Blog

A diverse spectrum of social and technological developments will shape the future of intralogistics. SSI SCHAEFER presents an array of trends and innovations that everyone involved with intralogistics needs to know.
Every month, IT specialist will also share opinions on trends and developments in the world of intralogistics IT in our IT-Blog.

Blog WAMAS

The Supreme Discipline of E-Commerce: Intralogistics Solutions for Food Retail

Freshness, timeliness, and service quality are the challenges of the food retailing industry in the classic, stationary retail trade. Due to the changing consumption patterns and the online boom in the food retail industry, new logistics challenges arise, which can only be met with state-of-the-art software.

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Blog Customer Service & Support

Customer Service & Support at a glance

Intralogistics is all about complex, long-term relationships with multiple personal contacts at every stage, from warehouse layout design to implementation to lifetime service. To achieve operational efficiency, maximum availability and rapid response are essential. Service providers in all industries consider their top priority to be making customers' everyday lives easier. The standard service package for intralogistics includes 24/7 technical support, call out support, preventive maintenance, reactive support and a long list of other services. With the introduction of Industry 4.0 and also remote tools, such as SSI Augmented Support, communication became clearer and respond times became shorter.

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Blog deep freeze

The Art of Staying Cool

... Even When the Temperature Rises in Frozen Food and Fresh Produce Logistics

Special requirements are the order of the day, particularly in fresh produce logistics. Fresh produce logistics comprises fresh fish, dairy, and fruit and vegetable shipments from countries all over the world, as well as frozen food shipments straight to the consumer – and always in the shortest time possible. Frozen food and fresh produce require uninterrupted cooling in order to preserve their maximum shelf life. It goes without saying that this also involves adherence to all legal provisions regarding the cold food chain.

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Armin Grüb - Blog Case and Piece Picking

Piece by piece – single-piece picking by SSI SCHAEFER

Fully automatic concepts that are integrated seamlessly into intralogistics processes, provide the ideal basis for tailor-made, gentle and reliable product handling. For this purpose, SSI SCHAEFER offers tailor-made, modular solutions for robot-supported palletizing and picking as well as high-performance robotics applications for single-piece picking in the warehouse.

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Achieving highest performance thanks to comprehensive project management

In times of e-commerce, digitalization and automation, continuously increasing requirements towards performance and efficiency in warehouses are on the daily agenda. In order to achieve top performance rates despite increased requirements, SSI SCHAEFER applies their in-house warehouse management system WAMAS® for the administration of automated warehouses.

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Picking at SSI LOGIMAT in combination with SSI WEASEL

Future-proof solution for flexible small parts storage

No matter whether it is due to rapid growth, supply bottlenecks or absence of employees – the importance of flexibility in small parts storage becomes apparent in cases of unforeseen events. How do you ensure delivery capacity, even in dynamic times? If automation is the solution, what measures can be implemented in a small parts warehouse with only minor investment? How flexible and scalable are these systems?

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IT Blog | A Successful Warehouse Digitization Requires Reliable Data | Part 2/2

Deriving Recommended Courses of Action from Valid Material Master Data
‘Data is the new oil’. This now widely used quote was coined by Meglena Kunevas back in 2009. With regard to oil, certain developments such as combustion engines or specialty chemicals were required in order to make full use of this precious resource. Similar considerations apply to the warehouse, where data runs all ongoing processes. But it takes more than just data. Only if the quote is extended with ‘...but information is the new gold’, can the circle be successfully closed. Ultimately, the goal is to derive actions from data on the basis of information.

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A-Frame

State-of-the-art healthcare logistics that is fit for growing e-commerce

The everyday role of e-commerce in retail, wholesale, and fashion industries, becomes also more important for pharmaceutical and cosmetics companies with the growth of online pharmacies. Increased consumer health awareness, coupled with self-medication trends, is leading to higher online demand for over-the-counter products and beauty and care orders.

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IT Blog | A Successful Warehouse Digitization Requires Reliable Data | Part 1/2

Valid Material Master Data as a Basis for More Efficient Material Flow Processes
When it comes to innovative warehouses and logistics centers, SSI SCHAEFER is a strong partner who delivers and realizes solutions from a single source on demand. Its extensive and at the same time high-end products lay the foundations for complete customized solutions. A complete solution by SSI SCHAEFER generally also covers the migration of a considerable amount of data to the IT systems, which are installed with the new warehouse. SSI SCHAEFER has the required expertise to migrate data into a new system in coordination with the customer and advises the warehouse operator regarding the significance of valid data and its benefits for a sustainable and efficient warehouse operation.

