Spotlight on Middle Mile Logistics

Agenda, Attendee List, & Presentation files now available to Autotech Council members in the library.

This 90-minute virtual session focuses on the innovation opportunities between long haul trucking and last mile delivery. Because middle mile, or parts of the supply chain between warehouses, uniquely has both end points under enterprise control, it opens a host of opportunities for startups. We will meet 4 of them, followed by a roundtable on Middle Mile with attendees, and leave some time for live networking at the end of the session.

  • Date:7/12/2022 09:00 AM
  • Location Autotech Council Virtual Lounge

Description

FULL DETAILS    |   AGENDA   |   ATTENDEE LIST   |   PRESENTATION LIBRARY   

Silicon Valley, California, July 12, 2022/Meeting Recap/   In our latest Autotech Council meeting co-hosted with Avanta Ventures, we looked to the Middle Mile. That’s the part of logistics between long haul shipping and last mile delivery. Middle mile is the B2B part of the supply chain between larger and smaller warehouses. Think of a regional warehouse and an urban distribution center, or a distribution center, and a dark store. While it might seem like Middle Mile is just a boring way to slice the supply chain, it’s definitely more compelling.

  • Because both end points in middle mile transport are under enterprise control, the domain is very well-defined and limited. This opens a range of optimization opportunities which aren’t accessible to the last mile, such as autonomous vehicles that can ply a regular route.
  • As customer demands reduce the wait-time that is tolerated for products, it’s critical to optimize the parts of the supply chain where products spend the most time, which, as it turns out, is the Middle Mile. For example, Amazon Prime 2-day delivery wasn’t a last mile innovation, it came from changes in the middle-mile.
  • Even for carmaker’s own factories, middle mile can accelerate the delivery of Just In Time parts, but can also be deployed in-factory, treating the factory as a sort of small town. Having the parts approach the manufacturing line only as needed reduces floor space for buffer stock, and allows faster change-over of installed features or model variants.

Our meeting introduced us to five specific startups, four with a fast-pitch, and one that led the roundtable discussion. We heard from presentations around fulfillment, delivery optimization, freight-matching capacity utilization optimization, drones for visual inventory automation, small-area robotic warehouse solutions, and autonomous vehicles. 

Thanks to our Q&A panelists from Avanta and Toyota Motor NA R&D Infotech Labs, and Roundtable contributors led by Gatik. For our Members, all the presentations are available in the Library.

FULL DETAILS    |   AGENDA   |   ATTENDEE LIST   |   PRESENTATION LIBRARY