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SOFTWARE AND TECHNOLOGY

Astrolab Introduced FLEX Rover for Advanced Lunar Mobility

Astrolab | March 14, 2022

Venturi Astrolab, Inc. is a leading aerospace company established by a planetary rover and robotics expert team. Astrolab announced the development of an innovative rover built to enhance planetary and Lunar mobility. Flexible Logistics and Exploration (FLEX) rover is a mobility platform that is payload agnostic and can work within an ecosystem of transportation, vehicles, and tools.

Astrolab will help the human presence sustain on the Moon and Mars by providing mobility support through a fleet of FLEX rovers.      

Traditionally, Planetary rovers are custom-designed around a particular payload and cost billions to design and develop. Furthermore, the traditional approach for planetary mobility is not compatible with NASA’s goal of sustained presence on the Moon and Mars. Keeping that in mind, Astrolab is developing a multi-functional FLEX rover designed around a modular payload interface with intermodal transportation from the lander to the rover.

An efficient and economical transportation network is required for humanity to operate off the earth in a sustained way. Astrolab is dedicated to fill in the last gap. FLEX offers a range of utility by being able to collect, deposit, and transport payload.”

-Jared Matthews, CEO of Astrolab

Massive investments from NASA and private industry in Lunar landing adventures will create an unprecedented landed mass capability and mission cadence. Astrolab’s FLEX rover is all set to revolutionize the landscape by enabling the landing of hundreds of tons of payload on the Moon each month.

Astrolab’s FLEX rovers have promising commercial potential. Its novel mobility system architecture allows it to collect and deposit modular payloads. It can support robotic science, exploration, site survey, resource utilization and logistics activities. FLEX is built with an adaptive utility in mind and can serve as an unpressurized rover for two astronauts.

The Astrolab team has successfully tested a fully functional prototype of the FLEX rover in California. In addition, Astrolab’s team tested the performance of the FLEX rover in both crewed and telerobotic operations. 

Chris Hadfield, Astrolab Advisory Board member and retired NASA astronaut participated in the five-day field test and gave feedback on vehicles design and performance. We have transitioned from the Apollo era; it was pure exploration, but now we have plans to settle on the Moon. We need to move the cargo, life support, and more. Driving FLEX was pure joy, and its size, capability, and utility is impressive, said Chris Hadfield.

Spotlight

Honeywell Improves Its Supply Chain and Manufacturing Processes with the Snowflake Data Cloud

As a 100-plus-year-old global company, Honeywell had a legacy architecture with numerous siloed databases, which it knew it needed to break down in order to effectively manage its inventory, manufacturing processes, and supply chains across its many business units spread across the globe. To tackle that challenge, Honeywell selected Snowflake as the core platform to bring all its data together into one, centralized, single source of truth. Now, according to Honeywell’s Chief Digital Technology Officer Sheila Jordan, the company is able to integrate all data, including from ERP systems, Salesforce, supply chain databases, and more within Snowflake where it can be analyzed to create actionable insights for the business.

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Spotlight

Honeywell Improves Its Supply Chain and Manufacturing Processes with the Snowflake Data Cloud

As a 100-plus-year-old global company, Honeywell had a legacy architecture with numerous siloed databases, which it knew it needed to break down in order to effectively manage its inventory, manufacturing processes, and supply chains across its many business units spread across the globe. To tackle that challenge, Honeywell selected Snowflake as the core platform to bring all its data together into one, centralized, single source of truth. Now, according to Honeywell’s Chief Digital Technology Officer Sheila Jordan, the company is able to integrate all data, including from ERP systems, Salesforce, supply chain databases, and more within Snowflake where it can be analyzed to create actionable insights for the business.

