Chicago and Durham, NC, Jan. 31, 2023 – stow Robotics, the warehouse automation business unit within stow Group, and Phononic, the global leader in solid-state cooling technology, announced a strategic alliance to provide cold chain fulfillment solutions that serve the retail grocery industry across North America and Europe.
Combining stow Robotics’ automation expertise with Phononic’s sustainable active cooling technology, the two companies are collaborating to design, develop and scale solutions for cold chain fulfillment, particularly for grocery automated fulfillment centers.
stow Group is one of the leading suppliers of industrial storage solutions. Through stow Robotics, stow Group is implementing warehouse automation for every industrial need with its growing platform of scalable and innovative automated technologies. The strategic alliance with Phononic strengthens and builds upon stow Robotics’ leading position in the global warehouse automation market – now enhanced with technology and designs from Phononic’s innovative Actively-Cooled Tote platform and anchored by the company’s next generation solution, to be announced shortly.
Phononic’s cooling solution enables grocery retailers the ability to deploy automated solutions in an existing footprint, reducing large upfront capital costs while lowering operating labor and maintenance costs, and adding flexibility while fractionalizing across tri-temperature environments.
Phononic’s connected services for the Actively-Cooled Tote platform also provide seamless integration with warehouse automation systems and dynamic response for inventory and order management. Additionally, Phononic’s solid-state cooling and refrigeration innovation uses a safe and sustainable refrigerant: H2O mixed with naturally available CO2, featuring a Global Warming Potential (GWP) of just 1 or less. This approach produces the safest and lowest GWP rating in the industry compared to other commonly used refrigerants that contribute to climate change.
Storing and picking frozen items is an expensive and cumbersome exercise, requiring an entire building to be kept at below-freezing temperatures and employees that work within this intolerable environment to select items and consolidate them with the ambient and chilled parts of orders. The strategic alliance between stow Robotics and Phononic offers revolutionary advantages to the market, allowing frozen items to be stored alongside ambient and chilled products in the same system, and providing flexibility when the proportion between temperature controlled and ambient SKUs change. Additionally, mixed orders can be fulfilled in a single step, avoiding the usual time-consuming consolidation process. The e.scala shuttles deliver temperature-controlled items as well as ambient items to the pick station in any required sequence.
“stow Robotics is thrilled to work with Phononic and welcome their cooling technology and design solutions into our scalable automation work with key customers in North America and Europe,” said Brian Keiger, Director of Business Development and Marketing at stow Robotics. “We have a unique technology that fits nicely in the gap between other automation solutions in the market for customers at a specific point in their journey, and our strict adherence to standard components and modular deployments allows our innovative e.scala solution to be installed and commissioned quickly, resulting in an accelerated return on investment.”
“Phononic’s IoT software and dynamic messaging will enable e.scala to act more intelligently and promptly to inventory and order management scenarios,” said Rainer Buchmann, senior advisor to stow Robotics. “With this alliance, we’re accelerating our shared vision of marshaling the most advanced technology for the present and future of warehouse automation.”
“Joining forces with stow Robotics, a technology-driven leader in warehouse automation, allows Phononic to continue designing and providing the most critical, flexible end-to-end solutions for cold chain fulfillment in grocery retail,” said Dana Krug, SVP of Cold Chain Fulfillment at Phononic. “We’re excited to work closely with stow Robotics to deliver advanced cooling technology for this rapidly expanding sector with a global partner that is committed to innovation.”
About stow Robotics:
stow Robotics is the warehouse automation business unit within stow Group. stow Group is one of the leading suppliers of industrial storage solutions. stow Group, headquartered in Belgium, has about 2,000 employees across Europe and North America. The company has a pan-European production footprint with 10 industrial facilities all over Europe and a global commercial organization. For more information on the company, visit: www.stow-robotics.com.
About Phononic:
As the global leader in solid state cooling technology, Phononic is driving the world to a more sustainable way to cool. Its transformational technology reduces greenhouse gas (GhG) emissions and supports climate goals, while meeting the demanding performance needs of the market. The company’s thermoelectric devices and integrated products are mission critical to how people work and communicate; how automobiles ‘see’; to the protection and effective delivery of life-saving vaccines and drugs; to cooling solutions supporting grocery cold chain fulfillment needs; and to innovative methods that cool living and work spaces. For more information on the company, visit: www.phononic.com.
Media Contact:
Phononic
Meghan Orencole
978-270-1598