"Developing solutions hand in hand with the customer"

mfl: Your company is active in many sectors of industry, retail and e-commerce. What common denominator can the requirements of the operators be reduced to?Brenner: A common denominator is a metaphor for similarities between otherwise different interest groups. This means: in a figurative sense - and is also the answer: across all user industries, the demand for high quality and availability as well as high efficiency is certainly a universal requirement of operators in all industries. Not forgetting the lowest possible service and maintenance costs. We stand for the fulfillment of these requirements with the systems and plants we manufacture and implement.

mfl: Intralogistics and its applications are becoming increasingly complex, not least due to digitalization. In your opinion, how will intralogistics have to change if the 4.0 philosophy is to unfold its benefits for the operator?Brenner: The core components of conveyor and storage technology will certainly have to become much more flexible in terms of their ability to respond to changing requirements due to the increasingly digital world of logistics. It goes without saying that the networking of individual components with each other will be of great importance. This goes hand in hand with the requirements for software parameterization, for example. In my opinion, however, it is not yet possible to estimate exactly what tasks we will face as a result of Logistics 4.0, including in connection with the steady growth of e-commerce, and what potential digitalization will offer.

"Intralogistics must find answers to the requirements of digitalization."

Stefan Brenner Managing Director AMI Förder- und Lagertechnik GmbH, Luckenbach

mfl: Where do you see the major challenges for your company, both in terms of business strategy and the development of innovative products and solutions?

Digitalization certainly places high demands on us as an intralogistics system provider. Essentially, however, nothing will change in terms of us developing innovative solutions hand in hand with our customers, manufacturing the corresponding systems in-house, installing them at the customer's premises and putting them into operation. But of course the influence of digitalization will be noticeable. For example, we recently launched our new Warehouse Logistics Solution software AMI WLS-4.0, an IoT solution that not only links conveyor systems and picking systems in the sense of Logistics 4.0, but also monitors them and activates early warning systems. In general, our strategic business focus is that we will become even more involved in the field of automation and automated warehouse systems. In this context, one focus of our work will certainly be on the development of intelligent systems and facilities.

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