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Transporting hazardous goods safely

The new hazardous goods container by SSI SCHAEFER meets the special safety requirements for transporting solid dangerous substances.

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Mobile Racking ESX

Efficient use of storage space

Efficient use of storage space
How we deal with lack of space, high energy costs and rising property values with an individual and adaptable rack system
Mr. Frank Matysiak, Head of System Planning at SSI Schaefer, explains how the appropriate rack solution can solve typical warehouse challenges, and how SSI Schaefer provides customers with individual and future-oriented support in finding the most suitable racking system.

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Picking and Handling

Improve picking quality by using ergonomics in material handling

Manual picking methods in material handling have always been physically demanding. In addition, the aging demographic and decreased physical ability of older employees put further strain on operations. For these reasons, ergonomics plays a central role in the development of logistics systems. Ergonomic workplace design is also critical for younger employees, in order to avoid damage to health and to minimize sick leave. This is why SSI SCHAEFER develops solutions for innovative storage systems and high-performance conveying systems with the guiding principle of healthcare.

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Step-By-Step to a Digital Warehouse

Felix Lütkebomk, Head of Product Sector Dynamic Systems at SSI Schaefer explains how existing storage solutions can be made more efficient and transparent.
Digitalization, automation, industry 4.0, and smart logistics are buzzwords that are discussed in many companies. Material handling has numerous examples of well implemented digitalization strategies. In sectors where storing and picking items is not yet part of the core business, there are still longstanding structures with manual registration tasks, little transparency, and no interconnectedness. Making a future-proof warehouse requires digitization, which is now a prerequisite in order to stay competitive. One can achieve modernization through a gradual implementation of flexible upgrades and retrofits.

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Logistics software: Flexibility in the Warehouse

Striking the right balance between Standardization and Individuality
In an age of increasing digitalization and growing e-commerce, the challenges of volatile markets and unforeseeable environmental and societal events – along with fluctuations in demand that are virtually impossible to plan for – make flexibility a vital top priority. We all aim for individuality in both our personal lives and in business. However, to gain efficiencies in material handling (with the associated software), one must look for the right balance of custom flexibility and standardization.

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IT BLOG | Real insights into the compatibility of family and work

Java programmer for complex warehouse logistics software and proud mother of twins. Does not work? Sure, it does! I am telling you about my everyday experiences, not only in my professional, but also in my family life. These small insights illustrate the compatibility of family and work. It shows how both worlds cross over and co-exist and reveal points in your life, where you feel like you are hitting a wall.

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IT Blog | As powerful as their warehousing software: The advisory expertise of SSI SCHAEFER

The initial situation for Robert and "Freizeit Handels GmbH" was extremely tricky, when they reached the joint decision to make changes to stock handling and therefore also to warehouse management: Due to the rising demands and constantly increasing throughput, the same work required comparatively greater effort than before. The increasing costs of storage began to eat into additional profits. However, this is now water under the bridge and the customer – with Robert at the helm – appears thoroughly delighted with the results of this decision.

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IT BLOG | Internet of Things (IoT) - A Revolution in Logistics

The ‘Internet of Things’ or commonly known as IoT is becoming more deeply embedded in our day-to-day lives at work and beyond. Especially in the logistics industry the term has become a household word, as logistics constantly face new challenges due to globalization and the increasing competitive pressure.

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SSI Exyz C in warehouse environment

SSI Exyz C: Automating Pallet Racks at a Later Point

A new compact “C” assembly group is now available, completing the range of proven SSI Exyz storage-retrieval machines from SSI SCHAEFER. SSI Exyz C automates the pallet rack processes in existing buildings in heights of up to 13.5 m. Without any need to upgrade floor slabs or perform extensive modifications - implementation during ongoing operation is also possible. Learn more about the energy-efficient solution.

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Think Tomorrow. - ecofriendly granulat

Sustainable plastic containers

Interview with Dr. Armin Vogel: how sustainable plastic containers are produced and used in logistics over the long term.

