Auf dieser Seite finden Sie einen Überblick über unsere fachlichen Beiträge und Veröffentlichungen. Die meisten Beiträge sind auf Englisch verfasst, um sie einem möglichst großen Publikum zugänglich zu machen.
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LogiMAT 2024 Recap & Gebhardt Instapick
Die LogiMAT 2024 ist vorbei – und es war prima! In diesem Video fasse ich einige Eindrücke zusammen und sage außerdem ein paar Worte zu Instapick, dem neuen Lagersystem der Gebhardt Group. Die im Video erwähnte Zusammenfassung von Marco Gebhardt ist hier zu finden: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/activity-7177586352580907008-AYL6.
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Es gibt keine „nachhaltige Logistik“
Aus gegebenem Anlass möchte ich ein paar Worte zum Thema „nachhaltige Logistik“ sagen. Die Kombination aus „Nachhaltigkeit“ und „Logistik“ ist doch recht weit verbreitet. Google liefert immerhin fast 62.000 Hits für die deutsche Kombination, rund 521.000 für das englische Pendant „Sustainable Logistics“. Bei beiden Sprachen sind die Synonyme wie „green logistics“ usw. noch nicht mitgezählt.…
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MODEX und LogiMAT 2024: Was gibt’s zu sehen?
Die MODEX ist gerade zu Ende gegangen, die LogiMAT beginnt nächste Woche. Wie immer rühren die Aussteller – die Branche ist nahezu vollständig vertreten – kräftig die Werbetrommel und buhlen um die Aufmerksamkeit der Besucher. Was gab es bei der MODEX , was gibt es für Besucher bei der LogiMAT zu sehen? In einem kurzen…
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Lager-Auditierung als regelmäßige Übung
In einigen Bereichen der Logistik gibt es bestimmte Instrumente und Praktiken, die in anderen Bereichen praktisch unbekannt sind. Audits sind ein Beispiel dafür. Im Lieferantenmanagement ist die Durchführung von Lieferantenaudits sehr verbreitet. Vor allem in der Automobilindustrie ist es gängige Praxis: Potenzielle Lieferanten werden vor der Auftragsvergabe auditiert. Und wenn die Aufträge vergeben sind, werden…
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Erneuter Gastauftritt bei Podcast von LIS
Nachdem ich letztes Jahr bereits ein erstes Mal als Gast zum Logistikkpodden eingeladen war, durfte ich kürzlich ein zweites Mal Sue Kristiansen und Børge Østnes von Lager & Industrisystemer (LIS) zum Gespräch treffen. Dieses Mal haben wir vor allem über Fragen gesprochen, die Hörer nach der letzten Folge gestellt haben. Gesprochen haben wir u.a. über…
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Decoding Aldi and Lidl’s Success: A Logistics Perspective
I recently published an article in which I stated that high inventory levels are the most common problem in warehouses. Inventory levels are determined in part by SKU count, the number of products a company has in its portfolio. And so I thought it might be worth exploring this idea a little further and talking…
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Warehousing Woes: Navigating Capacity Challenges
What is the most common problem in warehouses? It is not poor picking performance. It’s not the labor shortage. It’s too much inventory. They are full. I have had the opportunity to visit many warehouses over the last few years. And with very, very few exceptions, they all had one problem in common: they were…
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Striking the Balance: Investigating Diminishing Marginal Productivity in Warehouse Automation
Introduction In most projects where a warehouse operator is investigating the use of automation, there are a number of different routes that can be taken. I’m not just talking about the different types of technology that can be installed and used, but also the general direction the project can take in terms of scale and…
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Review of Volume Dive and Comparison with AutoStore
Introduction I have been following the cube storage market for some time. It is remarkable how many variations of the original AutoStore concept have emerged in recent years, some with very interesting approaches that address AutoStore’s limitations. In this article, I would like to introduce and review another new entrant in the dynamic cube storage…
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The Warehouse Engineering Podcast #2: Yegor Anchyshkin (Instock)
I’m excited to share with you my conversation with industry expert and serial entrepreneur, Yegor Anchyshkin. Yegor is co-founder and CEO of Instock, a warehouse automation company that does things in a unique way. He also co-founded CartFresh, Zakaz.ua and Viewdle, and he was the CTO of Takeoff Technologies, a pioneer in microfulfillment systems. We…
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Fire Safety Systems in Warehouses
Reflections on Oxygen Reduction Systems This week I had the pleasure of attending a small conference on fire safety in warehouses. The conference was hosted by Wagner Group GmbH of Hannover, Germany (not to be confused with the Russian organization of the same name, which also deals with fire, but with different technology and intent). Wagner is…
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Es gibt kein Supply Chain Management: Beitrag in der „Logistik & Recht“ 02/2023
In der Ausgabe 02/2023 der „Logistik und Recht“ (LogR) der dfv Mediengruppe erschien auf den Seiten 94-99 mein Beitrag „Es gibt kein Supply Chain Management„. Der Artikel kann hier als PDF heruntergeladen werden. Der Artikel basiert auf einem früheren Beitrag, der auf dieser Webseite unter dem Titel „There is no such thing as Supply Chain…
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Goods-to-Robot Picking: What’s the Catch?