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FREIGHT

Ryder Rolls Out Carrier Loyalty Program for Freight Brokerage

businesswire | April 13, 2023

Ryder System, Inc. a leader in supply chain, dedicated transportation, and fleet management solutions, announces Ryder’s Freight Brokerage Carrier Loyalty Program, a new points-based program for carriers with Ryder’s freight brokerage division that book and track loads through the Trucker Tools app. The app provides digital trip planning, shipment visibility, predictive freight matching, and automated booking solutions. Based on the level of engagement with Ryder on the platform, carriers with Ryder’s freight brokerage may earn tiered discounts of up to 22% on used vehicle purchases from Ryder through the end of the year. “We want to reward our carriers for consistently and continuously moving freight with Ryder freight brokerage, while helping them grow their fleets,” says Kevin Clonch, group director of transportation management at Ryder. “Carriers are critical to ensuring we can deliver on our promises to our customers, so we strive each and every day to be a shipper of choice. And we do that by providing concierge-level service coupled with digital tools that help carriers maximize uptime and revenue.” With Ryder’s Freight Brokerage Carrier Loyalty Program, carriers are automatically allocated to one of three tiers based on their current level of engagement with Ryder on Trucker Tools. Then, for every load carriers book and track with Ryder freight brokerage on the Trucker Tools app, they earn additional points toward potentially qualifying for a 5%, 15%, or 22% discount off the advertised price of Ryder’s used vehicles through the end of the year. “Our collaboration with Trucker Tools aligns with our strategy of engaging innovative, forward-thinking technology providers that can further enhance our service and product offerings for both carriers and customers in our freight brokerage division,” adds Clonch. Last year, Ryder announced the expansion of its freight brokerage business with a new office in Nashville, Tennessee. The expansion is part of the company’s strategy to grow its broader transportation solution, which offers customers flexibility with several levels of service and capacity, from freight brokerage to transportation management and dedicated transportation. Carriers can find more information about the Ryder Freight Brokerage Carrier Loyalty Program, including terms and conditions, on the Trucker Tools app, along with the largest selection of reliable used vehicles in the industry. “Ensuring our carriers have access to dependable, well-maintained vehicles is a win-win for Ryder and our carriers,” continues Clonch. “More than 95% of our used vehicles have had only one owner, Ryder; and, they’ve been maintained by our expert technicians.” About Ryder System, Inc Ryder System, Inc. is a leading logistics and transportation company. It provides supply chain, dedicated transportation, and fleet management solutions, including warehousing and distribution, e-commerce fulfillment, last-mile delivery, managed transportation, professional drivers, freight brokerage, full-service leasing, maintenance, commercial truck rental, and used vehicle sales to some of the world’s most-recognized brands. Ryder provides services throughout the United States, Mexico, and Canada. In addition, Ryder manages nearly 260,000 commercial vehicles and operates approximately 300 warehouses encompassing more than 95 million square feet. Ryder is regularly recognized for its industry-leading practices in third-party logistics, technology-driven innovations, commercial vehicle maintenance, environmental stewardship, corporate social responsibility, world-class safety and security programs, military veteran recruitment initiatives, and the hiring of a diverse workforce.

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LOGISTICS

Loadsmart Expands Strategic Partnership with e2open

businesswire | April 13, 2023

E2open Parent Holdings, Inc. the connected supply chain SaaS platform with the largest multi-enterprise network, announces an expanded partnership with Loadsmart, allowing shipper clients to access instant pricing on any lane from Loadsmart’s network of more than 45,000 carrier partners without leaving e2open’s Transportation Management (TMS) application. Loadsmart is now included in e2open’s Carrier Highlight innovation, which offers shippers access to featured transportation providers’ rates and capacity when favorable. The enhancement gives clients a streamlined and automated way to identify cost-saving opportunities while getting reliable service from a preferred e2open carrier partner showcased within the application. The shipper can seamlessly onboard Loadsmart to benefit from the currently highlighted cost savings and access Loadsmart as a new carrier partner for future savings opportunities. With API connectivity in e2open Carrier Marketplace, pricing comparisons happen instantly, enabling shippers to take immediate action. In addition, carriers in the network are afforded exposure to more shippers. As part of the Carrier Highlight workflow, e2open TMS users are presented with optimal transportation options dynamically during load planning, when there is an opportunity to tender the shipment at a lower cost. “Since its inception, Loadsmart has delivered value to its shipper clients by entering strategic partnerships with companies committed to being leaders in their space. Our expanded partnership with e2open allows all shippers to react quickly to market dynamics and move freight reliably and sustainably at an optimal cost—all from within the e2open TMS. We look forward to continuing to push the frontier of end-to-end freight management and to empower our clients further as they progress their supply chains toward digital maturity,” said Felipe Capella, CEO at Loadsmart. Loadsmart has been an e2open strategic partner since 2020; the expanded partnership provides e2open clients with access to real-time rates across their entire transportation network with the opportunity to achieve savings in all modes. “We formed our partnership with Loadsmart around a shared ambition to advance transportation management and seamlessly connect logistics to larger enterprise supply chain strategies,” said Peter Hantman, COO at e2open. “In this next phase of our partnership, clients will be able to simplify rating complexity across their entire transportation network and take advantage of the best rates per shipment to move goods cost-effectively and deliver reliably on customer commitments.” About Loadsmart Loadsmart is industry veterans and data-scientists using innovative technology to fearlessly reinvent the future of freight. As the ‘nerds of logistics’, we seek intelligence in data to solve deep-rooted inefficiencies in the industry. We give shippers, brokers and carriers access to our data connections (linking supply and demand) and suite of award-winning solutions to strike the perfect balance of cost and service. We’re creating a more efficient and environmentally responsible way to move more with less.

