Michelin North America Joins Urban Freight Lab as Only Tire Manufacturer

UFL brings together transportation engineers, urban planners, retailers, freight carriers, transportation and logistics professionals

Michelin North America has joined Seattle’s Urban Freight Lab (UFL), an exclusive public-private partnership associated with the University of Washington’s Supply Chain Transportation and Logistics Center.  Limited to 13 private- and public-sector members, the Urban Freight Lab is a structured work group comprising senior executives from retail and wholesale companies, manufacturers, logistics and goods-delivery firms that address the last leg of the delivery process – either receiving goods in the urban marketplace or moving goods on the ground.

“We are thrilled to add Michelin North America as a partner,” said Barbara Ivanov, UFL’s director. “With the support of our members and partners like Michelin, UFL will continue to make great strides in the study of urban delivery.”

UFL — which brings together transportation engineers, urban planners, retailers, freight carriers, transportation and logistics professionals, manufacturers and developers — studies potential solutions to delivery issues with the rise of e-commerce, ride-hailing services, connected and autonomous vehicle technologies, and increasing global urbanization. Michelin will contribute its expertise with connected tires, digital solutions and other customer innovations to address critical urban development challenges, such as “delivery dwell time,” reducing congestion through telematics and connected services, among others.

“Michelin is focused on improving mobility globally, especially in urban areas,” said Adam Murphy, vice president of B2B marketing for Michelin. “UFL shares our fervent belief in the benefits of addressing urban mobility and the last leg of the delivery process ─ often described as the final 50 feet from the delivery vehicle to the customer.”

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