LogiMAT 2022, the International Trade Show for Intralogistics Solutions and Process Management, gives software developers a platform to present their latest products for sustainable and efficient intralogistics to an audience of industry professionals. Cloud-based solutions and the integration of modern technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotic process automation are among the trends driving the industry today.
Automation and digitization give labor-intensive industries such as logistics new opportunities to streamline processes, expand business, retain customers, and scale operations. It is the underlying software systems that make this kind of modernization and optimization possible. The interplay of digital technologies such as cloud computing, data analytics, augmented reality, and artificial intelligence (AI) usher in the next phase of smart process automation, data-driven business models, and other factors that help businesses rise above the competition. The latest software solutions for intralogistics and process management can be found at LogiMAT 2022 in Halls 6 and 8 of the Messe Stuttgart convention center. “Data consolidation and analytics applications, modules, and systems can quickly optimize the processes in intralogistics and supply chain operations,” notes Exhibition Director Michael Ruchty of EUROEXPO Messe- und Kongress-GmbH in Munich. “Smart IT solutions can deliver what the markets of today want and the markets of tomorrow will demand.”
Software providers, the second-largest exhibitor contingent at LogiMAT 2022 after conveyor and automation system providers, are coming to Stuttgart with a broad portfolio of the latest developments in transport management, warehouse management, customs management, shipment processing, and export controls. Many plant construction, system integration, or industrial truck manufacturing companies are also presenting systems for fleet, resource, yard, and time slot management or for systems and equipment control. This includes a growing number presenting proprietary warehouse management systems or positioning themselves as SAP implementation partners. Some defining trends that also highlight the need for investment in intralogistics:
- Integration of AI processes
- Widespread use of simulation software and digital twins
- Sustainability and efficient use of resources
- Systems, modules, and applications for big data and analytics
- Smart cloud-based solutions
Analyzing integrated data
Technologies such as imaging, AI, and robotics are integrated to help further optimize system performance by automating the computational processes of the software itself. Using machine learning mechanisms for coordinated process control, for example, can reduce picking paths and times by up to 30 percent. AI, machine learning, and robotic process automation are accelerating computing processes. This makes them enabling technologies, helping to structure, analyze, and evaluate the huge volumes of data in integrated digital networks. “Integrated intralogistics systems that are capable of learning and self-optimizing will begin playing a major role in the very near future,” emphasizes Johann Steinkellner, CEO for Central Europe at TGW (Hall 5, Booth C13). Special algorithms generate added value here, using predictive analytics and the actionable recommendations they yield to optimize operational processes in intralogistics and the supply chain.
Active Logistics (Hall 6, Booth F61) is presenting its Active Smart Tour route planning system with integrated AI. The system is designed to speed up route planning by using AI to fulfill scheduling commitments, address customer priorities, and enhance profitability. AI uses existing storage capacities more effectively, calculates efficient routes, and uses machine learning to shorten driving distances and thereby reduce carbon emissions. It also monitors all arrival times and assigns short-term pickups directly to the closest vehicle. Arvato Systems GmbH (Hall 8, Booth F55) is showcasing AI-based applications for master data management, smart apps for route optimization, and supply concepts with (partially) automated deliveries that reduce carbon emissions, especially in the last mile. Setlog GmbH (Hall 7, Booth C61) has its eye on supply chains in their entirety and is coming to Stuttgart with new tools for its supply chain management solutions. Its LogiMAT portfolio features the sophisticated SCM software OSCA, which will be demoed in five solutions with advanced tools.
Simulation software and digital twins
The Realtime Location & Recognition System from Logivations GmbH (Hall 8, Booth F05) optimizes internal transports using machine learning to track and auto-book all material flows and forklift movements and automate scanning and identification processes. Driverless transport and forklift guidance systems are merging, and autonomous transport systems have untold new capacities for navigating, avoiding obstacles, and working alongside people. Digital twins are also poised to usher in a wide range of applications. Artschwager + Kohl Software GmbH, (Hall 6, Booth D73) debuts its TAMAS task and transport management system at LogiMAT. TAMAS makes it possible to integrate autonomous mobile transport robots and forklift fleets into production operations.