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SUPPLY CHAIN

Leading US convenience chain Casey’s selects RELEX to optimize space plans and supply chain

businesswire | May 17, 2023

Casey’s General Stores, Inc, a leading convenience store chain in the United States, will partner with RELEX Solutions to implement a unified space planning and supply chain solution. RELEX will service Casey’s 2,400+ stores and support the company’s growth plans. RELEX’s space planning and supply chain solutions will help reduce the volume of manual work and improve order accuracy on a store-by-store basis. For example, RELEX will enable Casey’s space planning team to utilize logic in a framework of business rules, which the solution will use to help produce planograms that are optimized for greater efficiency and accuracy. “As the organization continues to grow, our central space planning team requires more efficient processes to manage everything from a more regionalized assortment, seasonal inventory to fresh product,” says Jim Hamilton, Sr. Space Planning Manager at Casey’s. “RELEX provides our planners a valuable ‘single source of truth’ to work from, enabling them to drive improvements to the guest experience at Casey’s.” Through the RELEX solution, Casey’s will also benefit from improved forecasting and replenishment, promotional planning, fresh optimization, and more. The unified solution will drive improvements to their supply chain by reducing waste, improving availability, and optimizing markdowns – particularly for fresh products – leading to more sales and a better customer experience. Along with fuel and convenience retail, Casey’s is the fifth largest pizza chain in the US, offering their customers freshly prepared foods including pizza, donuts, and assorted bakery items, beverages, and snacks. “Fresh products are a key component of our business, but we didn't have a system in place to balance freshness and availability,” says Doug Means, Senior Vice President of Supply Chain at Casey’s. “We were impressed by RELEX’s extensive knowledge and experience within the convenience industry. Their unified solution gives us a higher level of visibility into our plans and helps us solve operational challenges that drive value to our business and ultimately, our customers.” “RELEX has a track record of delivering rapid value on large-scale, complex implementations such as Casey’s,” says Keith Adams, Senior Vice President of North America, RELEX Solutions. “We pride ourselves on helping convenience stores improve everything from supply chain visibility to fresh product management, and we’re looking forward to delivering that same value for our partners at Casey’s.” About RELEX Solutions RELEX Solutions helps retailers and consumer brands drive profitable growth across all sales and distribution channels by maximizing customer satisfaction and minimizing operative costs. Our market-leading, unified supply chain and retail planning platform helps retailers and consumer goods companies align and optimize demand, merchandise, supply chain, and operations planning across the end-to-end value chain. We drive record-high product availability, increased sales, improved sustainability, and the best return on investment in inventory, space, workforce, and capacity. Leading brands like Dollar Tree and Family Dollar, Stokke, Rite Aid, Sprouts Farmers Market, AutoZone, and PetSmart trust RELEX to optimize their supply chain and retail planning.

