On the first day of the fair, I met in the corridors a consultant who had been away from logistics for a while and was now visiting Logistica again for the first time. "So, did you see anything interesting?" is the standard question that many - including me - ask in such a case. "That disappoints me. I don't see much innovation," is almost always the answer. I was reminded of this during the presentation of the Logistica Award.
Indeed, those who take a smooth tour of the stands see little new at first glance. The forklift, pallet and barcode were all invented decades ago. Even more recent technological breakthroughs such as voice recognition and shuttles have been commonplace in logistics for at least another decade or so. So is there nothing new to see at the show at all? Of course there is, only we need to look a little closer to see that.
Innovation is less and less visible in the hardware on display at the fair. Today, innovation is in clever combinations of existing technologies and in smart algorithms that control machines and robots. Inther's robot that quickly attaches transport documents to boxes is nothing special. What is special is the technology that precedes it and prints out up to four transport documents at the right time, buffers them and puts them together in a seal. A process that currently requires manual work can thus be fully automated. Not surprisingly, this innovation garnered the most votes from the public in the battle for the Logistica Award.
See also: Watch the LogistiekProfs trade fair news here
Machines that customise boxes have also been around for some time. But these are machines that cut boxes to size or make boxes in which the products still have to be inserted manually. No machine goes as far as Neopost's CVP-500, which packs products at lightning speed without wasting cardboard and space and without calling on humans. This innovation, deserved winner of the Logistica Award, has the potential to put an end to the long lines of packing tables that still mar modern e-commerce warehouses today.
In one or two Logistikas we will see the first robots taking over at order picking stations one of the last remaining manual logistics processes. The techniques for this already exist, think of the new generation of robots that can quickly learn new tasks and the new generation of grippers that can each pick up products without dropping or pinching them. The wait is for the smart algorithms that can process images from vision systems at lightning speed and therefore also handle the great diversity of items in warehouses efficiently and effectively. That innovation is not visible, but it is crucial for the successful deployment of robots in order picking processes. That the first Dutch Material Handling Thesis Award was presented on Tuesday afternoon to a student who developed a new algorithm for shuttle systems says it all.
The Scala Logistica in hall 12 is where the often hidden innovation is best made visible. At first glance, nothing new seems to be seen on this scala: agv's moving pallets and warehouse trucks used for order picking. However, the images on the large screens hanging on this scala beautifully depict what is simultaneously seen on the displays of these warehouse trucks. It then becomes clear, for example, how the warehouse trucks are cleverly directed to the next picking location and how the triple-scale forks from Ravas - the third nominee for the Logistica Award - cleverly prevent order picking errors.
I hope to run into many more acquaintances from logistics over the next few days. No doubt I will then ask again what they noticed at the fair. Those who then still answer that they didn't see anything new should really learn to look better. I will send them to the Scala Logistica's.
Marcel te Lindert - logistics and supply chain journalist
