Intralogistics of the future: What 50 leading experts say

Like few other industries, the intralogistics sector finds itself in the midst of a profound transformation. This is a sentence that intralogistics decision-makers read almost daily.

On consultant slides, in product brochures, plastered on trade show booths.

However, those who truly want to know, those who genuinely seek to understand the future of intralogistics in its depth and complexity, usually have to be content with various buzzwords and clichés.

What is truly important? What lies behind the buzz surrounding AI, Big Data, Smart Factories, Cobots, hardware, software, middleware, and digital production ecosystems? What is nonsense, what drives value?

These are the questions our clients confront us with daily.

In pursuit of real answers, we surveyed 50 of the industry's leading minds, consolidating their perspectives, recommendations, and insights in our first '50 Insiders on the future of intralogistics report.

What does the future of intralogistics really look like? We asked 50 of the brightest minds in the industry.

We understand that the path to a digitized future is as individual for each company as the responses to those future questions we posed to the industry's thought leaders.

Hence, the resulting report resembles a travel guide: Contributions from business, industry, consulting, society, and science delve into various facets of major themes like the automation of production processes or the practical use of transformative technology. Each contribution, however, focuses on a different aspect, opening its own route with unique recommendations and conclusions.

Misconceptions, obstacles, blockades: Future perspectives in plain language.

And plainly put: The surveyed 'Insiders' were asked to openly consider misconceptions, innovation blockades, and current developments.

• Dr.-Ing. Jana Jost (Head of Robotics & Cognitive Systems, Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics), for instance, cautions: 'Companies, faced with the challenge of skilled labor shortages, must focus much more on the human-centered and attractive design of the work environment. This will include social robots in the future. They will recognize how attentive the employee is and adapt their behavior according to the social rules derived from human-to-human relationships.'

• Industrial legend Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Wolfgang Wahlster (CEA German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence) emphasizes industrial AI: 'Based on digital twins for all logistics components and processes, an industrial metaverse for production facilities is emerging. It enables a realistic simulation of planned changes and expansions, as well as a virtual commissioning in intralogistics.'

• Lukasz M. Ziegler (Robotics Evangelist & Founder of we all are robots) introduces the Robotics-as-a-Service leasing model. 'Innovative RaaS providers enable companies to introduce state-of-the-art robotic solutions without bearing the burdensome initial costs. This visionary approach democratizes automation and makes it accessible to companies of various scales.'

• Daniel Küpper (Global Co-Lead Manufacturing & Supply Chain, Boston Consulting Group) asserts: 'Investing in automation is becoming increasingly attractive as the global shortage of skilled labor raises wage levels. Simultaneously, human-machine collaboration will grow and create opportunities for future-oriented jobs.'

• Dr. Klaus Kluger (General Manager Central Eastern Europe, OMRON Electronics)explains why future-proof intralogistics thrives best with standardization: 'Intralogistics encompasses delivery logistics, in-house movements, conveyors, forklifts, high-bay warehouses, SCARA robots, cobots, and more: Many areas where companies can improve processes, relieve employees, save time, and become more efficient. Using the standardized communication interface VDA 5050 allows better exploitation of the potential of mobile robotics, as it seamlessly integrates vehicles from different manufacturers into fleet control and operates them more efficiently. This enables merging order and traffic management into one user interface.'

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All other noteworthy perspectives can be found in the complete report. You can download it here.