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IT, Digital, Software

IT BLOG | Sustainable Logistics with and through IT

Intralogistics systems are becoming larger and larger and increasingly complex. Today’s computing power of a modern warehouse IT infrastructure is breaking new ground in terms of size and complexity, thus reaching dimensions that would have been unimaginable just a couple of years ago. In the following article Markus Klug, Team Leader Data Analysis & Simulation, explains how SSI SCHAEFER enables sustainable logistics with and through IT.

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WEASEL Layout with mezzanine, vertical lift module LOGIMAT, shelving, conveyor,

Integrator Business Automation

In the area of Integrator Business Automation, SSI SCHAEFER applies a product-based approach to supplying the market. Our day-to-day business involves delivering intralogistics components to a general contractor. How this business sector works and the role that SSI SCHAEFER plays is explained by Arnold Lanz, Vice President of Hub Development & Integrator Business Automation.

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Digitization

Digitalization meets Customer Services

One Step Ahead for Permanent Availability.

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Automated Guided Vehicles at SSI Schaefer

Automation meets manual processes and vice versa

Learn more about how SSI SCHAEFER increases efficiency in manual or semi-automated processes with our AGV portfolio.

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IT BLOG | Implementing WAMAS® in a manual warehouse

Digitalization is on the rise also finding its way into warehousing. Unlike most Industry 4.0 images suggest, this (r)evolution is not always achieved via automation. Digitalization also involves illustrating and controlling intralogistical processes in a software while executing processes manually. This task can be easily assumed by WAMAS, the warehouse management system by SSI SCHAEFER.

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Peter Totz and Günter Wachter - IT Blog

IT Blog | Designing the Supply Chain of the Future

Supply networks are unique in that they are incredibly complex and are made up of a large number of interdependent partners. When attempting to design supply networks that are as efficient as possible, the aim is to create a solution that keeps little to no materials in stock during the intermediate stages.

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How to create a sustainable intralogistics and building infrastructure

When planning a new logistics building – and for retrofits too – green building and sustainability factors gain in importance. SSI SCHAEFER offers several green solutions. Moreover, the company offers further services from energy consulting and planning, certification and monitoring, and subsidy consulting. Johannes Zimmermann, Director Construction Management at SSI SCHAEFER, provides deeper insights in the following interview.

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IT Blog | The Digital Data Cloud – A Matter of Trust

Social media, streaming services, and search engines – more and more services and systems are benefiting from the advantages of cloud computing. With the increasing complexity of IT and software infrastructures within and between companies, professional cloud solutions can help with the development of efficient and flexible company processes.

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order picking at dm

How SSI SCHAEFER returnable containers help reduce CO₂ emissions

Maxing out all possible savings and protecting the environment – this characterizes our nesting containers. These containers are in fact space-saving miracles and ensure a decisive performance increase. Learn more about volume reduction potentials of 75 to 80 %.

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Picking and Handling

Best Place to Work: Ergonomics Meets Efficiency

An activity is carried out efficiently and effectively when it comes easy and follows clear processes. In order to meet these requirements, as part of the ergonomics@work!® program, we implement special picking stations designed to motivate employees, promote peak performance and significantly improve ergonomics at the work station. Movements such as lifting and carrying are assisted with ergonomic pulling and pushing. This means optimization of workflows and work heights. The goal is to create “feel-good work stations” that feature intuitive operator guidance using intelligent communication and display systems. The solutions are specifically tailored to the customer’s needs.

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IT Blog | Customer Service Support – Life Time Key Accounting

Nowadays, timely service for customers with intralogistics solutions goes far beyond the provision of spare parts and the maintenance of systems. Every day, customers are confronted with new challenges in their business environment which need to be dealt with as quickly as possible; this is made all the more essential due to e-commerce and the rapid shortening of delivery times.

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Hochregallager und Regalbediengerät Exyz

Sustainably Convincing Storage Machines and Shuttles

Everybody is talking about climate protection. Discussed in-depth in society and linked to global campaigns, the topic of sustainability is also increasingly becoming a decisive criterion in logistics to ensure whether the offered solutions are viable. This is nothing new for SSI SCHAEFER as the topic corresponds to the long-term view on Green Logistics that was firmly engrained at an early stage. This is part of our Think Tomorrow. philosophy according to which we plan logistics solutions that are tailored to our customers’ needs and continually optimized with a view towards long-term criteria - this is the basis of our success.