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FREIGHT

Ryder Rolls Out Carrier Loyalty Program for Freight Brokerage

businesswire | April 13, 2023

Ryder System, Inc. a leader in supply chain, dedicated transportation, and fleet management solutions, announces Ryder’s Freight Brokerage Carrier Loyalty Program, a new points-based program for carriers with Ryder’s freight brokerage division that book and track loads through the Trucker Tools app. The app provides digital trip planning, shipment visibility, predictive freight matching, and automated booking solutions. Based on the level of engagement with Ryder on the platform, carriers with Ryder’s freight brokerage may earn tiered discounts of up to 22% on used vehicle purchases from Ryder through the end of the year. “We want to reward our carriers for consistently and continuously moving freight with Ryder freight brokerage, while helping them grow their fleets,” says Kevin Clonch, group director of transportation management at Ryder. “Carriers are critical to ensuring we can deliver on our promises to our customers, so we strive each and every day to be a shipper of choice. And we do that by providing concierge-level service coupled with digital tools that help carriers maximize uptime and revenue.” With Ryder’s Freight Brokerage Carrier Loyalty Program, carriers are automatically allocated to one of three tiers based on their current level of engagement with Ryder on Trucker Tools. Then, for every load carriers book and track with Ryder freight brokerage on the Trucker Tools app, they earn additional points toward potentially qualifying for a 5%, 15%, or 22% discount off the advertised price of Ryder’s used vehicles through the end of the year. “Our collaboration with Trucker Tools aligns with our strategy of engaging innovative, forward-thinking technology providers that can further enhance our service and product offerings for both carriers and customers in our freight brokerage division,” adds Clonch. Last year, Ryder announced the expansion of its freight brokerage business with a new office in Nashville, Tennessee. The expansion is part of the company’s strategy to grow its broader transportation solution, which offers customers flexibility with several levels of service and capacity, from freight brokerage to transportation management and dedicated transportation. Carriers can find more information about the Ryder Freight Brokerage Carrier Loyalty Program, including terms and conditions, on the Trucker Tools app, along with the largest selection of reliable used vehicles in the industry. “Ensuring our carriers have access to dependable, well-maintained vehicles is a win-win for Ryder and our carriers,” continues Clonch. “More than 95% of our used vehicles have had only one owner, Ryder; and, they’ve been maintained by our expert technicians.” About Ryder System, Inc Ryder System, Inc. is a leading logistics and transportation company. It provides supply chain, dedicated transportation, and fleet management solutions, including warehousing and distribution, e-commerce fulfillment, last-mile delivery, managed transportation, professional drivers, freight brokerage, full-service leasing, maintenance, commercial truck rental, and used vehicle sales to some of the world’s most-recognized brands. Ryder provides services throughout the United States, Mexico, and Canada. In addition, Ryder manages nearly 260,000 commercial vehicles and operates approximately 300 warehouses encompassing more than 95 million square feet. Ryder is regularly recognized for its industry-leading practices in third-party logistics, technology-driven innovations, commercial vehicle maintenance, environmental stewardship, corporate social responsibility, world-class safety and security programs, military veteran recruitment initiatives, and the hiring of a diverse workforce.

