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Fictiv secures $100 million in funding to solve ‘urgent supply chain risks’

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Fictiv, a provider of on-demand manufacturing, has closed a $100 million Series E funding round.

Fictiv says this investment will advance its mission to accelerate product innovation with an expanded focus on decreasing supply chain risk through its best-in-category technology and product experience.

This unique combination of benefits helps Fictiv’s customers tackle both the continuous, competitive pressures to innovate faster and address the relentless, daily supply chain disruptions. [Read more…] about Fictiv secures $100 million in funding to solve ‘urgent supply chain risks’

Dematic to ‘accelerate supply chain innovation’ with Google Cloud

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Dematic, a subsidiary of the global intralogistics provider KION Group, has agreed a partnership to “transform the supply chain industry” through accelerated cloud innovation.

Dematic aims to bolster supply chain resiliency and deliver go-to-market solutions by combining Dematic’s supply chain expertise with Google Cloud’s cutting-edge cloud, artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies.

The partners will join forces to leverage shared learnings that will drive rapid cloud innovation. By migrating Dematic’s offerings to the cloud and introducing AI and ML, Dematic will improve customers’ supply chain execution. [Read more…] about Dematic to ‘accelerate supply chain innovation’ with Google Cloud

Symbotic debuts on Nasdaq under ticker ‘SYM’

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Symbotic, a developer of AI-enabled robotics automation technology, says that shares of its Class A common stock are now trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the ticker symbol “SYM”.

Symbotic’s trading debut comes after the completion of its business combination with SVF Investment, a special purpose acquisition company sponsored by an affiliate of SoftBank Investment Advisers. The combined company now operates as Symbotic.

Symbotic is at the forefront of an addressable market opportunity valued at over $350 billion to reinvent warehouse automation and reshape the global supply chain. [Read more…] about Symbotic debuts on Nasdaq under ticker ‘SYM’

DHL surpasses 100 million units picked with Locus Robotics machines

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DHL Supply Chain, the contract logistics subsidiary of Deutsche Post DHL Group, says it has surpassed 100 million units picked in its North American facilities by LocusBots from Locus Robotics.

The milestone was achieved in DHL’s Hanover Township, Pennsylvania location, fulfilling orders for a major apparel retailer. The milestone achieved in this facility is one of more than a dozen DHL sites in North America, using more than 2,000 LocusBots – more than any other contract logistics company.

Sally Miller, CIO, DHL Supply Chain North America, says: “As this milestone illustrates, our unrivaled implementation and productization of assisted picking robots has been a tremendous success for our customers’ supply chains. [Read more…] about DHL surpasses 100 million units picked with Locus Robotics machines

Walmart and Symbotic expand partnership to implement automation system

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Symbotic, an AI-powered supply chain technology company, and Walmart have expanded their commercial agreement to implement Symbotic’s robotics and software automation platform in all 42 of Walmart’s regional distribution centers over the coming years.

This is an expansion of Walmart’s prior commitment to deploy Symbotic Systems in 25 regional distribution centers.

The end-to-end software-enabled high-density robotics platform plays a strategic role in supporting the retailer’s goal of modernizing its vast supply chain network and allows Walmart to transform its regional distribution centers to provide faster responsiveness to store orders, increased inventory accuracy and higher capacity for receiving and shipping freight to stores. [Read more…] about Walmart and Symbotic expand partnership to implement automation system

Wikifactory secures $2.5 million funding to expand its manufacturing marketplace

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Wikifactory, an online platform for collaboratively creating physical products, has secured $2.5 million in pre-series A funding from existing shareholders and new investors including, Seier Capital, the investment vehicle of Lars Seier Christensen. This brings Wikifactory’s funding to date to a total of nearly $8 million.

Wikifactory enables developers, designers, engineers and startups from across the globe to collaborate, prototype and produce hardware solutions in real-time that solve real world problems.

The company is working to build the Internet of Production, which is an emerging concept of a distributed, interoperable, open standards-based system, linking together product definitions, software services, and manufacturing-as-a-service (MaaS) solutions. [Read more…] about Wikifactory secures $2.5 million funding to expand its manufacturing marketplace

Comau selects Jaggaer as partner for digitalized procurement

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Comau has selected Jaggaer as its partner for eSourcing.

With headquarters in the industrial city of Turin, a strong presence in 13 countries around the world, and a wealth of expertise and experience spanning more than 45 years, Comau is a leading global player in the field of industrial automation, renowned for its groundbreaking and high-quality systems and products.

In the automotive sector the company boasts partnerships with some of the world’s leading and most forward-looking brands. Comau’s solutions also meet the needs of organizations in a wide range of sectors, including renewable energy and logistics. [Read more…] about Comau selects Jaggaer as partner for digitalized procurement

Amazon launches $1 billion industrial innovation fund

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Amazon is investing $1 billion into the industrial sector to “spur supply chain, fulfillment, and logistics innovation and further improve the customer and employee experience”.

The $1 billion venture investment program is called the Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund (AIIF).

As customers increasingly shop online and look for even faster delivery, Amazon says it is continuing to invent new ways to raise the bar on customer and employee experience while working with other companies focused on those fields. [Read more…] about Amazon launches $1 billion industrial innovation fund

Boston Dynamics’ makes its warehouse robot available for commercial purchase

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Boston Dynamics, one of the most innovative developers of mobile robotics, has made its warehouse robot available for commercial purchase.

“Stretch” is Boston Dynamics’ newest robot, and is designed specifically for warehouses and distribution centers.

The company says Stretch is part of a “new generation of mobile robots”, and is “one of the most advanced robots in the world today”. [Read more…] about Boston Dynamics’ makes its warehouse robot available for commercial purchase

Nike ‘transforming its supply chain’ with 1,000 collaborative robots

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The world’s biggest sportswear brand, Nike, says it is “transforming its supply” to meet the needs of its customers globally.

The company says that, in the wake of the disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic in the past two years, Nike has “risen to the challenges and is seizing the opportunity to accelerate a transformation in its operations”.

To that end, Nike has been accelerating the opening of several regional distribution centers across the United States and Europe, largely because “consumers across all segments immediately shifted to digital engagement” because of lockdowns and other problems in visiting brick-and-mortar shops. [Read more…] about Nike ‘transforming its supply chain’ with 1,000 collaborative robots