From autonomous forklifts to smart sorting robots, emerging technologies are taking hold throughout the warehouse as logistics services providers seek to boost productivity, improve safety, and respond to labor shortages.
Victoria Kickham, Senior Editor, started her career as a newspaper reporter in the Boston area before moving into B2B journalism. She has covered manufacturing, distribution, and supply chain issues for a variety of publications in the industrial and electronics sectors, and now writes about warehousing, transportation, and logistics trends for DC VELOCITY. Victoria earned a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of New Hampshire and a master’s degree in English from Northeastern University.
As logistics services providers struggle with accelerating consumer demand, sluggish supply lines, and labor challenges, many are moving beyond the exploratory phase of automating their warehouses and are putting systems to work. A Gartner survey of more than 500 supply chain professionals bears this out: 96% of respondents polled for its 2020 Gartner Supply Chain Technology User Wants and Needs survey said they had used or plan to use cyber-physical automation in their warehousing and manufacturing operations. These are highly automated, intelligent systems that integrate physical and software components—robotic systems are a good example. Looking ahead, the report suggests nearly every warehouse will be using a robot in some way within the next decade.
Many are already well on their way to achieving that goal. Here’s a look at how a handful of companies are using cyber-physical automation to address efficiency and labor challenges.
AUTONOMOUS FORKLIFTS IN ACTION
Contract logistics specialist DHL Supply Chain is one example of a company moving full-steam ahead to implement cyber-physical solutions. The company started to explore autonomous forklifts for its warehouses about four years ago and is now using them at locations across the U.S. The effort is part of a plan to implement a range of automated warehouse technologies, including various autonomous vehicle solutions, and serves as an example of how the company is putting some of the latest tech to work. Its autonomous high-reach fork trucks are doing 100% of pallet putaway and picking at some locations, controlled by each facility’s warehouse management system (WMS).
“[These are] fully autonomous solutions integrated with our WMS,” explains Brian Gaunt, a senior director who is responsible for innovation and robotics for DHL Supply Chain in North America. The system automates the challenging task of manually running a high-reach fork truck—which requires considerable training to operate safely and effectively. The system is helping to improve productivity while also addressing labor and safety issues, he says.
“In a challenging labor market, you can’t just hire anyone and have them do this task,” Gaunt adds. “We like to think that these systems are also making it safer in that they are taking these more challenging movements and doing them [without human intervention].”
The autonomous forklift project began as a larger testing program designed to address pallet movement in the warehouse. Looking to improve upon that process, company leaders began by investigating a range of solutions and vendors—including, but not limited to, autonomous equipment; determined where they might find the greatest value; tested some solutions; and then rolled out what worked best, where it made the most sense. The autonomous high-reach fork trucks turned out to be a prime solution for a number of locations.
“We really look at our warehouses as a series of use cases that we string together,” Gaunt says, explaining that managers may start with 20 possible use cases for pallet movement, but only end up testing and implementing a portion of them. “That’s the progression. It’s very much an iterative process.”
The autonomous forklift project will soon be rolled out on a larger scale.
“It takes a while to get familiar with [the system]. Now, we’re at a point where we’re comfortable with the handful we have, so we’re in the scaling mode, which is exactly where we want to be,” Gaunt says, adding that DHL plans to implement the forklifts at more locations nationwide.
SMART SORTING ROBOTS
Parcel carrier FedEx Ground is advancing with cyber-physical automation as well, with recent examples in New York, Ohio, and Nevada. Partnering with robotics firm Berkshire Grey, the company has implemented a robotic sortation solution for autonomous package processing—a move that’s in direct response to accelerated e-commerce activity.
The company is using Berkshire Grey’s Robotic Product Sortation and Identification (RPSi) system at a Queens, New York, facility to robotically sort the thousands of small packages that arrive daily in bulk into containers bound for other facilities across the FedEx Ground network. The artificial intelligence (AI)-based system autonomously picks, identifies, sorts, collects, and “containerizes” individual poly bags, tubes, padded mailers, and other small packages that have traditionally been sorted manually. The system requires fewer package handlers to operate, allowing FedEx to reallocate workers to other tasks in the facility. Other benefits include enhanced productivity, efficiency, and safety, as well as greater flexibility to adjust to changing package volumes and sizes, according to Ted Dengel, managing director of operations technology and innovation at FedEx Ground.
The system also addresses the tricky challenge of scanning labels. In traditional package sortation, workers have to position parcels so the label can be scanned properly. Berkshire Grey’s system uses technology that allows bar codes to be read from any angle in milliseconds, without manual intervention, according to Jessica Moran, the company’s senior vice president, parcels and 3PL businesses.
