Inventory levels finally appear to have found balance Inventories appear to have stabilized after years of volatility. The Logistics Managers’ Index (LMI) Inventory Levels component hovered in slight contraction territory last year while the Census Bureau’s Business Inventory to Sales (TBIS) fell into a more stable pattern. It has been a bumpy ride for inventory… Continue reading Have inventories found their sweet spot?
Month: February 2024
Warehouse Robot Market to Increase 25% by 2030
As automation becomes more accessible the market will grow, says ABI Research. Both the increased acessibiilty and maturing warehouse automation market is allowing companies, regardless of size, to adopt a variety of technologies. According to ABI Research, the global installed base of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) in warehouses will surpass 500,000 by 2030. “There are… Continue reading Warehouse Robot Market to Increase 25% by 2030
Subleases are surging as companies pare back storage capacity they built up during the pandemic
Warehousing demand is starting to shrink
Retailers and their suppliers have been slashing their inventories. Now they’re turning to cutting back storage space.
A once-booming U.S. warehousing market is coping with signs of contraction as businesses consolidate warehouses and in some cases upgrade existing sites rather than add facilities. The shift comes as retailers have turned the corner on a big drawdown of inventories and are aligning their supply chains for more normal, prepandemic stocking and consumer spending patterns.
Consumer-goods maker Newell Brands, retail-pharmacy chain Rite Aid and sports-apparel retailer Fanatics are among the merchants closing warehouses or upgrading existing facilities rather than opening new sites this year.
Other companies are unloading storage capacity by subleasing space. The amount of U.S. warehouse space listed for sublease reached a record high of more than 156 million square feet in the fourth quarter of 2023, more than three times the amount available in the fourth quarter of 2021, according to real-estate services firm Savills.