Transcripts
Hello, and welcome back to another episode of Unboxing the Trends.
Speaker:I'm your host, Tim Rangan, and I'm joined once again by the host of
Speaker:Unboxing Logistics, Lori Boyer.
Speaker:Lori, it's great to have you back.
Speaker:We've been gone for a couple months.
Speaker:How have you been?
Speaker:How's your summer been?
Speaker:Have you been up to anything fun lately?
Speaker:I am so excited to be back.
Speaker:I mean, is there anything more fun than unboxing the trends
Speaker:and learning about logistics?
Speaker:But no, I am, I have coming up my first ever trip to Canada.
Speaker:Whoa.
Speaker:That's exciting.
Speaker:That's in August.
Speaker:But other than that, we had a little family get together
Speaker:for my mom's 75th birthday.
Speaker:That was super fun and just kind of trying to stay cool from the Texas heat.
Speaker:Yeah, I bet.
Speaker:Well, happy birthday, mom.
Speaker:It's it's good to be back with you, Lori.
Speaker:Let's go ahead and jump right in.
Speaker:I know we've got a lot to talk about since we missed, I believe we missed June.
Speaker:So a lot of trends coming up over the last couple months.
Speaker:Let's just start with that.
Speaker:What have you seen, what have you heard what's some of the biggest news
Speaker:happening in shipping and logistics?
Speaker:It's been a pretty remarkable month for automation and last mile innovation.
Speaker:First Amazon hit a really cool milestone.
Speaker:They've now deployed over a million robots in their warehouses.
Speaker:They're actually at the point now where the number of robots they have outnumber
Speaker:their human workers, which is crazy.
Speaker:You know, we've talked about kind of the robotic, futuristic world and it's not
Speaker:really theoretical, it's kind of reality.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:We're also seeing when it comes to robots on this kind of automation and
Speaker:robot trend in the warehouse DHL just this last month announced rolling out.
Speaker:Thousands of stretch robots.
Speaker:Boston Dynamic Stretch robots, I think they're called.
Speaker:It's gonna automate all of their truck unloading, which is really cool.
Speaker:So kind of keeping a close eye on warehouse robotics going on right now.
Speaker:Last mile though.
Speaker:So we talked about automation in the warehouse also this, in June, Walmart
Speaker:in conjunction with a company called Wing announced the largest drone
Speaker:delivery expansion that we've ever seen.
Speaker:So a hundred new stores across a bunch of major metro areas, including
Speaker:Houston and Atlanta, a bunch of places are adding to this drone piece, so.
Speaker:It's a clear sign.
Speaker:If you've been around and watched me on anything over the last couple of years,
Speaker:you know that I'm kind of a drone lover, a secret drone stan, as the kids would say.
Speaker:So just kind of moving past those though, just that novelty stage,
Speaker:it's expanding into something that people are starting to use and expect.
Speaker:So I think overall kind of that theme that we're seeing in June, and I
Speaker:think it's an interesting month as we're moving, you know, it's early
Speaker:enough before peak season hits.
Speaker:We're seeing automation.
Speaker:It's here.
Speaker:This isn't a futuristic, it's coming.
Speaker:It, it's already here.
Speaker:And I want, if you give me, just forgive me, Tim, 'cause this is
Speaker:technically, the stuff happened in May, but we weren't here.
Speaker:So carriers.
Speaker:We talk carriers constantly.
Speaker:That's us, our bread and butter.
Speaker:So yeah, we've been seeing a couple of shifts in the carrier landscape,
Speaker:specifically when it comes to UPS and FedEx and their relationship with Amazon.
Speaker:So UPS has pulled back a whole bunch from its Amazon business, while FedEx has
Speaker:picked up a bunch of the Amazon volume.
Speaker:So what does that mean?
Speaker:When I talk to businesses, they're like, okay, how does
Speaker:that impact me as a shipper?
Speaker:I would just say, if you're super UPS dependent, you might see maybe a
Speaker:little bit of disruption in having, you know, the consolidated facilities
Speaker:and, and the network itself.
Speaker:So maybe some sort of reliability concerns.
Speaker:On the flip side, if you are really heavily def dependent on
Speaker:FedEx you'll have great, steady operation that's expanded, but
Speaker:you might have some capacity, you might face tight, tighter capacity.
Speaker:And we're actually seeing a little bit of, of rate hikes coming on, especially
Speaker:on those bulky shipments that you may see as they're absorbing that Amazon freight.
Speaker:So either way, I just say always, this is definitely a year to make
Speaker:sure you have a contingency plan.
Speaker:Make sure that you're looking into expanding your carrier network.
Speaker:That's something that, again, isn't just the future, but is here.
Speaker:That's kind of what I'm seeing on the carrier side.
Speaker:Love it.
Speaker:Lots going on, just like we talked about.
Speaker:Okay, so that's super fascinating that Amazon now has more robots in
Speaker:their warehouse than human workers.