FedEx Ground’s success in Queens has prompted other implementations; the company was testing similar systems at sortation facilities in Columbus, Ohio, and Las Vegas this past fall.
SPEEDY ROBOTIC ASSISTANTS
Accelerating e-commerce was the driver for a similar sortation solution at Greek logistics and transportation services provider Athinaiki, S.A. Working with global autonomous mobile robot (AMR) developer Geek+ Robotics and systems integrator FDL, the company has deployed smart sorting robots in one of its e-commerce fulfillment warehouses, with the ultimate goal of speeding last-mile delivery to customers throughout Greece and Cyprus.
Set in a roughly 6,000-square-foot warehouse, 29 sorting robots help warehouse employees sort 1,400 to 1,500 parcels per hour. Employees put ordered goods onto sorting robots that automatically transfer the parcels to one of 104 sorting cages bound for different destinations. The AMRs travel freely through the warehouse, with no wires or fixed infrastructure, making it easy for Athinaiki to scale up or down to meet throughput demand by adjusting the number of robots and sorting destinations. The robots are controlled by a robot management system (RMS) and powered by algorithms, creating a solution that monitors robot traffic and balances each robot’s tasks to achieve maximum sorting efficiency and accuracy, according to Geek+ Robotics.
THE ROAD AHEAD
It won’t be long before some of the systems in place now will begin “thinking” for themselves. Among Gartner’s picks for top strategic technologies for 2022 are “autonomic” computing systems: self-managing physical or software systems that learn from their environments. As the company described it in a report this past October: “Unlike automated or even autonomous systems, autonomic systems can dynamically modify their own algorithms without an external software update, enabling them to rapidly adapt to new conditions in the field, much like humans can.”
The technology is already being used in complex security systems, Gartner says, and in the longer term will find its way into physical systems such as robots, drones, manufacturing machines, and smart spaces.
The balance of power in the global logistics and industrial real estate sector is tilting towards landlords, marking a “significant shift” with wide-reaching implications for occupiers, investors, and developers, according to a report from Cushman & Wakefield.
The change comes as global supply chains are reconfigured and cost pressures evolve, Chicago-based Cushman & Wakefield said in its “Waypoint 2025” report, which draws on insights from more than 120 markets worldwide.
The research reveals that the proportion of tenant-favorable markets is expected to fall sharply from 52% today to just 28% by 2028. This change is being driven by constrained supply, robust demand, and rising costs across key inputs such as rent, labor, construction materials, and electricity. At the same time, landlord-favorable markets are forecast to rise from 24% to 35%, signaling a more competitive leasing environment in the years ahead for occupiers.
“With the global logistics and industrial sector set to shift in favor of landlords, occupiers should move quickly to secure current assets or plan for new facilities, particularly in markets where vacancy rates may tighten,” Sally Bruer, Head of EMEA Logistics & Industrial and Retail Research, said in a release. “As markets move toward more landlord-favorable conditions, confidence in the delivery of new supply may grow, provided construction costs remain manageable.”
In the Americas, there is expected to be a significant shift away from the current tenant market conditions and towards neutral and landlord positions. The current tenor is that 72% of markets are more tenant-friendly, but this will reduce to just 23% in the next three years.
“We’re witnessing a rebalancing of global supply chains that is accelerating demand in key nearshoring markets like Mexico and the southeastern United States,” Jason Tolliver, Cushman’s President of Americas Logistics & Industrial, said. “This window of tenant-favorable conditions won’t last forever. For many occupiers, now is the time to act on mission-critical sites before the balance tips.”
The report also explores how cost pressures are reshaping location strategies. For example, labor costs vary significantly across regions, with average logistics and industrial wages in Switzerland nearly double the global average, while countries such as India and Vietnam remain far more cost-effective. These disparities are prompting companies to reassess their site selection criteria, taking into account not only wages but also energy reliability and the potential for automation, Cushman & Wakefield said.
As manufacturers increasingly embrace artificial intelligence on shop floors, an industry group is calling for a national policy framework that supports U.S.-based AI growth, innovation, and leadership.
According to the NAM’s report, “Shaping the AI-Powered Factory of the Future,” American manufacturers are currently using AI in various ways. Three examples include: AI-powered cameras to enhance worker safety and eliminate product defaults; AI simulations to design new products and optimize shop floor operations; and AI data analytics to control costs and manage supply chains more efficiently.
Overall, 51% of manufacturers already use AI in their operations, with 61% expecting investment in AI will increase by 2027. By 2030, 80% say AI will be essential to growing or maintaining their business, the report found.
However, the report also said that manufacturers face ongoing barriers to using and scaling AI, with 65% of respondents reporting they lack the right data for AI applications and 62% citing data that is unstructured or poorly formatted.
