Forklifts might not be the first image that comes to mind when talking about autonomous vehicles. They should now.
Arkansas-based company
ArcBest
announced a new product on Tuesday that it calls Vaux Smart Autonomy. The logistics solution involves self-driving forklifts and reach trucks that can make warehouses more efficient. The technology is an add-on to ArcBest’s Vaux Freight Movement System, which was unveiled. The company says that system, which was unveiled in 2023, has reduced an hourslong process of loading and unloading trucks to minutes.
In a typical scenario, a forklift driver has to unload pallets from a semi-truck trailer individually. With the Vaux Freight Movement System, all the pallets are packed on what is essentially a movable tray. The trailer can be unloaded in a fraction of the time because the forklift driver is moving a single tray full of pallets rather than individual pallets.
Watching a forklift unload a truck with the trays is a head-slapping exercise. Why did it take so long to develop? “It came from a very innovative mind of an employee,” says CEO Judy McReynolds in an interview with Barron’s. “He had the thought, ‘Hey, this could be done much more efficiently.’” McReynolds says that was in 2014. It took some time to develop, test, and build the hardware and software.
With Vaux Smart Autonomy, those trays can be unloaded even faster, the company says, by using either autonomous forklifts or forklifts operated by drivers sitting in a control center.
It’s a series of innovations designed to help warehouses run smoother and safer. And the technology comes from a 100-year-old company with more than 15,000 employees.
ArcBest isn’t a household name. It focuses on logistics and its businesses are a little complicated. ArcBest operates a less-than-truckload shipping business that compares to firms such as
Old Dominion Freight Line
and
XPO.
ArcBest also offers truck brokerage services that match truck drivers with loads across the country. ArcBest also has a business that will manage a customer’s supply chain and even fix its trucks.
Total sales for ArcBest amounted to $4.4 billion in 2023, up roughly 40% compared with 2018. Earnings per share came in at $7.88, up more than double compared with 2018.
That long-term growth is a sign something is going right at the company. “We just have innovation as part of who we are,” says CEO McReynolds. “We know what it takes to develop game-changing solutions.”
“A customer’s supply chain costs are more than just the transportation—way more,” she adds, pointing out that most of the companies looking to pilot the Vaux technology are some of the largest 50 companies in the U.S. by sales.
Wall Street likes ArcBest stock. Overall, 82% of analysts covering the company rate shares Buy. The average analyst Buy-rating ratio for stocks in the
S&P 500
is about 55%. Analysts project earnings per share growth north of 20% for the coming three years, better than the 15% average annual growth realized over the past five years.
Shares are down 1% on Tuesday. The broader market is lower after a hotter-than-expected inflation reading, with the
S&P 500
and
Nasdaq Composite
off 1.1% and 1.2%, respectively.
Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com
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