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Digitization

Predictive Maintenance for Sustainable Intralogistics

In the following interview, Elie Zita provides an overview of how digitalization has revolutionized customer service, guaranteeing maximized system availability and sustainability as a result of customized, predictive maintenance.

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IT Blog | SAP Leonardo for Consumer Products, Logistics Option

The name "Leonardo" is most commonly associated with the multi-talented Leonardo da Vinci, who 600 years ago used his wide range of skills to develop pioneering inventions and make groundbreaking discoveries[i].

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IT Blog | Labor and Resource Management - warehouse personnel

New and increasingly demanding market requirements mean that companies are facing increasing pressure to improve their performance. This pressure also causes extra challenges for intralogistics, such as constantly growing quantities of goods that need to be handled during warehouse operations or additional tasks that need to be carried out in the warehouse, as well as short delivery times.

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IT Blog | Efficiently Manage IT Updates

Artificial intelligence, Industry 4.0, big data – just some of the buzzwords we hear every day in relation to intelligent, digitally networked systems. As well as the availability of the overall installations, the issue of security is becoming ever more prominent when it comes to the IT components. Protecting the integrity and confidentiality of the data stored on the IT systems is of particular importance.

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IT Blog | Retrofit projects - turning old into new

Everything has a limited lifespan, including intralogistics systems. While steel and iron are less susceptible to the ravages of time, control and IT systems are rather more exposed to the effects of advancing years. Even processes themselves grow long in the tooth and require an overhaul to bring them back to cutting-edge relevance. We call this "retrofitting" – in other words, turning old into new.

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SAP S4/HANA - The Future Looks “Embedded”

The SAP logistics suite already goes back a long way. Logistics processes were first covered in the R/2 ERP software up to the early 1990s, before being developed in the R/3 software when Warehouse Management (WM) and Transport Management (TRM) were introduced in their own modules as part of the ERP. This marked the launch of the first-ever embedded warehouse management and control system. WM is still maintained as an embedded module in the era of S4/HANA, although SAP will stop providing official support by the end of 2027. However, there is a delimited workaround available in the meantime with “Stock Room Management” that can be used beyond 2027.

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IT Blog | Be informed - WAMAS® Lighthouse

With conventional storage systems, only a single – albeit important – aspect of the system is shown: the purely technical situation. Traditional visualization systems are not capable of meeting the current and future requirements of an intralogistics system and are therefore no longer adequate sources of information upon which to operate an installation. Other important aspects, such as the material flow or the comparison of key performance indicators (KPIs), are not usually considered in sufficient detail.

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IT Blog | The digital warehouse 4/4 – Digital Assistants

Computers can be used to quickly process and analyze large volumes of data in complex settings. Self-learning machines can recognize and remember patterns, and then react as we would when new situations with similar patterns arise, provided that we have defined the ideal result.

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Order Verifier

SSI Order Verifier

Flexible solution for a wide range of applications
With the SSI Order Verifier, items from an already picked customer order can be identified, counted, checked, verified, and documented in a single step – regardless whether the article is cubic or cylindrical, packaged in a blister pack, tube, or bag.

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IT Blog | The digital warehouse 3/4 – Digital Support

Warehouse management systems find routes that will minimize the distance covered between storage and picking points. Parameters can be adjusted to apply various strategies that will boost efficiency levels while still ensuring that goods are handled correctly.

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Powered by SSI SCHAEFER

Smart Robotics Application for High-Speed Picking & Guranteed Process Stability

The wide range of modular, scalable automation solutions by SSI SCHAEFER covers the steadily growing requirements for goods handling in the healthcare and cosmetics industries. Modern piece picking robots with integrated scan functionality ensure efficient picking as well as precise identification and verification of products to conform with regulations for tracking and tracing.

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IT Blog | The digital warehouse 2/4 – Potential Solutions

The starting point: A sudden increase of orders and a broken pallet led to major delays in the warehouse. In the example of Ines and Max, there are a number of ways in which the system can take action.

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IT Blog | The digital warehouse – The Challenges

Ines and Max are sitting in the warehouse control center monitoring the operating states of the material flow systems on the screens that surround them. The visualization does not show any incidents, everything appears to be running smoothly. In fact, it looks like today is going to be a pretty boring day...

