The growth in the use of palletizing robots in the Indian consumer products market is expected to continue to increase as the Indian economy grows. The industries where palletizing robots are becoming more common include the $70 billion food and beverage industry and the $24 billion fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry. Palletizing robots supplied by companies like Kuka Robotics can radically improve productivity. The robots are vital in the loading and wrapping of large and heavy pallets found in the FMCG and food industries.

Kuka Robotics offers a number of palletizing robots starting with the KR40PA, made from carbon fiber composite. The KR40PA is able to stack europallets up to 1.6m in height. The largest of the Kuka palletizing robots is the KR 1000 1300 Titan PA, which has a payload capacity of up to 2860 pounds.

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As businesses are unable to ship full containers, the demand for Less than Container Load (LCL) shipping is increasing. In response to this, DHL has announced the launch of its guaranteed weekly LCL services connecting Bangkok to Los Angeles, Hamburg and Tokyo. The LCL market from Asia is expanding as Averitt Express already has a service to Memphis. The service is aimed at by-passing the busy port of Los Angeles as the final destination for cargo and using Memphis instead, which is better for businesses in the south-east US.

DHL’s new Bangkok to Los Angeles LCL service has been part of an increased LCL presence in Asia. Since the start of 2009, DHL has launched ten other direct calls from China, Japan and India to meet increasing LCL demand.

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Global risk advisers, Aon and strategic business partner, State of Flux, have published the 2009 Risk in 21st Century Supply Chain survey, in which 75% of respondents site financial failure as the greatest risk to their supply chain. Other key risks identified by 43% of firms are physical damage at a supplier’s facility and 29% highlight data security.

In the survey businesses acknowledge that risk management is vital for their survival. A number of drivers were recognized for supply chain risk management including corporate governance, performance improvement and the current credit situation, which was noted by 30% of firms.

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Has the drive towards reducing carbon emissions in the supply chain reached the tipping point? This week, one of the UK’s largest supermarket chains, Waitrose, has announced that it is to bulk import wine from Chile and bottle the cargo in the UK. The product is shipped from Chile in 24,000 liter recyclable flexi-tanks and bottled a plant outside of Durham in the north-east of England.

Apart from the reduction in carbon emissions, 47 tonnes per year, Waitrose is saving a staggering 40% in production costs. Waitrose is committed, as are the other UK supermarket chains, in reducing packaging, but is this move more to do with improving profits than carbon emissions? I am not at all knowledgeable about wine from Chile or elsewhere, but shipping it half away around the world in a 24,000 liter tank probably means that it will not be in the cellars of wine connoisseurs, given its £3.99 (US $6.48) price.

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