To help manufacturers tackle those challenges, the report named areas where manufacturers may require additional investment, such as modernizing data architectures, developing a more knowledgeable workforce, building organizational trust, and accelerating legacy infrastructure upgrades.
Toward those goals, the NAM has proposed a series of policy recommendations:
Adopt a pro-AI regulatory approach given the growing number and variety of use cases in AI in manufacturing, which require an optimized regulatory environment.
Develop the manufacturing workforce of the AI age by supporting training programs, career and technical education institutions and STEM education and immigration. According to the MLC’s report, 82% of manufacturers cite a lack of AI-ready skills as the top workforce challenge.
Advance energy and permitting reform to support AI-related data center growth.
Protect personal data by passing a comprehensive privacy law that preempts state laws, provides liability protections that prevent frivolous litigation and adopts a risk-based approach that enables innovation and AI.
Support U.S. manufacturing of AI chips by executing funding agreements with chip manufacturers and renewing the Advanced Manufacturing Investment Credit.
Incentivize U.S. AI innovation by passing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that preserves pro-manufacturing tax policies.
“Artificial intelligence isn’t new to manufacturing. For years, manufacturers have been developing and deploying AI-driven technologies—machine vision, digital twins, robotics and more—to make shop floors smarter, supply chains stronger and workplaces safer,” NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons said in a release. “The latest report from the MLC reinforces the need for modernized, agile, pro-manufacturing AI policy solutions, so that manufacturers can continue to innovate on shop floors across America.”
Outsourcing your warehouse operations to a third-party logistics service provider (3PL) is no easy task; it takes work to get the relationship just right. A clear set of objectives, transparency in day-to-day business dealings, and frank discussions about the role of automation and emerging technologies are among the most important aspects of the relationship between 3PL and client—with clear communication and mutual understanding at the top of the list.
“The key to any of our business relationships is communication,” explains Mike Holland, director of key accounts for North American 3PL Ryder System Inc. “And that not only has to do with addressing problems, but also being fair with [issues such as] rent negotiations and addressing various costs so that both parties come away with a win.”
Danielle Agnew, vice president of strategic partnerships for 3PL CJ Logistics America, a division of South Korea-based conglomerate CJ Group, agrees.
“[I spend] 80% of my time thinking about this: How do we become that partner of choice?” she says, adding that a good 3PL does more than just carry out routine transactions on your behalf. “There are plenty of companies that can bring pallets in, store pallets, and physically [handle] all the movements. A good 3PL and true partner is someone who is working to understand your business.”
In light of those issues, Holland, Agnew, and other experts offer the following three pieces of advice for managing a 3PL relationship.
1. BUILD A PARTNERSHIP
First, a one-size-fits-all approach never works. That’s because every business is different, with its own unique goals and requirements. Agnew uses the recent hot-button issue of tariffs to illustrate the point.
“[Tariffs] affect everyone differently—[depending on] whether you’re dealing with grocery, tobacco, raw materials, or finished goods. Having open and honest conversations about what’s going on globally and how it’s affecting [customers] locally is important,” she says, noting that some customers may be trying to figure out how to shift production to the United States, while others may be seeking new strategies for importing. “We work closely with them to model [different scenarios] and see how we can support them.”
In other instances, customers may require less formal guidance—perhaps a list of available warehouse space in particular regions of the country. The 3PL can then help the customer drill down further to determine the size and type of facility required and analyze the impact of a potential move on transportation costs, for example.
Whatever the case, understanding each other’s needs and capabilities is vital to building and maintaining a good partnership.
“The key is being able to have open dialogue—conversations,” adds Holland. “Especially when there are problems and issues, [so you can] resolve them.”
2. COMMUNICATE YOUR OBJECTIVES
It’s also vital for the 3PL to understand why a client is outsourcing—and for clients to understand all that the 3PL brings to the table.
“Where the relationships tend to work best is when both parties understand [how they] fit [into] each other’s business strategies,” explains Chris Blickhan, vice president of business development at contract logistics specialist DHL Supply Chain. “For us, having a fundamental understanding of our customers’ objectives, strategies, and [business] issues [is] one of the cornerstones of a good relationship.”
For customers, he says, it’s important to understand the 3PL’s service offering and whether or not it will fit their needs.
Beyond that, there are a handful of drivers behind most outsourcing strategies—such as the need to scale a business, improve service levels, and keep up with industry innovations and emerging technologies, including warehouse robotics and automation.
“Third parties like us tend to stay in the forefront in finding use cases for [technology] in supply chains,” Blickhan says, pointing to robot-assisted fulfillment and artificial intelligence (AI)-based solutions for inventory and customer service functions as examples.
Cost optimization is another benefit 3PLs bring to the table.