Speaker:You, you never think we were gonna get to that point, but
Speaker:here it is, 2025, we're there.
Speaker:It's fascinating.
Speaker:So you made a couple comments.
Speaker:I wanted to dive into a couple of these areas.
Speaker:So first we're gonna go into, you know, all about drones.
Speaker:So you said you're kind of a drone aficionado.
Speaker:I'm a drone nerd.
Speaker:A drone nerd.
Speaker:So, okay, Lori, lay it on us.
Speaker:What do you think is the biggest factor that may decide whether
Speaker:drones see a huge uptick in being a delivery method or if it fizzles out.
Speaker:I feel like we've been hearing about drones for like the last decade.
Speaker:And maybe now we're starting to see some of that technology take effect
Speaker:and more companies start to adopt that as a, as an emerging technology.
Speaker:But what are your thoughts?
Speaker:What's gonna help it gain traction?
Speaker:What's gonna maybe see a fizzle.
Speaker:Tim, right on the nose with that.
Speaker:Every time I bring up drones, half the people roll their eyes
Speaker:and they're like, whatever.
Speaker:Drones are never gonna work.
Speaker:And some of 'em are nerds like me.
Speaker:I just really love technology and like to pretend I'm living like
Speaker:with the Jetsons or something.
Speaker:So drones seem cool, but I think actually the biggest piece that kind
Speaker:of is gonna play into how drones really scale, or if it just sticks where it is.
Speaker:I mean, people are obviously investing in it, so there's obviously that investment
Speaker:piece, but the biggest challenge right now is actually regulation.
Speaker:Mm.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:It was about a year ago, I think it was May of 2024 that Amazon got the
Speaker:first FAA approval to fly drones beyond the visual line of sight.
Speaker:So before that point, the drone operator actually had to be able to see the
Speaker:drone at all times, which obviously didn't make it scalable or effective.
Speaker:So, they were able to get that approval kind of by a special waiver.
Speaker:And, and then that was what got Amazon starting.
Speaker:You know, we saw drone expansion of deliveries in like College
Speaker:Station, Texas, places like that.
Speaker:Because they didn't have to have people tracking.
Speaker:But we haven't had a nationwide rule for that.
Speaker:Right now, every individual company, so Walmart.
Speaker:Walmart actually didn't have to for this because Wing, the company they
Speaker:worked, with already had that waiver.
Speaker:But every person who wants to has to go and go through a process, get a waiver.
Speaker:We don't have a national rule.
Speaker:We've seen a lot about drones in the news over the last month.
Speaker:You guys may have noticed as you're watching out there, that was because just
Speaker:this week, July 7th was supposed to be the date set by Congress where we were
Speaker:supposed to have passed a nationwide framework to allow, figure out how
Speaker:to do this and and it didn't happen.
Speaker:So obviously that's made it a little bit more complicated.
Speaker:I don't know what the FAA will do moving forward, but I think if
Speaker:regulators stay cautious, and they often are, expansion is gonna be slow.
Speaker:So yeah, if on the cost side, obviously it's gotta be a moneymaker, so if
Speaker:drone delivery is cheaper than a regular van drop off, it will work.
Speaker:If it is not cheaper, it's gonna stay really niche.
Speaker:And so I think in the next couple of years let's just keep an eye on it.
Speaker:I think we'll see drones thrive really in those dense suburban areas where
Speaker:there's high demand maybe high cost SKUs.
Speaker:Things like that are gonna really play into the drone arena, but, but not all.
Speaker:So yeah.
Speaker:Regulation and cost.
Speaker:Just keep an eye on it.
Speaker:And someday I'm gonna get my first drone delivery and I'm gonna
Speaker:take a picture and celebrate.
Speaker:Seems like those are always the two factors that come into play
Speaker:with anything, regulation and cost.
Speaker:So it's right in line with pretty much everything else.
Speaker:You know what's really cool is I watched a video of a drone display for the 4th of
Speaker:July, and it was, it was basically a King Kong silhouette climbing up the Empire
Speaker:State Building but they were all drones.
Speaker:So if they don't make it in the shipping and logistics and delivery
Speaker:aspect, they still can, you know, stay in their niche of drone shows.
Speaker:I appreciate that, Tim.
Speaker:I can love drones in all kinds of arenas.
Speaker:There you go.
Speaker:There you go.
Speaker:All right, Lori, let's let's switch gears a little bit.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:We're gonna still stay in kind of robotics, but I want to talk
Speaker:about robotics enabled warehouses.
Speaker:Okay?
Speaker:So if we have listeners right now that are wondering, you know, we
Speaker:wanna start automating, we're not really sure how we get into that
Speaker:game or how we get into that space.
Speaker:What's step one, or what are some recommendations that you may have,
Speaker:Lori, for them to kind of take that first step into enabling
Speaker:robotics within their warehouses?
Speaker:Great, great question Tim.
Speaker:Obviously it's easy to look at Amazon's million robots
Speaker:and have massive investment.
