By the end of January 2025, Walmart's Pharmacy Delivery is expected to be available in 49 states. |
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That is how many industrial robots were installed worldwide at the end of 2023. That according to the new World Robotics report in late September from the International Federation of Robotics (IFR). That total was up 10% from 2022. Looking at new installs, IFR says there were 541,302 deployed in 2023, down 2% from the record levels seen in 2022, as annual installations exceeded half a million units for the third consecutive year. By region, 70% of all newly deployed robots 2023 were installed in Asia, 17% in Europe and 10% in the Americas. The United States, robot installations were down by 5% to 37,587, driven by demand from the automotive industry falling by 15% to 12,421 units.
