Editorial materialfluss 4/2018
Between the trade fairs
There are just a few weeks between the intralogistics trade fairs LogiMAT and CeMAT. With the impressions from Stuttgart barely processed, the industry will soon be taking part in the restart of CeMAT - hopefully in large numbers. What will happen at the tail end of the Hannover Messe has been one of the most popular topics at industry meetings for months. I won't take part in speculation at this point, but simply let myself be surprised and hopefully excited from April 23.
In Stuttgart, I was surprised and electrified by two main aspects: Firstly, the vehemence with which the question of the extent to which a warehouse can be meaningfully automated was discussed. Secondly, the question of whether the entry of industrial truck manufacturers into new areas of the intralogistics sector is changing the statics of the industry.
"Hardly any employees talk about products and not about solutions"
The first question is of course influenced by the technological developments of the players, with robots knocking vehemently at the warehouse gates and wanting to send their human colleagues into retirement. However, if you take a closer look at some companies that have received countless awards and have been hyped with the highest level of media support, there is still a wide gap between promise and reality in this field.
When it comes to the question of industrial truck manufacturers, it can be said that the energy that the forklift professionals are putting into the new field is immense. Hardly any of these companies' employees still talk about products, but rather about solutions. Solutions that will even be sold as Plug&Play in the future (one of the big players dares to do this!), which would turn product sellers into project sellers. Is that not possible? Or is it? Wait and see. This topic also sounds as exciting as it is, and the response from the established general contractors will not be long in coming.
Martin Schrüfer Managing Editor-in-Chief [email protected]
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