Speaker:I'm in trouble, I don't even have one robot, you know.
Speaker:My advice is to pick one of your workflows.
Speaker:If you've listened to Lori Boyer, you know, I'm always about picking one.
Speaker:So pick one workflow.
Speaker:Look for one that is repetitive and measurable, repetitive and measurable.
Speaker:Maybe your trailer unloading your goods to person, picking something
Speaker:that you can easily measure.
Speaker:And then get some automation there.
Speaker:Do it in a single case.
Speaker:Prove the ROI on that single use case and then continue to scale.
Speaker:I wanna make a little note here.
Speaker:We need to get automation.
Speaker:If you have the smallest warehouse, there still amazing things
Speaker:you can do with automation.
Speaker:It would, even if you have the most massive, like some of those
Speaker:huge Amazon ones, those small ones could make a big difference.
Speaker:I want to say though, don't forget the people side.
Speaker:Sometimes we get excited about the tech, but you know, Amazon, in addition
Speaker:to having a million robots, have talked about that they are working on
Speaker:investment in upskilling hundreds of thousands of employees to work with.
Speaker:So smaller companies, you still need to do the same.
Speaker:It's just gonna be a smaller scale.
Speaker:So you're not gonna just drop some tech in without training.
Speaker:Make sure that your people are part of the process.
Speaker:Ask your people where you, they think that things could be automated.
Speaker:Get them involved from the beginning and make sure you're focusing on
Speaker:those people during the same thing.
Speaker:So yeah, start small.
Speaker:Don't get overwhelmed.
Speaker:Make sure it's repetitive and measurable.
Speaker:Don't forget the people.
Speaker:That would be my advice if you're wanting to automate.
Speaker:I, I, I love that recommendation, Lori.
Speaker:Oftentimes what we find is when you're making changes with any type of area of
Speaker:your business, if you can find employee champions of those changes that you're
Speaker:making, it just makes the whole process that much easier for everybody involved.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:You don't wanna force people into things that they are not invested in.
Speaker:So, great point, Tim.
Speaker:Well, Lori, this has been a great episode.
Speaker:Lots going on over the last
Speaker:... Super futuristic, huh?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Super.
Speaker:Few drones and robotic enabled warehouses.
Speaker:So the works.
Speaker:Looking ahead, let's let's talk about one thing that you think everyone in logistics
Speaker:should be paying close attention to.
Speaker:So as you look, you know, we're, we're right on the
Speaker:precipice of peak season, right?
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Hold on.
Speaker:So peak's gonna be starting up in full swing here in the
Speaker:next month, month and a half.
Speaker:So what's the one thing in shipping logistics you think everybody
Speaker:should keep their attention on as we head into the end of the year?
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:First thing that you should totally be watching, don't take your eye
Speaker:off for a second, is Lori Boyer.
Speaker:The Unboxing Logistics podcast.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:I'm cheating.
Speaker:Well said.
Speaker:Well, well said.
Speaker:It's a nice plug, but
Speaker:... I do wanna try to make sure, you mentioned peak season.
Speaker:We are having a full blown campaign all around peak season.
Speaker:I've been talking to experts from retail, from, you know, Forrester
Speaker:to tell us what are retailers doing.
Speaker:I've been talking to experts in transportation and automation and really
Speaker:diving into the research to see what are big companies doing to manage tariffs.
Speaker:And so if you have any questions around peak, I've really, really been dedicating
Speaker:a huge amount of time into trying to study and figure out what you need to know.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:Do stay attuned to Unboxing Logistics, but if you had to look away from me
Speaker:for a minute I would, I'm personally gonna be watching to see kind of how
Speaker:these big, large scale automation deployments actually pay off.
Speaker:I think, yeah, Amazon hitting parity between robots and humans is massive
Speaker:and historic, but it's also crazy, a real test of whether robots can
Speaker:consistently deliver faster and cheaper without introducing new challenges.
Speaker:Often we get new challenges, so I'm really interested to keep an eye on that.
Speaker:I'm really also keeping my eye on what the, the midsize regional players are
Speaker:doing to adopt robotics, AI because, you know, that's when we know that automation
Speaker:is really mainstream when we see the, the mid-level players really adapting.
Speaker:So agility is the name of the game though.
Speaker:As we're going into peak season, 2025 has been an insane year.
Speaker:It's still gonna be crazy, and so I just say be agile, be ready to pivot.
Speaker:Don't look for a perfect playbook.
Speaker:You're just gonna have to be willing to, you know, take the hits as they come.
Speaker:So that's my advice for you today.
Speaker:Love it.
Speaker:Well, thank you, Lori.
Speaker:This has been another episode of Unboxing the Trends featuring
Speaker:our very own Lori Boyer.
Speaker:Please remember to like and subscribe so you can stay up to date on all the trends
Speaker:that we talk about in Unboxing the Trends.
Speaker:And until next time, we'll see you then.
Speaker:See you everybody.
