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Record attendance: 400 participants gathered information at the 17th TEAM Logistics Forum
The need for information in times of digital change seems greater than ever. This was demonstrated by the response to the 17th TEAM Logistics Forum in Paderborn with 400 participants and 29 exhibitors. Under the motto "Trends in intralogistics - experience logistics 4.0", renowned speakers and company representatives reported on their solutions and called for participants to face up to current trends, develop new ideas and try out innovative technologies.
Trends such as globalization, Industry 4.0, e-commerce and same-day delivery are keeping companies of all sizes busy. This was demonstrated by the lively interest in the TEAMLogistikforum in Paderborn, which welcomed around 10% more participants than last year. "We had to close the online registration option early for the first time this year because we were fully booked," said a delighted Michael Baranowski, Managing Director of TEAM GmbH and organizer of the TEAMLogistikforum. The BVL Westphalia regional group, which once again used the forum as a regional group meeting, also contributed to the success of the event.
"Logistics needs IT," said Baranowski in his welcoming speech. The interest of medium-sized companies in investing in improving their logistics has increased in the last year in particular. With the ProStore® warehouse management system (WMS), the Paderborn-based IT company offers its customers the opportunity to take concrete steps towards implementing a Logistics 4.0 concept.
Thinking outside the box and trying things out
Prof. Dr. Rüdiger Kabst from the Chair of International Business at Paderborn University appealed to entrepreneurs to have the courage to break new ground in his presentation "Business models 4.0: How start-ups and innovation leaders are revolutionizing the rules of the game for entire industries". In German companies, there is often no real culture of innovation and no culture of failure, he criticized. Conformity and efficiency rather than lateral thinking and disruption prevail. In order to remain successful in the future, companies need to think much further outside the box today and not just look at the next competitor. He recommended analyzing current mega and micro trends and working together with start-ups. This also includes trying out crazy projects, which should also be developed and tested outside the company with start-ups if necessary. Ideas that don't make it should be weeded out just as quickly. "You need to be bolder, faster and more visionary," Kabst advised and reported on an Interpreneur Sprint, a joint workshop with company representatives and founders to help companies out of the innovation jam.
Logistics planner Ralph Ehmann, CEO of IWL AG, spoke at the forum about the "Logistics center of the future: flexibility through technology". He discussed current trends and their impact on logistics. The predicted doubling of parcel volumes in Germany by 2025 with a simultaneous increase in so-called "1-piece-1-position orders" requires shorter throughput times and higher picking performance in logistics centers. He cited flexible and scalable automation solutions and the support of people through technology as possible solutions - also in order to be able to continue to employ the increasingly older workforce. In five to 10 years, Ehmann estimated that autonomous robots would also be widely used in order picking, for example.
Pick-by-voice and data glasses in practical use
In the practical presentation "ProStore® for fine cuisine", Bernd Richter, Managing Director of Rila Feinkost-Importe GmbH & Co. KG, and Gisela Potthoff, Sales Manager at TEAM GmbH, explained the benefits, challenges and obstacles of introducing pick-by-voice and put-to-vision. The delicatessen company supplies supermarkets with self-produced food and country-specific branded goods from its logistics center in Stemwede-Levern, East Westphalia. The ProStore® warehouse management system controls all logistical processes, including order picking and inventory monitoring at all storage locations. In the first example, Richter described the switch from pick-by-scan to pick-by-voice in order picking, resulting in higher picking performance and improved work ergonomics. In the second example, Richter reported on a test to switch from put-to-light to put-to-vision with smart glasses in the packing station area. With regard to the human/machine interface, he advised involving employees in such projects from the outset, as this is the only way to achieve a high level of acceptance. Problems or resistance from individuals must be addressed individually. And even if the tests carried out with the data glasses back in 2014 did not lead to a positive result, Richter still sees great potential for this technology. However, there were no problems with the technical implementation: "New technologies are easier to introduce if they can be based on existing technical structures and warehouse management systems," concluded Richter.
Technologies for people in logistics
Participants at the 17th TEAMLogistics Forum were able to see and experience the new technologies and innovative products available for use in logistics in three workshops on the topics of "Automation | Robotics", "IT | Technology" and "Innovations | Trends". The technology spectrum presented ranged from the cloud-based intralogistics software ProStore® 10.0 and the use of smart glasses, also in combination with voice systems, to the Magazino picking robot and the unique AutoStore automated small parts warehouse. All solutions showed that the future development is not automation or robots versus humans, but that cooperative collaboration and the support of humans through technology promises the greatest rationalization potential.
Finally, everything revolved around the most important minor matter in the world for many sports fans: soccer. In his keynote speech "How to become world champions (again)! The physics of soccer", Prof. Dr. Metin Tolan from the Faculty of Physics at the Technical University of Dortmund explored the questions "How fair is soccer?", "What role does chance play?" and calculated goal probabilities. The most important findings: Underdogs can also win and few goals are what make a game. For all fans of the TEAMLogistikforum: On November 28, 2017, the Heinz Nixdorf Museums Forum in Paderborn will once again be all about Logistics 4.0 and IT.
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