“Working with third parties can help you stay on the leading edge [in that regard],” Blickhan adds. “Particularly for businesses looking to streamline their supply chains and achieve overall efficiency.”
Agnew adds that working with a 3PL can help companies navigate supply chain shifts, changes, and challenges.
“The changes are happening to everyone, and [as] a 3PL partner, we hear things from different people and can say ‘Hey, have you considered this?’” she says. “We can ask intelligent questions—based on our experience working with a lot of different companies.”
3. BE REALISTIC ABOUT AUTOMATION
Another rule of thumb: Don’t assume that all those warehouse robots you’ve seen are the best solution to your particular logistics challenges.
“Everyone wants the shiny new thing,” Agnew says. She adds that with a 3PL, you’ll “see what’s possible [although] not all of it [will make] sense for your business.”
Automation and technology, including AI, are often high on a client’s wish list when evaluating a 3PL, but the experts say it’s best to be realistic and consider the return on investment (ROI) those innovations can bring. Technology can run the gamut—from automated forklifts and pallet movers to autonomous mobile robots (AMRs)—and the type of 3PL relationship you have will determine who’s investing.
“In some cases, we are spending the money to draw customers in. But in other cases, our customers are choosing to invest in the automation, and we operate it,” Agnew explains. “We help vet some of that, depending on your business and what your needs are.”
Holland emphasizes the importance of working with your 3PL to evaluate those technology options. He recalls a client that wanted to implement autonomous guided vehicles (AGVs) in a facility a few years ago—only to find out that it didn’t make sense.
“The first part of that analysis is to decide what the ROI would be—and what the labor force gain would be—using AGVs [versus] having a person on the floor to manage that activity,” he explains. “[In this case], the activity wasn’t there to support any savings [from the investment].”
But situations can change as technology advances and businesses evolve—and that highlights the importance of keeping communication lines open and partnerships strong.
“It certainly is a very exciting time for us in what’s developing, technologically speaking,” Blickhan says. “The demand from the marketplace to stay at the forefront of emerging technology is growing and quite high.
“We’re meeting our customers where they are in their maturity curve and then sharing with them what we would do in their shoes.”
Globally, nearly 60% of companies expect a negative impact from the Trump administration’s “Liberation Day” tariff rollout on April 2. That’s according to a survey of 4,500 companies from China, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Singapore, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States, conducted in March and April by international credit insurer Allianz Trade.
The Allianz Trade Global Survey 2025 also found that the unpredictability of U.S. trade policy is dampening exporters’ confidence, with 42% of respondents saying they expect their firms’ annual income to decline between 2% and 10% over the next 12 months, compared to fewer than 5% who said so before the April 2 trade announcements.
“In sharp contrast to the optimism seen before the April 2 tariff wave, this year’s Global Survey confirms what we’re observing across markets: uncertainty and fragmentation are becoming structural,” Aylin Somersan Coqui, CEO of Allianz Trade, said in a statement announcing the survey results earlier this month. “‘Liberation Day’ exposed the vulnerabilities of companies with highly concentrated supply chains and export markets.”
As the uncertainty continues, companies are relying on “coping mechanisms” such as passing on higher costs, diversification, and looking for alternative shipping routes, the survey also found.
Other key findings include:
·U.S. firms are decoupling from China and reshoring to Western Europe and Latin America, with 62% saying they plan to reroute supply chains to avoid U.S. tariffs.
·Despite a short-term U.S.-China tariff reprieve, decoupling is expected to continue as both sides shift export and supply chain strategies to friendlier markets.
·48% of companies said they expect rising non-payment risk, and 24% anticipate longer payment terms, especially in retail, agrifood, and manufacturing.
·Europe and Latin America emerge as trade winners, with Chinese and European firms increasingly eyeing these regions as safe harbors for exports and investment.
And the Chicago company said it will add more AI to its software systems by the end of 2025, enabling its TMS to “evolve beyond a system of record to become a real-time logistics command center that proactively guides users of all sizes with intelligence and automated repetitive tasks.”
The advancements bring to market more than 30 AI agents automating execution across the shipment lifecycle, while its generative AI tool—called “Insights AI”—delivers always-on recommendations to help shippers using the TMS to proactively navigate disruption, reduce cost, and improve service across their networks.
According to Uber Freight, those AI agents manage procurement, execution, tracking, payments, and analytics––thus freeing human logistics teams to focus on strategic priorities such as exception management, cost control, and network optimization.
“Logistics is one of the most complex, data-rich industries on Earth, and it demands AI that’s purpose-built to understand it,” Raj Subbiah, Chief Product Officer of Uber Freight, said in a release. “We built a domain-specific model that thinks like a logistics expert. That foundation enables us to proactively and continuously optimize our customers' networks.”