Into the future with digitisation and automation
Intralogistics experts show integrated automation solutions at the DLC
Berlin, 23.10.2019 – With "Encouragement" as its guiding principle, ways, ideas and solutions to meet challenges in business, politics and society are the themes of the German Logistics Congress 2019 from 23rd to 25th October in Berlin. STILL, the Hamburg intralogistics expert, has proved its courage and inventive spirit for nearly 100 years and will show in Berlin, among other things, its automated LTX 50 iGo system, a tugger train solution with automatic loading and unloading that is currently a prize-winner of the prestigious IFOY Award. It confirms that STILL is also leading the way in the area of industrial trucks automation. The STILL automated tugger train combines automated driving with automated load-handling in the intralogistics sector for the first time when supplying production operations, thus efficiently automating cycle-controlled deliveries to production lines.
From supplying production lines to dispatch logistics: driverless transport systems (DTS) and mobile warehouse technology solutions will be an indispensable component of intralogistics load handling in the future. Companies in the retail and contract logistics areas will invest massively in expanding their fleets of automated industrial trucks in the next few years. To enable the demand to be supplied in the best possible way and to assist operators as a competent partner, STILL has reformatted both its partnership with its group sister company DEMATIC and the structure and alignment of its own competence team. To achieve this, STILL strengthened the organisation and personnel of its Advanced Applications – Automated Solutions business area as a competent intralogistics partner to help customers regarding all of their needs when implementing their automation strategy. Companies who want to automate their logistics and materials transport procedures that were previously carried out manually will find in STILL both a wide portfolio of trucks and products, and experienced experts for the integrated design and implementation of individually customised project solutions. A dedicated contact partner is available for every point in the life cycle of an automation solution. This is how STILL efficiently supports its customers when integrating automated solutions into their processes, thus helping to increase the economic efficiency of production and logistics processes.
According to estimates by experts, the market for automated trucks in intralogistics is expected to grow by around 30% by 2025. Commenting on this, Rhea Langkammer, Head of Marketing Business Line Sales Applications & Services at STILL, says: "Market demand for automated transport solutions is very high and growing rapidly, because not only the industry but also retail and service providers are battling with rising wages costs and above all the shortage of skilled staff. On top of this there are shorter product life cycles and the online economy with its large demand for transport logistics with short delivery times. Nowadays, driverless transport systems and automated warehouse technology equipment allow the implementation of very economical, scalable sector-independent transport and handing systems that increase process security in warehouse and production logistics, thus increasing companies’ competitiveness. A precondition for our expanded business model is an in-depth understanding of the individual intralogistics processes taking place in customers’ operations, and a knowledge of all the existing and new automation technologies on the market. Our intralogistics advisers and automation experts accurately analyse the potential and opportunities for using automation solutions in our customer’s businesses. Based on the results of these analyses, we find the solution that is correct for the respective company because it has long-term cost-effectiveness, and we guide our customers through the jungle of Industry 4.0."
