Hardware Podcasts

282: Inside a Warehouse Automation Project: How Sumitomo Drive Technologies Is Transforming Logistics and Reshoring Operations

Manufacturing Happy Hour · 7 Apr 2026 · 42m

What this episode covers

Tony Barlett, COO, and Shawn Lambert, Operations Project Manager, from Sumitomo Drive Technologies, detail their ongoing warehouse automation project at their Chesapeake, Virginia headquarters. The initiative replaces 30,000 square feet of high-bay racking with a dense AutoStore system and Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs), integrated via Swisslog, to compress inventory into a 7,500 square foot footprint. The guests explain how this shift from pen-and-paper operations to a digital interface addresses labor shortages, improves safety, and enables the company to grow 50% over the next five years without a proportional increase in headcount.

Most relevant to

companies scaling up

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Sumitomo Drive Technologies, Swisslog
Products
AutoStore, Swisslog Sync, AGV

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