Visitors should definitely pay a visit to e.bootis ag (Hall 8, Booth F41) to see how intralogistics processes can be mapped in an ERP system. At LogiMAT in Stuttgart the company will debut its customizable e.bootis-ERPII Suite with mix-and-match modules for transport management, automated shipment processing, picking, inventory management, conveyance control, and tracking to support all the needs of growing companies in the wholesale, manufacturing, and service sectors. The goal is to digitize and automate business and logistics processes from goods receipt to inventory.
Simulation software and digital twins can also be used to model precise system designs in advance, making it possible to plan and optimize the performance of automated plants and logistics center operations. Software systems offer extensive analysis and simulation features to support the planning and design of optimized and alternative supply chain networks. Ipolog software (Hall 1, Booth F31) creates a digital twin that integrates all planning data and streamlines collaboration in the logistics and assembly of a new plant. Ipolog builds, simulates, and compares various scenarios. The planning scenario can be visualized in 3D for better understanding.
Cloud apps for modernizing SMEs
Warehouse management systems (WMS) bring centralized management, process control, and efficiency to the warehouse. Many WMS developers are bringing their latest software systems to Stuttgart. Another current trend is to further modularize systems and functionalities and offer mix-and-match cloud packages with various billing models. IT architectures and applications are being redesigned to migrate to the cloud or integrate native cloud technologies. Cloud models also enable small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to modernize, automate, and begin their digital transformation at a price they can afford.
Andreas Laubner GmbH (Hall 4, Booth B45) wants to help SMEs begin this transformation with its solutions for automatic data capture and smart, optimized processes. The lineup includes a hardware and software module that lets enables quick and easy implementation of transport robots using a cloud-based solution. PureLoX Solutions GmbH (Hall 8, Booth D05) introduces the innovative WMS plx.wmx. A newly developed software architecture on a low-code platform enables cloud capability and full-featured remote access from a tablet or smartphone. The aim is also to slash the costs required to maintain, adapt, and update traditional monolithic WMS architectures. ABF GmbH (Hall 8, Booth D57) presents OneBase®MFT, a WMS that uses a real-time location system for continuous material tracking across all means of transport and conveyance and a fully automatic, adaptive material flow control for intralogistics processes.
PSI Logistics GmbH (Hall 8, Booth D70) has launched a complete best-practice solution for e-commerce. Alongside its new cloud-based service PSIsrs for smart, proactive, efficient route planning, the company is presenting an industry-specific preconfigured e-commerce version of its popular PSIwms. The complete best-practice package, which will be presented at LogiMAT for the first time, is cloud-based and specifically designed for e-commerce and omnichannel workflows—with no programming needed, and able to accommodate quick project and implementation runtimes.
Safety for human-machine collaboration
Panasonic subsidiary and platform solution provider Blue Yonder (Hall 6, Booth A71) is bringing its Luminate portfolio, offering AI-driven, cloud-based supply chain solutions to optimize material flow and make AI supply chains more agile. The supply chain specialists at Remira Group GmbH (Hall 8, Booth D17) are unveiling Statcontrol Cloud, a warehousing innovation described as the first fully certified SaaS solution for sample-based inventory designed to deliver an immediate ROI from the very first inventory.
Blaxtair Arcure S.A. (Hall 10, Booth H30), a specialist in AI for imaging, is coming to LogiMAT with a focus on IT solutions for enhanced autonomy and safety of machines and industrial robots. The new cloud solution “Blaxtair Connect” improves the safety of people working near machinery and helps companies achieve zero-accident goals by proactively managing and dramatically reducing the risk of collisions.
“Taken as a whole, LogiMAT 2022 offers a diverse overview of what’s now possible when state-of-the-art IT tools and technology are integrated into the IT ecosystems of logistics enterprises,” says Exhibition Director Ruchty. “The latest trend study published by Tata Consultancy Services and Bitkom Research on digital sustainability finds that three out of four large enterprises are turning to the power of big data using software analytics.” Among SMEs, this figure is less than one in two, so there is a lot of room to grow in both software applications and user attitudes. Software companies have a mandate to develop solutions that serve the market and help advance the adoption of tech and AI. The growing collection of cloud solutions, systems, modules, and applications for big data and analytics presented at LogiMAT 2022 are showing the way. Now it’s time for users to follow.