Read More

LOGISTICS

Loadsmart Expands Strategic Partnership with e2open

businesswire | April 13, 2023

E2open Parent Holdings, Inc. the connected supply chain SaaS platform with the largest multi-enterprise network, announces an expanded partnership with Loadsmart, allowing shipper clients to access instant pricing on any lane from Loadsmart’s network of more than 45,000 carrier partners without leaving e2open’s Transportation Management (TMS) application. Loadsmart is now included in e2open’s Carrier Highlight innovation, which offers shippers access to featured transportation providers’ rates and capacity when favorable. The enhancement gives clients a streamlined and automated way to identify cost-saving opportunities while getting reliable service from a preferred e2open carrier partner showcased within the application. The shipper can seamlessly onboard Loadsmart to benefit from the currently highlighted cost savings and access Loadsmart as a new carrier partner for future savings opportunities. With API connectivity in e2open Carrier Marketplace, pricing comparisons happen instantly, enabling shippers to take immediate action. In addition, carriers in the network are afforded exposure to more shippers. As part of the Carrier Highlight workflow, e2open TMS users are presented with optimal transportation options dynamically during load planning, when there is an opportunity to tender the shipment at a lower cost. “Since its inception, Loadsmart has delivered value to its shipper clients by entering strategic partnerships with companies committed to being leaders in their space. Our expanded partnership with e2open allows all shippers to react quickly to market dynamics and move freight reliably and sustainably at an optimal cost—all from within the e2open TMS. We look forward to continuing to push the frontier of end-to-end freight management and to empower our clients further as they progress their supply chains toward digital maturity,” said Felipe Capella, CEO at Loadsmart. Loadsmart has been an e2open strategic partner since 2020; the expanded partnership provides e2open clients with access to real-time rates across their entire transportation network with the opportunity to achieve savings in all modes. “We formed our partnership with Loadsmart around a shared ambition to advance transportation management and seamlessly connect logistics to larger enterprise supply chain strategies,” said Peter Hantman, COO at e2open. “In this next phase of our partnership, clients will be able to simplify rating complexity across their entire transportation network and take advantage of the best rates per shipment to move goods cost-effectively and deliver reliably on customer commitments.” About Loadsmart Loadsmart is industry veterans and data-scientists using innovative technology to fearlessly reinvent the future of freight. As the ‘nerds of logistics’, we seek intelligence in data to solve deep-rooted inefficiencies in the industry. We give shippers, brokers and carriers access to our data connections (linking supply and demand) and suite of award-winning solutions to strike the perfect balance of cost and service. We’re creating a more efficient and environmentally responsible way to move more with less.

Read More

SUPPLY CHAIN

Leading US convenience chain Casey’s selects RELEX to optimize space plans and supply chain

businesswire | May 17, 2023

Casey’s General Stores, Inc, a leading convenience store chain in the United States, will partner with RELEX Solutions to implement a unified space planning and supply chain solution. RELEX will service Casey’s 2,400+ stores and support the company’s growth plans. RELEX’s space planning and supply chain solutions will help reduce the volume of manual work and improve order accuracy on a store-by-store basis. For example, RELEX will enable Casey’s space planning team to utilize logic in a framework of business rules, which the solution will use to help produce planograms that are optimized for greater efficiency and accuracy. “As the organization continues to grow, our central space planning team requires more efficient processes to manage everything from a more regionalized assortment, seasonal inventory to fresh product,” says Jim Hamilton, Sr. Space Planning Manager at Casey’s. “RELEX provides our planners a valuable ‘single source of truth’ to work from, enabling them to drive improvements to the guest experience at Casey’s.” Through the RELEX solution, Casey’s will also benefit from improved forecasting and replenishment, promotional planning, fresh optimization, and more. The unified solution will drive improvements to their supply chain by reducing waste, improving availability, and optimizing markdowns – particularly for fresh products – leading to more sales and a better customer experience. Along with fuel and convenience retail, Casey’s is the fifth largest pizza chain in the US, offering their customers freshly prepared foods including pizza, donuts, and assorted bakery items, beverages, and snacks. “Fresh products are a key component of our business, but we didn't have a system in place to balance freshness and availability,” says Doug Means, Senior Vice President of Supply Chain at Casey’s. “We were impressed by RELEX’s extensive knowledge and experience within the convenience industry. Their unified solution gives us a higher level of visibility into our plans and helps us solve operational challenges that drive value to our business and ultimately, our customers.” “RELEX has a track record of delivering rapid value on large-scale, complex implementations such as Casey’s,” says Keith Adams, Senior Vice President of North America, RELEX Solutions. “We pride ourselves on helping convenience stores improve everything from supply chain visibility to fresh product management, and we’re looking forward to delivering that same value for our partners at Casey’s.” About RELEX Solutions RELEX Solutions helps retailers and consumer brands drive profitable growth across all sales and distribution channels by maximizing customer satisfaction and minimizing operative costs. Our market-leading, unified supply chain and retail planning platform helps retailers and consumer goods companies align and optimize demand, merchandise, supply chain, and operations planning across the end-to-end value chain. We drive record-high product availability, increased sales, improved sustainability, and the best return on investment in inventory, space, workforce, and capacity. Leading brands like Dollar Tree and Family Dollar, Stokke, Rite Aid, Sprouts Farmers Market, AutoZone, and PetSmart trust RELEX to optimize their supply chain and retail planning.

Read More

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