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Your TNW Weekly Recap - 6/8/2026
Published 25 days ago • 4 min read
There is one thing that keeps coming up in my conversations over the last few months and it's hygiene.
Not personal hygiene but warehouse hygiene. If you know me, you know I love a clean warehouse and there are immense benefits to having an organized, shiny warehouse but the conversation is related to how hygiene is playing a factor in advanced technologies entering warehouse operations.
It's particularly becoming important for robotic applications to work at their full capacity without interruptions. Where the human sees a piece of plastic wrap and can navigate around it easily, the robot sees an obstruction and flags an exception needing human intervention.
Here are some examples:
When I went to the Dexory grand opening there was an emphasis on bin hygiene. Meaning that when your pallets are put into location, especially if they are partial pallets, they must be oriented in the right way and they must not be pyramid picked. This makes complete sense as they are working off of computer vision and can only capture the data they see.
When I spoke at the ASCM San Diego Conference an audience member asked a question about how to get robots to have more uptime. They were experiencing an issue with a robotic pallet jack they were piloting where it would stop if it saw a piece of pallet wrap hanging in between the deck boards. Humans might not even see that and if we did we would know that forks can go straight through that without an issue. However, the robot sees it as an obstruction and stops. The fix? Wrap the pallet better as a human. They estimated this was happening 50% of the time the robotic pallet jack would try to engage a pallet.
On today's episode of the podcast with Karli Sage from Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits we spoke about their project with Corvus Robotics (automated drones for inventory counting) and the adjustments they needed to make operationally. They've seen great success with the drones so far but their cycle counters have gained the responsibility of making sure their assigned aisles are in pristine condition for the drone to operate. One early learning for them was that the drone's propellers can easily suck up hanging plastic wrap which results in a damaged propeller.
I share these examples because I've certainly seen too many warehouses that would have all of these issues and more from a cleanliness perspective and I think there is often the perception that most robotic solutions can just be put into the current existing environment. In order to get your operation ready for the next level of technology you need to be fully optimized and it's not just about systems or process improvement, it's also about just being clean. As you can see from the examples, there are real hang ups to things not being properly cleaned or done correctly from the human perspective.
I'm curious if you have seen similar issues and what your thoughts are. Let me know!
Embrace 5S for success ;)
Monday's Episode - Material Flow Optimization from K.Hartwall
Welcome to this episode of The New Warehouse Podcast, where Kevin Lawton speaks with Courtney Jackson live from the MODEX 2026 show floor in Atlanta. Courtney shares how K. Hartwall approaches material flow optimization through connected cart systems, tugger trains, and its LiftLiner solution.
From ergonomics and e-commerce picking to AGV integration and ROI analysis, Courtney explains how flexible cart-based systems can help warehouses optimize movement throughout the supply chain.
Tuesday's Episode - Is It Time for a Leadership Change in Your Warehouse?
In this edition of DC 101 on The New Warehouse Podcast, Kevin Lawton is joined by Chris Hamley, Managing Partner at The Brecham Group, to tackle this difficult but necessary topic.
If your leadership team is dragging down your operation, how do you know when it’s time to make a change, and how do you execute it without completely disrupting your workforce? Chris shares his expert insights on identifying root causes, the fatal flaw of losing team respect, and why overlapping new and old leaders is a recipe for disaster.
Wednesday's Episode - Warehouse Fulfillment Automation Built for Throughput
Welcome to this episode of The New Warehouse Podcast, where Kevin Lawton speaks with David Scheffrahn live from MODEX 2026 in Atlanta. Representing Ocado Intelligent Automation(OIA), Scheffrahn shares how the company is combining high-density storage, robotic fulfillment, AI-driven orchestration, and autonomous mobile robots to improve warehouse fulfillment automation.
The conversation explores Ocado’s storage and retrieval system, its fulfillment software platform Ocado IQ, and a new AMR focused on pallet and case fulfillment.
Thursday's Episode - Exploring Automation in the Grocery and Tire Industry with Cimcorp at MODEX 2026
Live from MODEX 2026, Kevin from The New Warehouse Podcast interviews Adam Gurga from Cimcorp Automation (part of the Muratec family) about specialized ASRS projects in the tire and grocery/perishables sectors. Adam explains how tire ASRS systems buffer inbound “green tires” and feed production presses, where shipment misses can disrupt automotive supply chains. On the grocery side, Simcor is delivering end-to-end distribution systems—from receiving thousands of SKUs and ASRS storage to single-SKU pallet breakdown, mixed-case pallet building, and in some cases trailer loading—driven by Simcor’s WES and WCS layers interfacing with customer WMS. They emphasize right-sizing large ASRS facilities, aligning upstream storage with downstream picking, and the need for early, transparent data-sharing and partnership to design reliable systems for varying categories like produce, dairy, bakery, frozen, and tires.
Friday's Episode - Warehouse Automation Infrastructure Beyond the Robots
Welcome to this episode of The New Warehouse Podcast, where Kevin Lawton speaks with Jonathan Miles of Nucor Warehouse Systems live from MODEX 2026. Nucor Warehouse Systems designs, fabricates, and supplies warehouse racking systems, ASRS solutions, rack-supported buildings, and other engineered storage infrastructure that support modern distribution operations.
Miles shares how Nucor is investing in automation while supporting customers with engineered warehouse solutions. The discussion also highlights Nucor’s vertically integrated steel production model and the growing importance of recycled steel in the supply chain.
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