WORLD OF INDUSTRIES 04/2019 (EN)

Digital future must
be actively shaped
Today, supply chains are complex and global networks
that can increasingly only be handled through
digitalisation. Intralogistics as a cross-sectional
discipline is gaining in importance and occupies key
positions in many areas.
Because the more transparent the digital flow of information, the
smoother the actual physical transport of materials runs – and
that equally in a smart factory or in a modern warehouse. Therefore,
the future of the industry can only lie in networked solutions and
digital services. The major drivers worldwide are still the automotive
industry and the rapidly growing e-commerce sector. Like
other industries, they depend on smooth and highly adaptable processes.
Automation in this context is not a new, but still important
keyword.
In the past, automation was primarily an issue for large companies
with a high proportion of standardized processes. Today, the
massively increased computing power and increasingly intelligent
technologies and components are opening the way to automation
even for smaller companies – with the necessary flexibility at manageable
costs and justifiable effort.
Regardless of the customer industry – everywhere there are farreaching
changes that have to be mapped and implemented in the
logistics processes. For suppliers of intralogistics and materials
handling systems, this means actively shaping the step towards Industrie
4.0 and consistently moving forward. They offer the customer
individual solutions with which he can shape his path to a smart
factory or a smart warehouse.
This is important because the next paradigm shift in the industry
is already in sight: Automation will become autonomy in the future.
Dr. Klaus-Dieter Rosenbach, Chairman of the Executive Board of VDMA
Materials Handling and Intralogistics
The goal are intralogistics systems, capable of networking autonomously,
controlling and optimizing their own operations. However,
intensive research and development work is still needed here.
Communication standards are a large work package. In the industrial
environment, OPC UA is the main winner in this context.
Therefore, intralogistics is also working on the first Companion
Specifications - an exciting development that will give the industry
and its solutions many interesting impulses in the coming years.
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