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E-grocery - intelligent solutions for individual shopping carts

E-GROCERY

Intelligent solutions for individual shopping carts
The rapidly growing sector of online retailing places a high demand on intralogistics for grocers. Constant cost restraints, the growing demand for order today and deliver today, along with the need for higher process efficiencies, mandate companies apply the dynamics of e-grocery to their supply chain.

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WAMAS

WAMAS® for transparent processes

Less is more when it comes to complex logistics processes. SSI SCHAEFER has
equipped numerous premises of the Swiss retail and wholesale company,
the COOP Group, with a single logistics software system, WAMAS.

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THE FUTURE OF ACTIVE SUPPLY CHAIN CONTROL

THE FUTURE OF ACTIVE SUPPLY CHAIN CONTROL

The Enterprise Solutions business segment at SSI SCHAEFER is defined as the logistical control instrument between warehouse, transport, and customer. In short, it is about sustainably and holistically fulfilling customer requests.
EVP Enterprise, Hannes Neubauer, explains how this works in practice and what is behind these intelligent solutions.

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Industry solutions 4.0

INTELLIGENT MATERIAL FLOW FOR THE INDUSTRY

The challenges facing the industry require tailor-made solutions for complex material flows in production-related warehouses. Holistic concepts, which can be represented by manual, partially automated, or fully automated systems, are essential for intralogistics processes.

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Column Artificial Intelligence

HUMAN CREATIVITY AND ANALYTICAL AI — A SUSTAINABLE COMBINATION
Artificial intelligence (AI) is opening up new possibilities for us in both the private and industrial spheres.

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Ditigal Transformation

The Digitization of Customer Service and Support

In 2007 we saw the launch of the iPhone, heralding a new digitalera. Since then, our personal lives have undergone dramatic change.We are always connected, and able to communicate with the rest of theworld anytime and anywhere, generating huge volumes of data.

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Material handling industry solutions for retail and wholesale

Successfully managing E-Commerce Challenges

The traditional boundaries between physical and digital retail are blurring. Worldwide, customers are increasingly making use of the ability to buy from anywhere, at any time. And they expect rapid, reliable delivery – to their home, or to a designated pick-up point. There must also be an effective way of managing returns. Altogether, these needs and expectations can only be met with powerful, state-of-the-art intralogistics.

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Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence

Is Artificial Intelligence (AI) simply a buzzword or is there more to it? How we plan to start leveraging AI in our projects.

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Fashion Motif

E-Commerce Gains Traction In Europe

Online sales are rising rapidly across Europe. Consumers are very willing to make purchases over the Internet. In 2016, the volume of trade transacted over electronic channels grew by 15 percent year-on-year, to a total of 530 billion euros in a market with a total population of 500 million. And studies* have shown that buying and selling via online platforms continues to grow.

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Customer Service & Support 4.0

The invention that will revolutionise logistics

You will definitely have heard of this invention but won’t have related it to logistics: the self-driving car! It is mostly associated with the stubby Google car or adventurous YouTube videos from Tesla customers.

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Human-Robotics-Collaboration - cyber-physical components

Human-Robot Collaboration: Working Together Efficiently

Robotics and automation are vital aspects of digital transformation – and human-robot collaboration (HRC) has a pivotal role to play. HRC entails people and machines working not simply alongside each other, but actively cooperating. Contrary to popular belief, automation will not replace humans in the long run. Instead, robots will relieve people of monotone and strenuous activities. In particular, machines can efficiently perform tasks that are potentially unhealthy or very difficult, which will ultimately protect employee well-being.

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Asia carves its way to automation

Asia. The largest continent on Earth and home to over 60 % of the world's population. This figure alone signifies the relevance of this part of the world for the global economy. Since the global financial crisis in 2008, the entire Asian economy has benefited from strong growth. Even countries that were comparatively little affected, like Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines, record annual growth rates of 5 to 7 %. The same goes for India and Thailand. The only exceptions are Singapore and China, whose projected growth rates are lower.

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IT in the focus of intralogistics

The Fourth Industrial Revolution and the Internet of Things are hot topics at the moment. Both have become determining factors in the industrial processes that not only have a significant effect on the production of goods, but also on logistics. The complex, interconnected systems that have come into being between production and storage can no longer be handled without modern, high-tech solutions. As digitalisation has increased, intralogistics has become a technology driver.

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Industry 4.0

artificial intelligence, connection human and machine

Are machines capable of thought?

Innovations and Trends in material handling and logistics

Trends

Market Topics

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