March 1, 2024
Staff and equipment shortages, rising costs, and safety concerns are applying pressure on supply chain companies to implement innovative solutions.
Kenco Logistics, which has been ranked a top 10 third-party logistics (3PL) company for the past 10 years in the US, is meeting supply chain challenges by using Phantom Auto's award-winning technology to help transform its operations. Kenco is among a group of 5 of the Top-20 Warehousing 3PLs in North America to add Phantom’s remotely operated forklifts to their fleets.
Phantom enables enables forklifts, yard trucks, and robots to be remotely operated by trained operators located off-site, up to thousands of miles away. Recently recognized on the TIME Best Inventions of 2022 list, Phantom’s end-to-end remote operation technology makes it possible for remote workers to use real-time video and 2-way audio to safely control material handling equipment.
Kenco recently joined the Marketscale podcast to discuss how Phantom’s remote operation fits into their strategy and future roadmap.
Solving a Workforce Pain Point
Phantom Auto's software is helping Kenco Logistics solve a significant pain point in its operations: finding and retaining skilled workers. According to a Zebra Technologies survey, 60 percent of warehouse operators said that recruitment and productivity are top challenges facing the logistics sector. A survey from Instawork states that 73% of businesses said they have problems attracting employees, up from 26% in the 2021 survey.
“Phantom Auto's remotely operated forklift solution presents an exciting opportunity to transform not only how we and our customers think about the warehouse workforce, but also helps expedite our investment into new technologies," says Kristi Montgomery, Vice President of Innovation, Research, and Development at Kenco.
Now, with Phantom Auto's solution in place, Kenco can hire qualified forklift operators from anywhere, expanding its labor pool well beyond the people that live within commuting distance of the warehouses where Kenco operates.
Remote operation also helps diversify the potential labor pool, meaning logistics jobs can now be filled by historically underrepresented demographics, such as:
- Women (only 17% of forklift operators today are women)
- Veterans (only 1 in 4 have a job lined up after leaving the armed forces)
- The physically-impaired (only 25% of disabled Americans between ages 18 to 64 have jobs)
- The geographically-isolated (especially rural areas with higher unemployment than the national average)
“Think about warriors that have been wounded on the battlefield," Montgomery says. "They cannot sit on a lift truck and drive it in a warehouse, but with Phantom's technology, they can.”
Facilitating Cost Savings
In addition to helping ensure that Kenco has enough qualified workers, Phantom's software enables remote operators to perform work across multiple sites on the same day, from a central location. When working at one Kenco site increases, Phantom operators can shift there with just the click of a button.
This increases overall flexibility and efficiency while reducing overhead costs, such as overtime, absenteeism, and insurance premiums for hazardous on-site work.
All of these add up. In January 2023, manufacturing workers averaged 3.8 overtime hours per week. In 2022, nearly 630,000 more workers missed at least a week of work because of illness than in the years before the pandemic. Premiums for employer-based health insurance rose 47% in the decade up to 2021 and are expected to continue to rise.
Improving Safety
The enhanced safety features offered by using Phantom Auto software can help reduce the rate of workplace incidents and improve overall safety in the warehouse. More than 10 percent of forklifts are involved in accidents each year, according to a report by Optimum Safety Management.
Moving forklift operators from hazardous warehouse environments into office buildings reduces injuries and lowers workers comp premiums by as much as 85%.
Safety is an integral part of Phantom Auto's software, and that dovetails nicely with Kenco's safety management program. “Our clients overwhelmingly acknowledged Kenco's ability to quickly adapt to change, whether that was sudden shifts in consumer demand, the need for new safety measures, or creative approaches to a difficult labor market," said Denis Reilly, Kenco's president and CEO.
For Kenco Logistics and other 3PL companies worldwide, Phantom Auto's end-to-end remote operation solution decouples labor from location, helping customers solve the labor shortage by expanding labor access and increasing retention, safety, operational efficiency, and resilience across the supply chain.
Learn more about how Phantom Auto can help improve safety and productivity in your operations while helping solve the labor shortage.
