Forklift Friday Fast 5

Welcome to Lift Truck Supply’s Forklift Friday Fast 5. Each week we will be sharing articles from around the web to keep you up to date on the latest news, technology, and interesting happenings in the material handling, distribution, logistics, and supply chain arena.

Check out what we are reading this week and get in the know!

1. OLD U.S. WAREHOUSES NOT MEETING CURRENT NEEDS Nearly 1 billion sq. ft. of total warehouse inventory are more than 50 years old and have clear heights of less than 20 feet—well below logistics tenant requirements.
2. FED ECONOMISTS SAY TARIFFS MORE LIKELY TO KILL THAN CREATE JOBS “U.S. exporters that need steel or steel-related inputs will face higher input costs and will have to either increase export prices or reduce their profit margins,” the New York Fed researchers wrote. “These effects could lead to lower employment in these steel-intensive industries and possibly plant shutdowns.”
3. THE WAREHOUSE OF THE FUTURE: MOBILE PIECE-PICKING ROBOTS BECOMING A REALITY “Slow and steady” perhaps best defined the development of commercial robotics in the past. The anticipation for advancements has been building for many years. But the progress is clear, and many industries are now seeing the widespread benefits of implementing such tools.
4. 3 WAYS AI WILL UPEND LOGISTICS AI has been a buzzword in the supply chain world for a while, but the joint report from IBM and DHL provides the kind of detail supply chain managers and logistics professionals are looking for.
5. XPO INTEGRATES LAST-MILE DELIVERY DATA WITH GOOGLE AND AMAZON VOICE APPLICATIONS Transportation and logistics provider XPO Logistics Inc. said today it will launch a voice-operated application allowing consumers to track orders through XPO’s last-mile delivery network by speaking to household electronics such as Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa.

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