Almost every time I talk to customers about large goods-to-person systems, the conversation eventually turns to robotic picking. So I thought I should summarize some of the key challenges of integrating robots into picking systems. And this time, I made a video out of it as well. You can find the transcript of the video…
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On Using Totes vs. Original Cartons in Zone Picking Systems with Flow Racks
When I talk to customers about zone picking systems, we often come to the question of whether they should fill their flow racks in the zone picking system with the products‘ original cartons or with standardized plastic totes. There are good arguments for both, but I have the feeling that the arguments for using totes…
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Gast-Auftritt bei Podcast von LIS
Der norwegische Lagerausrüster Lager & Industrisystemer (LIS, zu deutsch Lager- und Industriesysteme) betreibt seit einiger Zeit einen Podcast namens Logistikkpodden – Norwegens erster (und vermutlich noch immer einziger) Podcast, der die Lagerlogistik behandelt. In der Vergangenheit waren Vertreter namhafter Unternehmen zu Gast, z.B. Ikea, Nille, Oda (vormals Kolonial.no), Bring und BliVakker.. Anfang des Jahres war…
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Cube Storage Systems: Market Overview & Comparison
Inspired by the success of AutoStore, a number of entrepreneurs and established vendors have developed their own variations of cube storage systems. In another article, I compared AutoStore to its competitor Jungheinrich PowerCube. At this point, AutoStore probably doesn’t have any serious competition in the cube storage space. While the AutoStore system isn’t „perfect“ (with…
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Remote Work and the Underrated Concept of Organizational Culture
Let us start with the conclusion: One of the primary responsibilities of executives is to shape and maintain the organizational culture. If they do not recognize this responsibility and act accordingly, the organization will fail. Permanently allowing full-time remote work makes it difficult, if not impossible, to build a healthy organizational culture. It was therefore…
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Warehouse Automation for 3PLs
Why Adoption is Slower Than you Might Expect Introduction We are moving more goods from warehouses to consumers than ever before. And the more e-com replaces brick-and-mortar, physical commerce, the more business is done in warehouses. Accordingly, logistics service providers (LSPs, or third-party logistics providers, 3PLs), which operate warehouses on behalf of retailers, have enjoyed…
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The Reasons we Automate Slow-movers First
There is a fundamental principle in warehouse automation. And yet, it seems to be poorly understood by many professionals, including logistics engineers, whose job it is to design automated warehouses. The principle is that you should generally aim to automate slow-moving products, not fast-moving products. This is true for most concepts, although there are exceptions.…
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Short Dictionary of Logistics Illiteracy
A Collection of Nonsense Terms and Concepts In the world of logistics, there are a lot of terms and concepts that are completely useless, yet seem to be ubiquitous. You find them at conferences, in the news, in student papers, on corporate websites… And it would be good to put an end to some of…
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ABC Analysis with a Twist: Using the Gini Coefficient for Interpretation
Most people in logistics know about Pareto charts and ABC analysis. Some people in logistics know how to read a Pareto chart and how to derive conclusions for the planning of a logistics system (automated or manual). Very few people, however, including most senior planning engineers, know how to compare different Pareto charts and how to characterize…
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Review of Jungheinrich PowerCube and Comparison with AutoStore
Jungheinrich officially unveiled its PowerCube goods-to-person (GtP) order picking system at Logimat 2022 in Stuttgart. This makes Jungheinrich – an established brand name in warehouse equipment – the latest member of the ever-growing group of goods-to-person order picking solution providers. The launch caught the attention of all competitors, not least because at first glance the…
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On the Power of „Good Enough“
Sometimes, we see companies with fantastic products – and they fail commercially. Sometimes, we see companies with fantastic products, and they can even solve real problems for real customers – and yet, they fail commercially. Now, there is certainly no shortage of reasons why companies can fail commercially in spite of having fantastic products, and…
