[#302] Supply Chain in Numbers - Sep 8, 2025
Savannah port is 32% cheaper for East Coast shipments, Augment raises $85M in Series A, 500 humanoids compete in China, Grid Aero raises $6M, Toto's new plant in GA with 300k per year capacity
Welcome to “Supply Chain in Numbers.” This newsletter tracks significant numbers from the supply chain world. Five prominent numbers are published every Monday. If you have any feedback, please send it to me.
32% cheaper to come via Savannah
Georgia Tech researchers found that shippers save money, boost reliability, and achieve comparable average transit times when they land Atlanta-bound cargo at the gateway port of Savannah, rather than a West Coast port. Containers routed via West Coast ports are often trucked to local warehouses for transloading into 53’ domestic containers and then drayed to railheads for transit to Atlanta, which can add further delays and transit variability. The researchers factored in both vessel and inland transit from ten Asia ports to Atlanta. They found that Asia/Atlanta via West Coast routings and Asia/Atlanta via Savannah routings are very comparable in robust transit time, but Savannah is 32 percent cheaper. The significant difference was that Savannah routings were more predictable, consistent, and cheaper. [The Trucker]
$85 million Series A
Augment raised $85 million in its Series A funding round. The massive round comes just five months after the startup emerged from stealth with a hefty $25 million seed round. Augment offers an AI assistant called “Augie” that can automate tedious and repetitive work typically performed by freight shippers, carriers, and brokers. Augie can perform seven key tasks in the logistics process, from gathering and reviewing pricing bids from trucking companies and tracking packages en route, to building a load — the method of combining multiple shipments to maximize truck space — and collecting invoicing documents to ensure timely billing. All of these processes typically involve numerous phone calls, emails, or texts exchanged between various participants in the logistics process. Augie can help humans streamline their communications by operating across multiple channels, including voice, email, Slack, SMS, and Telegram. [Techcrunch]
8 minutes and 21 seconds per room
Robots are taking on more tasks in factories and warehouses. However, a competition in China demonstrated that, despite their entertainment value, humanoid robots may still be years away from being truly useful. More than 500 humanoid robots competed in sporting events and real-world tasks such as moving boxes and delivering luggage at the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing. One robot competitor took more than 17 minutes to throw away nine pieces of trash in a mock hotel room. The gold medal winner for room cleaning completed the task in as little as eight minutes and 21 seconds in autonomous mode. In a factory scenario, another robot spent about two minutes placing two containers on designated shelves. [WSJ]
$6 million in seed funding
Grid Aero raises $6M in Seed Funding. Grid Aero is developing a data-driven platform to modernize aerospace supply chains by connecting suppliers, manufacturers, and operators with real-time intelligence and automation. The funding will be used to expand its supplier intelligence platform, build predictive analytics for part demand and maintenance, and scale partnerships with OEMs, MROs, and airlines. [Fenoms]
300,000 high-end one-piece toilets
TOTO has opened a $224 million manufacturing facility in Morrow, Georgia, raising high-end one-piece toilet production capacity by 150%. TOTO plans to shift more production from the TOTO Group’s Asia plants to North America, thereby strengthening the company’s regional supply chain, enhancing manufacturing resilience, and advancing its longer-term sustainability goals. TOTO has dedicated almost half of the three-story, 363,393-square-foot Morrow facility to manufacturing approximately 300,000 high-end one-piece toilets annually, a strategic North American product. The plant, scheduled to start production in the fall, will increase the region’s capacity to approximately 1 million units per year across TOTO’s Morrow and Lakewood, Georgia, plants, as well as its facilities in Mexico. [Supply Chain Dive]