With the renowned „LogiMAT Best Product“ award, the jury at the international trade fair for intralogistics solutions and process management in Stuttgart honoured three innovative, future-oriented new developments for greater efficiency, automation and process optimisation in intralogistics.
The decision on this year's „Best Product“ award winners has been made. From more than 120 applications received, the independent jury of scientists and journalists selected three innovative products that fulfil the competition criteria of increased productivity, cost savings and rationalisation in a special way. The prize was presented to the company representatives of the award-winning products on the morning of the first day of the trade fair. The laudatory speech was given by Prof Dr Johannes Fottner, Professor of Materials Handling, Material Flow and Logistics at the Technical University of Munich.
Robots move in three dimensions
In the „Picking, conveying, lifting and storage technology“ category, the jury decided in favour of the new AeroBot product of the Austrian Knapp AG. The flexibly scalable AeroBot system is An intelligent system design for robot-operated compact storage and celebrates its premiere at LogiMAT 2025. The AeroBots form a New generation of warehouse robots, which complements the technology company's range of automated storage systems.
The innovative feature of the autonomous mobile robots (AMR) is the friction drive technology. Supported by modern lidar technology the robots can move in three dimensions move. This is unique in the industry to date. The new development also fulfils the current market requirements for high flexibility and scalability in warehouse design in a special way. The AeroBots move under the shelving system and vertically along the shelves to the specified storage location. There a small Bot Satellite, which is located directly on the AeroBot, takes over the storage and retrieval of the system containers, which are stored up to four deep, The aeroboxes weigh up to 35 kilograms.
Another plus: the system containers allow the AeroBots to accommodate different loading aids. As a result allows a wide variety of product groups to be stored together in one system. The compact warehouse enables heights of up to 12 metres with different rack heights in one system and offers the highest possible storage density. Process control and the orchestration of the AeroBots and SatBots as well as the integration of the mechanical components into superimposed software systems are handled by Knapp's KiSoft software.
RFID reader for new logistics tasks
In the „Identification, packaging and loading technology, load securing“ category, the prize went to the RFID Reader Generation 4 from Kathrein Solutions GmbH. The latest, fourth Rain RFID reader generation from Katahrein Solutions, which will be presented at LogiMAT 2025, features numerous innovations that enable new process-optimised logistics applications. The new reader generation features new technology that enables data to be reliably captured even in complex environments. Positioned on a forklift truck, the device can read all transponders on a pallet safely and selectively. In this way, for example, a real-time inventory of the transponders attached to a pallet can be carried out while it is still in motion - and reported to the ERP system via the integrated wireless connectivity (WLAN and/or 5G) of the Kathrein Gen4 Reader.
When forklift trucks load or unload a lorry with pallets or pallets change position in the warehouse, the RFID-tagged products are automatically read and their movement registered. Real-time networking eliminates time-consuming and costly recording processes. Additional detection of transponders by RFID gates is also no longer necessary. In addition, power consumption has been reduced by 40 per cent and the footprint of raw materials reduced by 50 per cent. This means that the fourth-generation Gen4 readers not only generate lower operating costs, but also support the concept of sustainability.
AI tool for logistics processes in the warehouse
The prize in the „Software, Communication, IT“ category was awarded to PSIwms AI of PSI Software SE | Business Unit Logistics excellent. Automation and process optimisation characterise the PSIwms AI solution offering. With the AI platform, PSI provides customers with a completely The new tool for analysing, planning and optimising logistics processes in the warehouse. The AI solution analyses thousands of warehouse operating scenarios every hour and makes optimisation recommendations. It is based on a digital twin of the real warehouse, which generates data that is used to train machine learning models (algorithms).
This virtual test warehouse represents the real warehouse by reflecting all relevant processes and features. In this way, it is possible to test non-invasively how the characteristics of the most important KPIs change when adjustments are made in the warehouse. In a reference project, the platform analysed the relevant processes of a distribution centre with 750,000 storage locations and more than 700 employees. As a result The processes were optimised in such a way that the picking routes were shortened by around 31% and the efficiency of the entire picking process was increased by around 23%. The AI platform is connected directly to the PSIwms warehouse management system via an interface. This means that changes in the physical warehouse are automatically transferred to a digital twin in real time and taken into account when analysing. As a unique selling point, changes in the WMS process or a reconfiguration of the system are also automatically incorporated into the AI platform.
Source: Euroexpo