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Nachhaltigkeit im Online-Handel: Anmerkungen zur Digitalstudie 2022 der Postbank
Kürzlich wurde die “Digitalstudie 2022” der Postbank zum Thema Online-Shopping vorgestellt, welche verschiedene Aspekte des Online-Bestellverhaltens der Deutschen repräsentativ untersucht. Die Zusammenfassung der Ergebnisse können als Pressemeldung auf den Internetseiten der Postbank eingesehen werden [1] und ist außerdem von zahllosen weiteren Outlets wortwörtlich übernommen worden (es lebe unser Qualitätsjournalismus, der Pressemitteilungen klar kennzeichnet). Schwerpunkt der…
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Der Customer Happiness Manager zur Gewinnung von Wiederholkunden
Es ist kein Geheimnis, dass man im Anlagenbau sehr von Wiederholkunden profitiert: Man kennt sich, die Kommunikation ist etabliert und man versteht einander. Aufwändige Referenzbesuche braucht es nicht mehr, man kann auf den Erfahrungen aus dem bereits installierten System zugreifen… kurz: die Transaktionskosten sind geringer die technische und planerische Unsicherheit ist geringer der Zeitaufwand ist…
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There is no such thing as Supply Chain Management. Let’s abandon the field.
I have wanted to write this text for a long time but have put it off – for about ten years. There isn’t much to be gained by criticizing established concepts or institutions; it will upset people, it creates negative vibes… In the end, though, I decided it was worth it. Academic freedom isn’t granted…
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Combining Goods-to-Person Picking with Zone Picking Systems
In this article, we want to explore the combination of goods-to-person (GtP) picking systems with zone picking systems. This particular solution design will be discussed in the context of high-performance picking requirements – systems that will have to cope with strong customer demand, i.e., several thousand orderlines per hour. Combining GtP picking with zone picking…
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Two Strategies for eGrocery Automation
Having worked with a number of online supermarkets in the past couple of years, I found that there are two strategic approaches to making eGrocery operations profitable. And which one can work for you is largely dependent on one particular constraint. Two Paths to Happiness The first approach is based on a high degree of…
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Zone Picking Systems: Beautiful and Complicated
Zone picking systems (often called zone routing systems) have been around for decades. And yet, it seems they are being underappreciated these days. Part of the reason might be that few people understand how they work and how their potential can be tapped. And just to get this straight: everybody understands – in principle –…
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On the Sustainability of Q Commerce Companies: Why Most Go Bust, and Why That‘s a Good Thing
As a professor of logistics and a citizen interested in and concerned about the sustainability of business models, I watch the meteoric rise of rapid grocery delivery services like GoPuff in the US and Gorillas in Germany with some skepticism. At a time when sustainability and protecting our climate have gone mainstream and become a…
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Limitations of Shuttle Systems in Goods-to-Person Picking Applications for eGrocery
In this article, I investigate the use of conventional single-level shuttle systems for goods-to-person picking of grocery items in e-com. I will explain why this particular type of automated storage and retrieval systems poses certain problems for eGrocery picking, and I will compare them to alternative concepts like AutoStore. It will become clear why the…
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Schnellere Entscheidungsprozesse durch Stellenbeschreibungen
Eine Vielzahl von Studien hat sich damit beschäftigt, wie und wieviel Zeit Mitarbeiter in Unternehmen ihre tägliche Arbeitszeit verschwenden. Das private Surfen im Internet, Youtube, Online Shopping und Kaffeeküchen-Talk rangieren regelmäßig weit oben in der Hitliste der Aktivitäten, die Arbeitgeber ihren Mitarbeitern eigentlich nicht bezahlen wollen. Mit der starken Ausweitung von Home Office im Jahr…
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The Risk of Large Projects
Experience shows: large automation projects are risky and are likely to be unprofitable. And yet, chasing white elephants is a dominant activity of large teams in sales departments of almost every logistics automation company.
