Skip to content
Search AI Powered
Human content, AI powered search.

Latest Stories

Third Wave Automation gains fresh financial backing from Qualcomm and Zebra

Firm plans to integrate its autonomous forklift technology with Zebra’s Fetch robots.

thirdwave TWA_ClarkNPX_20_2.jpeg
Supply Chain Quarterly Staff
By Supply Chain Quarterly StaffFeb 15, 2023
Supply Chain Quarterly Staff
See Full Bio

Third Wave Automation (TWA), which provides artificial intelligence (AI) for high-reach autonomous forklifts, has landed a new investment wave from Qualcomm Ventures and Zebra Technologies that brings its total funding to $70 million.

California-based Third Wave did not specify the amount of the round, but a $40 million “series B” round in 2021 had brought the company’s total backing to $59 million.

Stocked with the new cash, Third Wave plans to accelerate new innovations as its first product expands its select pilot program, the firm said. Third Wave said it will now expand its market offerings, accelerate new solutions for automating other classes of forklifts—including narrow aisle and counterbalance trucks—and integrate with automation solutions such as Fetch Robotics, which is now part of Zebra Technologies.

“As our supply chain customers continue to battle labor shortages, they are turning to automation solutions to improve productivity. TWA's autonomous, high-reach fork trucks streamline warehouse workflows, enabling operators to increase throughput and lower costs while also improving worker safety," Tony Palcheck, managing director of Zebra Ventures at Zebra Technologies, said in a release.

Third Wave says its “TWA Reach” platform is the only forklift automation solution on the market today that offers users the flexibility to deploy their fleet in four modalities: fully autonomous, remote operation, remote assist, and traditional manual operation. According to the firm, customers in pilot deployments have used that technology enable users to meet their daily quota of throughput in inbound putaway, replenishment, and outbound workflows.

“The increasing adoption of advanced robotics, artificial intelligence (AI) and 5G connectivity is facilitating the use of autonomous solutions within the warehouse,” said Carlos Kokron, vice president, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and managing director, Qualcomm Ventures Americas, said in a release. “Third Wave Automation’s shared autonomy approach with continuous learning capabilities delivers immediate value to the customers by easily integrating with existing workflows while enhancing labor productivity and safety. We are excited to invest in Third Wave Automation to bring next-generation autonomy to the forklifts.”

 

ArticleTechnology
third wave automationqualcommzebra technologies
ArticleTechnology
third wave automationqualcommzebra technologies

Recent

More Stories

Photo of one woman a lectern and four women seated in high stools on a stage in front of an audience.

Supply Chain Xchange Executive Editor Susan Lacefield moderates a panel discussion with Supply Chain Xchange's Outstanding Women in Supply Chain Award Winners (from left to right) Annette Danek-Akey, Sherry Harriman, Leslie O'Regan, and Ammie McAsey.

Diane Rand

Supply Chain Xchange recognizes four practitioners with "Outstanding Women in Supply Chain Award"

Supply Chain Xchange recognized four women who have made significant contributions to the supply chain management profession today with its second annual Outstanding Women in Supply Chain Award. The award winners include Annette Danek-Akey, Chief Supply Chain Officer at Barnes & Noble; Sherry Harriman, Senior Vice President of Logistics and Supply Chain for Academy Sports + Outdoors; Leslie O’Regan, Director of Product Management for DC Systems & 3PLs at American Eagle Outfitters; and Ammie McAsey, Senior Vice President of Customer Distribution Experience for McKesson’s U.S. Pharmaceutical division.

Throughout their careers, these four supply chain executive have demonstrated strategic thinking, innovative problem solving, and effective leadership as well as a commitment to giving back to the profession.

Keep ReadingShow less

Featured

containers on ship passing under bridge
Article

CSCMP calls on White House to prevent port strike

Deutsche Bahn to sell DB Schenker to DSV
Featured

Deutsche Bahn to sell DB Schenker to DSV

strip of RFID tags
Blog

Key technical considerations for RFID item tagging of nonapparel products

map of hurricane track forecast
Transportation

Helene threatens Florida as storm nears hurricane strength

panel at cscmp edge conference nashville

Smoothing out the wrinkles in the nearshoring trend

The surge of “nearshoring” supply chains from China to Mexico offers obvious benefits in cost, geography, and shipping time, as long as U.S. companies are realistic about smoothing out the challenges of the burgeoning trend, according to a panel today at the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP)’s EDGE Conference in Nashville.

Those challenges span a list including: developing infrastructure, weak security, manual processes, and shifting regulations, speakers said in a session titled “Nearshoring: Transforming Surface Transportation in the U.S.”

Keep ReadingShow less
panel speakers cscmp edge conference nashville

After a cyberattack, quick reaction is critical, Estes says

A quick reaction in the first 24 hours is critical for keeping your business running after a cyberattack, according to Estes Express Lines, the less than truckload (LTL) carrier whose computer systems were struck by hackers in October, 2023.

Immediately after discovering the breach, the company cut off their internet, called in a third-party information technology (IT) support team, and then used their only remaining tools—employees’ personal email and phone contacts—to start reaching out to their shipper clients. The message on Day One: even though the company was reduced to running the business with paper and pencil instead of computers, they were still picking up loads on time with trucks.

Keep ReadingShow less
speakers at CSCMP Edge conference nashville

East and Gulf Coast port strike would send ripples across U.S.

As the final hours tick away before a potential longshoreman’s strike begins at midnight on the U.S. East and Gulf coasts, experts say the ripples of that move could roll across the entire U.S. supply chains for weeks.

While some of the nation’s largest retailers were able to pull their imports forward in recent weeks to soften the blow, “the average supply chain is ill-prepared for this,” Tom Nightingale, the former CEO of AFS Logistics, said in a panel discussion today at the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP)’s EDGE Conference in Nashville.

Keep ReadingShow less
Business leader Fawn Weaver shares an American story at EDGE

Business leader Fawn Weaver shares an American story at EDGE

The first full day of CSCMP’s EDGE 2024 conference ended with the telling of a great American story.

Author and entrepreneur Fawn Weaver explained how she stumbled across the little-known story of Nathan “Nearest” Green and, in deciding to tell that story, launched the fastest-growing and most award-winning whiskey brand of the past five years—and how she also became the first African American woman to lead a major spirits company.

Keep ReadingShow less
Copyright ©2024.