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Amazon Buys Thousands of Its Own Truck Trailers

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Re: Amazon Buys Thousands of Its Own Truck Trailers

#61
post #8

How soon will Amazon go into the freight business? After all they ran their own servers and then with excess capacity started AWS. So if a particular trailer is 75% full on a given run why not rent out the space? If you're running dead head why not rent it out for a retail price rather than letting a freight broker fill it? A startup running on AWS could hand over its logistics to Amazon as well.

There is Fulfillment by Amazon:

http://services.amazon.com/fulfillment-by-amazon/benefits.ht...

Re: Amazon Buys Thousands of Its Own Truck Trailers

#62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At the scale amazon operates at, you probably do know in advance what the day's deliveries will be. I'm sure they could fill a truck with product, cruise a set route, and be reasonably certain it would all be delivered by the end of the day.

Considering the more esoteric books I've ordered off Amazon...I dunno how they'd stock them like that.

Your esoteric book orders probably don't need 30 minute prime air delivery though. Like a cdn, they can just stock the frequently requested items at the edge nodes.

Re: Amazon Buys Thousands of Its Own Truck Trailers

#63
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It made more sense a few years ago when there weren't distro centers near most major population centers and 1hr delivery options. Pre-shipping isn't going to be 1hr by much!

Maybe that's how they've implemented 1hr shipping?

No, they just have urban area distro centers with commonly ordered products that would be desired quickly. Here in Seattle it's an old car dealership that's right near downtown--tons of space for delivery cars and enough for popular SKUs.

Re: Amazon Buys Thousands of Its Own Truck Trailers

#64

I wonder if they will load the trucks using kiva robots. I've loaded and unloaded trucks for about a year. Being able to load and unload autonomously would save plenty of time and money.

Maybe a new model Kiva that has larger wheels that can make it across the door-trailer gap. If there's a ramp and a height difference, the goods (presumably on a pallet of some kind) can't tip over.

Re: Amazon Buys Thousands of Its Own Truck Trailers

#65
post #64

I wonder if they will load the trucks using kiva robots. I've loaded and unloaded trucks for about a year. Being able to load and unload autonomously would save plenty of time and money.

Maybe a new model Kiva that has larger wheels that can make it across the door-trailer gap. If there's a ramp and a height difference, the goods (presumably on a pallet of some kind) can't tip over.

I would change how the trailer docks.

Right now the weight is still on the wheels and each additional load strains the suspension. Most trailers have pneumatic load balancing, so the bed drops with the load and then slowly pumps back up. Because of this a free-floating hydraulic ramp is needed. These interfaces are finicky and an unnecessary bottleneck. I've managed to get a 5 ton lift stuck on the ramp before.

I would put anchor points akin to trailer hitches on the back corners of the bed. The driver backs up to the bay, aligns the posts over the hitch, and hydraulics lift the hitches until they mate with the posts. Next they would lift up the truck bed, pull the truck back towards the bay, and set it down in a grove so the bed and warehouse floor are perfectly aligned. It would be similar to how a u-haul ramp mates with the truck bed (https://youtu.be/Ch7ukPPtZOI?t=46s), except you would be mating the truck bed with a building.

You could also have a giant drawbridge style ramp that lowers down and anchors to the back of the truck bed. It could double as the bay door. You could also add in outriggers that hold the bed at one height during loading. Alignment would be tough. Possibly the outriggers could sink into divots in the ground and shift the bed into position.

Both of these would also add a full width mating, which would allow for multiple bots to load at the same time.

Heck, I like the idea of having 4 hydraulic lifts, one for each corner of the bed, and have them lift the trailer up until it is flush with the warehouse. This would allow for the added perk of making taller, 2 story trailer beds and loading in two sets of shelves.

There are infinite possibilities, but I would be many of them are cheap enough to be worth the investment. One this is for sure, operating a lift is boring and I have way to much time to think on the job.

Re: Amazon Buys Thousands of Its Own Truck Trailers

#66
post #3

My initial interpretation of the title was that someone at Amazon had managed to purchase truck trailers for Amazon on Amazon.

If you have Amazon Prime, you can buy downloadable tractor-trailers.

It's not recommended for customers who lack high-speed, unlimited data plans.

Re: Amazon Buys Thousands of Its Own Truck Trailers

#67
post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe a new model Kiva that has larger wheels that can make it across the door-trailer gap. If there's a ramp and a height difference, the goods (presumably on a pallet of some kind) can't tip over.

I would change how the trailer docks. Right now the weight is still on the wheels and each additional load strains the suspension. Most trailers have pneumatic load balancing, so the bed drops with the load and then slowly pumps back up. Because of this a free-floating hydraulic ramp is needed. These interfaces are finicky and an unnecessary bottleneck. I've managed to get a 5 ton lift stuck on the ramp before. I wou…

At that point, why not switch to a 40' container? It already has the lift points on the corners. Not sure if the doors swing 180 degrees.
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