The future of logistics centers

Europe in transition: The future of logistics centers

Logistics centers are not a key industry, but they are certainly part of our most important key infrastructure for our expanding economic location, despite the Corona pandemic .

Despite some initial difficulties at the start of the Corona pandemic, logistics has so far coped exceptionally well with the crisis. It has had to manage a great deal: rapidly increasing transport volumes due to e-commerce, as if it were already Christmas; mitigating delays in just-in-time production, i.e., production synchronized with demand; and absorbing and coordinating the disruption to the supply chain as effectively as possible.

It is therefore not only the manufacturing sector that determines the future of logistics centers, but also e-commerce, which, with its split-case picking system, presents logistics providers with new challenges. These challenges include mastering the diverse picking requirements, from automated single-item picking to full pallet loads.

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Another challenge is urbanization while simultaneously ensuring basic services in rural areas . The Japanese are somewhat ahead of us, relying, among other things, on a local, decentralized hub system (see also hub and spoke, both local and decentralized). This involves moving away from static processes, through flexible and intelligent automation, towards AI-driven full automation.

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And then there's the Green Deal, the EU's plan to be the first climate-neutral continent by 2050.

Being a logistics professional isn't easy right now. Mastering all these challenges is a mammoth task. It should be clear to everyone that this can't be planned and solved in a short amount of time. This is where intralogistics experts are needed, those who can deliver a comprehensive concept and not just represent one aspect of intralogistics. Logistics software (WMS), picking methods, and warehouse systems that meet all the requirements for a digital transformation towards Industry 4.0 must be managed by intralogistics experts who possess the know-how and the portfolio. These are the experts who collaborate in networks and can solve the various challenges individually and, above all, globally.

How Amazon does it

Looking more closely, one company stands out in particular: Amazon. Amazon has succeeded in driving intelligent automation and implementing various order picking requirements. Amazon has more than 175 logistics centers worldwide, enabling fast shipping to its customers. Forty of these logistics centers are located in Europe, 12 of which are currently in Germany. Amazon employs over 250,000 people worldwide, around 13,000 of whom are permanently employed in Germany.

Long before the Green Deal, Amazon was already committed to autonomous power generation. Amazon is not only a leader in research spending, but it also invests in expanding its robotics capabilities. And yet, although Amazon's revenue has also increased more than tenfold since 2009, this wasn't enough to offset the rise in logistics costs. In 2009, shipping and fulfillment costs amounted to 15.6 percent of net sales. By 2019, this figure had risen to 27.9 percent. Without the measures implemented by Amazon, these costs would have been significantly higher!

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Let's summarize what will ensure the future of logistics centers:

• Single-item and full pallet picking must complement each other to meet the needs of both B2B and e-commerce simultaneously.
• Expanding automation to same-day delivery customer requirements.
• Autonomous power supply not only sustainably improves the energy balance, it also significantly reduces costs.

Individual measures are not effective

When optimizing and designing logistics buildings and facilities, it is not enough to improve only individual components. Even if logistics halls are built according to current energy efficiency standards, their interiors must be included in the energy planning. However, the weighting of these factors varies: The final report from the Chair of Materials Handling, Material Flow and Logistics and the Chair of Building Climatology and Building Services Engineering at the Technical University of Munich concludes that three types must be distinguished, in which the weighting of energy-saving potentials diverges.

• The manually operated logistics hall can most likely reduce its overall energy consumption through measures taken on the building itself.
• In a semi-autonomous warehouse, the influence of intralogistics already rises to 70%
• Consequently, a fully automated logistics center is 85% dependent on energy-efficient intralogistics.

The importance of scalable, efficient and energy-saving intralogistics is therefore a crucial factor in the planning of an autonomous logistics warehouse.

Energy-efficient components in intralogistics

The trend for the coming years is clear. DAIFUKU is far ahead when it comes to green and efficient logistics. For decades, DAIFUKU focused on energy-efficient intralogistics systems. This is due, on the one hand, to rising energy costs and, on the other hand, to political influences.

When investing in new intralogistics systems, performance criteria such as throughput or dynamics are no longer the sole deciding factor; the energy consumption of the systems is becoming increasingly important in tenders. Consumption depends significantly on the masses being moved. In recent years, DAIFUKU therefore drastically reduced the weight of its storage and retrieval machines. This has allowed them to minimize the drive power of the motors used, and thus energy consumption, while maintaining or even improving dynamic performance.

A concrete example is the H-class pallet stacker cranes, which are built to a height of up to 40 meters – here, 25% of the mass was saved. This was achieved, among other things, through a completely redesigned mast. This solution consists of a combination of a lattice mast and steel tube profiles. These design measures are complemented by sophisticated control concepts that, for example, actively counteract mast vibrations during acceleration and deceleration.

DAIFUKU 's STV (Sorting Transportation Vehicle) forms a high-performance, integrated transport system. A frame structure with fewer control boxes results in a 9% weight reduction, while the use of highly efficient motors reduces power consumption by 10%. CO2 emissions and energy consumption also fall by 10% compared to previous models.

DAIFUKU developed the Shuttle Rack M. Besides the increased throughput compared to a conventional automated small parts warehouse (AS/RS), this system reduces power consumption because the ratio of shuttle weight to payload is particularly advantageous.

Smart intralogistics

Optimization in material handling promotes a sustainable energy balance and results in a more efficient and green footprint through intelligent intralogistics.

Environmentally friendly and resource-conserving intralogistics requires highly efficient and well-designed material handling systems. This refers not only to the energy consumption of the systems themselves, but also to the efficiency of individual components within a logistics center.

Renewable energy is autonomous power supply

For planning security and cost reduction:

• Since 2010, legislation has stipulated that logistics buildings must ensure low-carbon operation. This means that a large proportion of their energy consumption must be largely sourced from renewable sources.
• The German government has set itself the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2020 compared to 1990.
• Germany aims to become almost greenhouse gas neutral by 2050.

Not only politics, but also rising energy costs and customer demands are putting pressure on companies to improve their energy efficiency. A study on sustainability in the transport and logistics sector conducted by PwC concludes that customer demands are even the strongest driving force behind sustainability regulations.

More and more companies are therefore committing to an environmentally friendly supply chain – not just for reasons of reputation.

DAIFUKU Environmental Vision 2020 since 2011 , committing itself to a sustainable environment. All business activities are conducted with environmental awareness in mind. This includes, in particular, the development and provision of material flow systems with a low environmental impact.