Participants Meeting of the »warehouse logistics« community

Annual industry meeting for Logistics IT provider

Once a year, the »warehouse logistics« community comes together and meets for the annual participants meeting at the Fraunhofer IML premises. Lectures from research and practice as well as the exchange within the community give`s the Logistics IT providers impulses for the further development of their systems and corporate strategies. The transfer of knowledge and the opportunity to experience innovative, logistical developments at first hand has made the meeting of the »warehouse logistics« community a fixed point in the industry for Logistics IT providers.

Participants Meeting 2020 - »warehouse logistics« celebrates its 20th anniversary

Under the motto »20 years of warehouse logistics - A logistics platform in transition«, around 65 national and international representatives from science and business took part digitally in the 19th participants' meeting of the WMS community on 29 October 2020. They gained insights into the 20-year history of the »warehouse logistics« platform and informed themselves about the expansion of the platform as well as the current developments in the area of Warehouse Management Systems (WMS).

The focus of this year's participants' meeting was primarily on the 20-year history of »warehouse logistics« and the associated transformation to a holistic »Logistics IT database«. In the new program item »Start-up Exchange«, young companies presented their innovations in the fields of intralogistics and IT. In addition, the organizers offered the participants a first insight into the current Market Report 2020, which presents the current trends in the WMS market. Furthermore, scientists of Fraunhofer IML presented their latest developments on topics such as Artificial Intelligence and picking assistance.

»warehouse logistics« has developed in the 20 years from a small market analysis, published in 2000 at the first Dortmund talks by our institute director Prof. Michael ten Hompel, to an important medium of the WMS industry. This is shown not only by the number of participants and systems represented on the platform www.warehouse-logistics.com, but also by the worldwide distribution of the participating companies. A special highlight, however, is the annual participants' meeting, which has become a major industry gathering with its program of presentations of innovative developments and world-café sessions on market developments, with approximately 50 participating companies.»I am pleased to see how Fraunhofer IML contributes to the promotion of innovation in logistics«, explains Detlef Spee, Head of the Department of Intralogistics and IT Planning at Fraunhofer IML.

The basis of the WMS database provided by Fraunhofer IML is the WMS questionnaire, which currently covers 3,700 aspects. These include, for example, the range of services or the experience of a company. In its 20-year history, the »Team warehouse logistics« has carried out over 1,200 validations based on the questionnaires. The scientists also published 13 white papers and founded the »warehouse logistics« glossary in 2019. This now provides an overview of over 120 terms and the corresponding definitions around the topic of Warehouse Management Systems.

Impressions of Participants Meeting 2020:

About »warehouse logistics«

With almost 92,000 visitors per year, the platform warehouse-logistics.com is one of the leading portals for Warehouse Management Systems worldwide and offers customers access to all important information for sustainable planning and the correct use of their information technologies in the warehouse. The online portal has recently been expanded to provide users with an integrated platform for several different Logistics IT systems. In addition to Warehouse Management Systems, the website also lists Transport Management Systems (TMS), Forklift Guidance Systems (FGS), Pick-by-solutions, Business Intelligence Systems (BI) and Resource Planning Systems (RPS), which can be validated by the provider-independent »Team warehouse logistics«.

The portal provides users with information about the various systems and gives them the opportunity to make a direct comparison of the systems. Via the »Logistics IT Online Selection«, a targeted selection can be made, taking into account the individual requirement profile, to find the suitable system constellation. By participating in the »Logistics IT Database«, suppliers can present their company and systems on warehouse-logistics.com and thus increase their national and international awareness.

Participants Meeting 2019 - »Intelligently networked«: Participants discussed the future of logistics at the WMS industry meeting

Under the motto »warehouse logistics - Intelligently Networked«, company representatives from national and international WMS providers were given the opportunity to exchange information on current trends, new developments and innovations. On the 10th of October 2019, the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics IML hosted the eighteenth industry meeting for Warehouse Management Systems with a group of over 60 participants.

This year again, the varied and interesting program of the participants' meeting was characterized by diverse specialist lectures, innovation pitches and exciting discussion rounds. This year, special attention was paid to the topic of artificial intelligence in logistics.

The different opinions on this topic became particularly clear in the House of Commons Debate. In this format, the participants were able to position themselves on various theses on artificial intelligence and contribute their expert opinions to the debate.

The Fraunhofer IML presented an insight into current research topics with short pitches on subjects such as »Machine Learning in Robot Soccer«, »RIOTANA - Transparency through Real-Time Data Analytics« and »Intelligent, Infrastructureless Indoor Positioning with the Help of Machine Learning«.

In particular, the specialist exchange during the »World Café« received an extremely positive response from the participants. During these discussion rounds, topics such as »The Cloud in the WMS Environment« and »Warehouse IT within Silicon Economy« were discussed. The results of the »World Café« discussions can be downloaded here.

»In our industry, the annual WMS participants' meeting offers a special opportunity to network with the majority of the market participants and to exchange technical topics in workshops as well as getting to know innovations in a series of lectures.« Markus Müllerschön (viastore SOFTWARE GmbH)

Impressions of Participants Meeting 2019:

About »warehouse logistics«

The platform is one of the world’s leading portals for Warehouse Management Systems and provides costumers the access to all important information for a sustainable planning and the right use of their information technology in the warehouse. By the portal, WMS users learn essential information on the various systems and have the possibility for a direct comparison of these systems. Based on the »WMS Online Selection«, WMS users have the chance to make a targeted selection in consideration of their individual profile of requirements and find the right software for their own needs. Through their participation in the WMS database, WMS vendors can present their company and their WMS at warehouse-logistics.com and develop new customer circles. In addition, the WMS vendors have the chance to let their completed projects be validated as reference projects through one of the experts of the »Team warehouse logistics«.

Any Questions? Feel Free to Contact Us!

Please contact us, we are glad to be at your disposal:

»Team warehouse logistics«

Alina Kretschmer
Phone: +49 (0) 231 / 97 43 - 542
marketing@warehouse-logistics.com