From materialfluss 3/2020
Editorial: Ten years later
Do you remember December 2009? Angela Merkel experienced the first few months after her re-election as Chancellor.
Bundesliga soccer team Bayer Leverkusen had become autumn champions just ahead of Schalke and FC Bayern Munich (!). It should only be mentioned in passing that Munich became champions six months later, while Leverkusen finished fourth... Musically, the Black Eyed Peas were right at the top with "Meet Me Halfway". The organizers of the intralogistics trade fair LogiMAT were optimistic: despite the effects of the economic crisis, around 700 exhibitors would come to LogiMAT 2010 and fire off a firework display of products in Halls 1, 3, 5 and 7.
700 exhibitors, four halls? Ten years later, tales of the "old" LogiMAT, the "trade fair of short distances", sound like stories of war that a material handling congress veteran keeps rehashing to his grandchildren without being asked. The LogiMAT 2020 exhibition grounds are bursting at the seams, so exhibitors and visitors alike are not preparing for war, but for the usual growing pains such as traffic jams on the way to the fair, overflowing washrooms and toilets, a shortage of parking spaces and shoving in the aisles. My editorial team and I will be happy to discuss with you during or after the trade fair whether these restrictions should be dismissed as force majeure ("Yeah, well... That's just the way it is....") or whether the organizer will finally find an answer and leave Stuttgart. Then we will also know whether the trade fair was more of a show than a sales platform: Columnist Intra Logistik poses the justified question on page 98 of this particularly comprehensive issue.
Best wishes, have a good trip to the trade fair and get home again without any traffic jams ...
Martin Schrüfer, Editor-in-Chief
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