Automation Advancements: 3 Businesses Leveraging Automation for Optimization
Prospects of supply chain automation have the industry abuzz. It’s even become a major sticking point in the International Longshoremen’s Association contract negotiations with the United States Maritime Alliance.
The dockworkers do not want ports to automate processes out of fear they will lose their jobs to machines. Today, there are seemingly endless possibilities for optimization. Terms like generative artificial intelligence and machine learning have become commonplace in discussions about ways to gain efficiencies and reduce costs. Can man and machine work together as businesses leverage automation for optimization?
Beyond the Buzz: Understanding the Automation Imperative
Machine learning, a subset of artificial intelligence (AI), is described by Business News Daily as a later-stage development in which machines take in data on their own and then analyze it. Automation, on the other hand, is fixed on repetitive tasks; after a job is performed, an automation system “thinks no further.”
The Business News Daily article explained that “automation involves an entire category of technologies that provide activity or work without human involvement,” while AI involves “a machine exhibiting and practicing something similar to what we describe as human thinking – that is, the ability to interact in thousands of ways with the world around us without receiving any prior explicit coding or instructions.”
Three Companies Leveraging Automation for Optimization
A host of companies utilize automation and AI to increase efficiency, reduce waste, and optimize operations. We’re spotlighting three innovative companies making great strides in supply chain optimization.
FourKites
FourKites is flying high with generative AI – original content created in response to a user’s request. Gen AI relies on sophisticated machine learning models that simulate the decision-making processes of the human brain.
In September 2023, FourKites launched Fin AI, an interface built on top of a large language model to help customers in the supply chain industry uncover buried insights, identify opportunities for optimization, and automate time-consuming tasks.
According to Built In, an online community for startups and tech companies, “the massive amount of data that Fin AI accesses and delivers is staggering.”
FourKites tracks millions of shipments worldwide with more than 6,000 data points per shipment. The company provides over 18 million estimated times of arrival per day and tracks more than 62 billion miles per year.
“With Fin AI, FourKites is driving meaningful progress toward eliminating today’s pervasive data silos by using generative AI — paving the way toward a revolutionary method of exploring, monitoring, and leveraging supply chain data for real-time, data-driven decision-making,” Vandana Pundir, the company’s associate product manager of AI solutions, said.
FourKites also uses artificial intelligence in its yard and appointment management solution, YardWorks, which leverages EAIGLE’s AI and computer vision platform. YardWorks’ capabilities include autonomous gate and yard audits, reduced inbound and outbound gate processing time, and improved coordination between dock and yard operations.
Hai Robotics
Hai Robotics is automating warehouse operations and order fulfillment with its autonomous case-handling mobile robots and automated storage and retrieval systems.
Vanderlande, a warehouse automation solutions provider, announced in October that it would be offering Hai’s case-handling robots (ACRs) throughout North America “to leverage best-in-class technologies.”
“By merging our cutting-edge robotics with Vanderlande’s proven automation expertise, we’re enabling businesses to optimize their operations, increase scalability, and drive greater efficiency like never before,” Matt Kelly, Hai Robotics’ director of strategic partnerships and commercial development, said in the announcement.
Hai’s robots are touted to increase operational efficiency up to four times over manual processes, boost daily order throughput by three times, and hike order picking accuracy to 99.9%.
Skechers USA already is using Hai’s automated storage and retrieval system in its distribution center in Tokyo because of its “adaptability to changing demand and capability to help resolve labor shortage issues,” according to Chain Store Age.
The HaiPick system covers more than 139,700 square feet within the facility. It is operated by 69 ACRs, described as “intelligent, tall pieces of equipment that autonomously navigate narrow aisles and pick containers off the shelving, transporting up to eight at any given time, and deliver them to human-operated workstations.”
Paccurate
Daily Harvest’s plant-based food and smoothies are shipped with dry ice to keep them frozen until they arrive at customers’ doorsteps. But the boxes were often too big, meaning products weren’t packed tightly and the dry ice sometimes melted in transit. To solve the problem, Daily Harvest turned to Paccurate, an AI-driven cartonization platform, to determine the ideal packing materials for optimal shipping.
Since Daily Harvest partnered with Paccurate in late 2023, it has reduced its spend on boxes, dry ice, and shipping, and it has received fewer complaints about damaged or partially thawed products.
“At the end of week one, I could sit down and track data points and data visualization to see the impact that this has had on the business,” Wesley Williams, Daily Harvest’s vice president of supply chain, told Business Insider.
Packsize, an on-demand packaging company, has also partnered with Paccurate to optimize cubic volume and reduce waste and transportation costs.
“This collaboration is not just about technological integration; it’s about redefining what’s possible in packaging efficiency and freight savings,” Steve Larsen, Packsize’s vice president of global strategic partnerships, said in the announcement. “By leveraging the best of both platforms, we’re opening up new possibilities for shippers to optimize their packaging processes and meet their sustainability goals in previously unimaginable ways.”
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