ArcBest Honored with Material Handling Solution of the Year Award for Innovative Vaux™ Technology
ArcBest® (Nasdaq: ARCB), a leading integrated logistics company, has been awarded the 2025 Material Handling Solution of the Year by SupplyTech Breakthrough for its revolutionary Vaux™ technology suite. The award recognizes ArcBest’s commitment to transforming material handling operations through cutting-edge technology that enhances efficiency, safety, and productivity across various industries.
The Vaux suite is composed of three primary innovations—Vaux Freight Movement System™, Vaux Smart Autonomy™, and the newly piloted Vaux Vision™. Together, these integrated technologies are redefining how freight is measured, moved, and managed in sectors such as automotive, air cargo, high-tech manufacturing, and retail logistics.
Recognizing Innovation in Material Handling
The annual SupplyTech Breakthrough Awards highlight excellence in supply chain and logistics technology. With thousands of nominations received from over 15 countries, the competition is rigorous. Winners are selected based on key criteria such as performance, innovation, ease of use, functionality, value, and industry impact.
“ArcBest is a transformative force in the logistics industry, driving efficiency, safety and sustainability,” said Bryan Vaughn, managing director of the SupplyTech Breakthrough Awards. “In the material handling space, businesses face ongoing challenges—tight labor markets, rising operational costs, and the demand for faster, more accurate logistics. ArcBest is tackling these issues head-on with its Vaux technology suite. We’re thrilled to honor the Vaux ecosystem with this year’s ‘Material Handling Solution of the Year’ award.”
This accolade adds to a growing list of honors for ArcBest’s innovation leadership and underscores the company’s mission to develop technologies that deliver measurable improvements in freight operations, while maintaining a focus on human-centered design.
A Holistic Approach to Freight Movement
ArcBest’s Vaux Freight Movement System™ addresses a long-standing bottleneck in the supply chain: trailer loading and unloading. Traditional methods are labor-intensive and time-consuming, often resulting in inefficiencies, safety concerns, and underutilized trailer space. The Vaux Freight Movement System fundamentally rethinks this process.
At the heart of the system is the Vaux MP, a mobile platform that can be preloaded with freight and inserted into a trailer using a standard forklift and a proprietary MP Coupler. Once in place, the entire unit can be quickly offloaded at the destination, reducing what used to be hours of labor down to under five minutes.
What makes the Vaux MP especially valuable is its adaptability. It comes in various sizes and types to suit a wide range of use cases, and features a built-in decking system that allows previously unstackable freight to be safely and efficiently double-stacked. This significantly increases trailer utilization and contributes to reduced transportation costs and carbon emissions by requiring fewer trips to move the same volume of goods.
Automation That Works With People
ArcBest’s Vaux Smart Autonomy™ introduces robotics into material handling, not to replace humans but to augment them. The system leverages autonomous forklifts and reach trucks enhanced with 3D perception technology. These intelligent machines are designed to operate safely and efficiently in complex warehouse environments.
One of the key differentiators of Vaux Smart Autonomy is its remote teleoperation capability. Operators can intervene remotely when necessary, offering a hybrid approach that balances automation with human oversight. The robots can handle trailer loading, double-stacked freight movement, autonomous pallet put-away, and more—all while requiring minimal changes to existing infrastructure.
This flexible and scalable automation solution helps businesses address labor shortages while improving operational safety. It reduces the risk of injury, ensures consistent performance, and frees up human workers for higher-value tasks.
Introducing Vaux Vision™: The Future of Freight Measurement
Rounding out the Vaux technology suite is Vaux Vision™, a new pilot technology that transforms standard forklifts into intelligent mobile dimensioners. By equipping forklifts with advanced sensors, Vaux Vision automatically captures the dimensions of freight in real-time as the operator moves through their daily routine.
The system delivers immediate insights via a touchscreen interface, securely stores data in the cloud, and integrates seamlessly with the broader Vaux OS, as well as with new or legacy weight scales. It supports a wide range of freight types—not just standard pallets—and provides accurate measurements regardless of shape or size.
The implications are significant: businesses gain real-time visibility into cargo dimensions, which can improve planning, billing accuracy, space optimization, and customer satisfaction. The data-rich environment also lays the groundwork for more advanced analytics and predictive logistics.
Collaboration and Continuous Innovation
Further emphasizing its position as a leader in logistics technology, ArcBest also announced that it is among the first robotics companies to join the NVIDIA Halos AI Systems Inspection Lab. This partnership will allow ArcBest to collaborate with NVIDIA to explore new safety enhancements for the Vaux Smart Autonomy platform.
NVIDIA Halos is a full-stack development and validation environment designed to accelerate the safe and reliable deployment of autonomous systems, particularly in high-risk settings. By engaging with NVIDIA and leveraging its advanced AI and simulation capabilities, ArcBest aims to bolster the safety protocols and performance standards of its autonomous technologies.
“ArcBest’s innovation strategy is rooted in partnership,” said Dennis Anderson, Chief Innovation Officer at ArcBest. “At its core, innovation is about understanding and solving real problems for our customers. By working closely with them and truly listening to their needs, we’ve created solutions like Vaux. Partnering with companies like NVIDIA adds value to our tech stack and enables us to provide better customer experiences. It’s a great example of how human-centered design and a focus on continuous improvement can make a real difference.”
Delivering Impact Across Industries
The adoption of the Vaux suite is already having a tangible impact across multiple sectors. In automotive manufacturing, where parts and components vary greatly in size and shape, the Vaux system ensures optimal space usage and speeds up production cycles. In retail distribution centers, where speed and accuracy are paramount, Vaux technologies enable faster throughput and reduce manual errors. For air cargo and high-tech manufacturing, Vaux provides the precision and automation necessary for handling fragile or high-value items.
ArcBest’s vision for the future is clear: a connected, intelligent logistics ecosystem where technology empowers people, eliminates inefficiencies, and delivers greater value across the supply chain.
By winning the 2025 Material Handling Solution of the Year award for its Vaux technology suite, ArcBest has solidified its role as an innovation leader in logistics. The Vaux platform is not just a collection of tools; it is a comprehensive solution designed to solve real-world problems in freight movement and material handling.
As industries continue to navigate a rapidly changing landscape—with increasing demand for speed, safety, transparency, and efficiency—ArcBest’s commitment to purposeful innovation positions it at the forefront of the logistics revolution. The company’s people-first approach to technology ensures that the future of freight is not just smarter, but also more human.