intralogistics

Has the Time Come for an Energy Revolution in Intralogistics?

Has the Time Come for an Energy Revolution in Intralogistics?

The current status of hydrogen fuel cell-powered MHE
Gustav Bösehans, Joseph W. Dörmann
Hydrogen fuel cells promise to be a sustainable alternative to fossil fuel or battery-electric material handling equipment (MHE) in various production or warehouse contexts. Short refuelling times, an absence of carbon emissions, and constant power input put fuel cell-powered MHE at an advantage in high-intensity work environments. However, various barriers to the adoption of fuel cells remain, including considerations surrounding cost and efficiency.
Industry 4.0 Science | Volume 41 | 2025 | Edition 6 | Pages 74-80
I4S 4/2025: Smart Logistics

I4S 4/2025: Smart Logistics

Sustainable, resilient processes along the entire value chain
Logistics is entering a new era. Climate change and geopolitical uncertainties are shifting the focus to resilience and sustainability. The concept of smart logistics is gaining importance. But what exactly makes logistics smart, and how can it help us organize our societies and the economy? Approaches such as predictive analytics, demand analysis, and machine learning show why smart logistics is more than just a technological trend.
Cognitive Assistance Systems in Intralogistics

Cognitive Assistance Systems in Intralogistics

User studies with augmented reality and an AI chatbot
Hendrik Stern ORCID Icon, Michael Freitag ORCID Icon
Assistance systems improve work processes, shorten learning times and increase flexibility in the workplace. Human-centered, resilient and sustainable production approaches where user acceptance is of the utmost importance play a crucial role in the digitized Industry 5.0. Two user studies investigate how useful the support of technologies like augmented reality and AI chat actually is. In the context of cognitive assistance systems in intralogistics, artificial intelligence and augmented reality have a great potential and can contribute to an improvement in process performance. The usability of these systems in terms of human-centricity of Industry 5.0 is crucial. This article describes the results and findings of two user studies conducted in the laboratory for intralogistics work processes (picking and packing). The assistance systems used were evaluated using the System Usability Scale.   Cognitive assistance systems in intralogistics Assistance systems make a ...
Industry 4.0 Science | Volume 40 | 2024 | Edition 5 | Pages 67-72 | DOI 10.30844/I4SE.24.5.66
Optimization of Line Feeding Strategy for the Assembly Line

Optimization of Line Feeding Strategy for the Assembly Line

A holistic approach for improving the intralogistics in production industry
Christina Braun, Lea Isfort
The logistics industry offers numerous opportunities for data-driven solutions, such as improving the part feeding problem in assembly line industries. A data-based approach for will lead to an improvement of cost-effectiveness through optimized processes, resource utilization, and consistent supply to the assembly line. The generated approach is a mixed integer programming model which considers limited storage space, uses constraints, and various cost factors related to transport, replenishment, and picking.
Industrie 4.0 Management | Volume 39 | 2023 | Edition 5 | Pages 58-61
Conceptual Design of a Decision Support System for Material Flow Planning and its Transfer to Public Transport

Conceptual Design of a Decision Support System for Material Flow Planning and its Transfer to Public Transport

intralogistics, sensor-based material flow planning, operations research, decision support system, public transport
The lack of data-based decision-making prevents the creation of efficient, technically, and organizationally optimal material flows in intralogistics. This paper aims to develop a concept for a decision support system for optimizing forklift material flows based on sensor data. On the one hand, the efficiency and the data-drivenness of material flow planning shall be increased. On the other hand, a contribution to reducing logistics and material flow costs in manufacturing companies should be achieved. First, related works in sensor-based decision support for material flow planning are discussed. Then, a sensor-based concept of a decision support system for optimizing internal material flows of forklifts in manufacturing companies is developed. This concept consists of three layers. The data layer collects, prepares, and stores the required sensor data and additional constraints. The model layer integrates operations research methods to analyze, evaluate, and optimize internal material ...
Industry 4.0 Science | 2023 | | DOI 10.30844/wgab_2023_2
Maintenance-Free Factory

Maintenance-Free Factory

Wilfried Sihn, Luisa Reichsthaler, Daniel Toth, Linus Kohl, Lisa greimel
For decades, different approaches have been designed and implemented for optimizing maintenance management systems in manufacturing, but maintenance is still known as a cost driver rather than an enabler or driver of value creation in production management. The challenges for companies facing this change are many, ranging from doubts about the economic efficiency of maintenance to lack of data and flexibility in the maintenance organization to shortage of skilled workers and lack of prioritization of sustainability and resilience. The vision of the Maintenance-Free-Factory (M2F) is to harness the potential of digitalisation as a driver of sustainability and resilience, enabling a fundamental transformation of maintenance. At the heart of the M2F is value-added production without maintenance disruption. Maintenance activities are carried out during unproductive production times. Therefore, five elements – digital maintenance processes, data-based maintenance, decision support ...
Industry 4.0 Science | 2023 | Pages 1-11 | DOI 10.30844/wgab_2023_1
Capabilities of 5G for the Intralogistics of the Future

Capabilities of 5G for the Intralogistics of the Future

Julius Burghardt, Lukas Höhn, Dieter Uckelmann ORCID Icon
The use of 5G technology o ers many companies enormous opportunities regarding their efforts to optimize processes. In particular, the intralogistics of a smart factory could bene t signi cantly from the use of 5G. The position of diverse mobile units can be determined precisely. Applications such as the control of Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV ) or the precise localization of material come into consideration. If the potential of 5G technology can be fully utilized and integrated into the structure of intralogistics, production processes could be revolutionized.
Industrie 4.0 Management | Volume 38 | 2022 | Edition 3 | Pages 57-60 | DOI 10.30844/IM_22-3_57-60
Preventive Work Design in Digitized Industrial Systems

Preventive Work Design in Digitized Industrial Systems

A Cybernetic Design Approach using the Example of Intralogistics
Martin Braun, Dirk Marrenbach ORCID Icon
In the course of digitization, the complexity and instability of business networks are considerably increasing. This has also serious effects on intralogistics. Under VUCA conditions, intralogistic systems develop into open, decentralized and self-organization networks of information-processing units. They adapt to the dynamic changes of their environment, by increasing their inner and outer varieties in a preventive manner. Digital technologies are not in a position to adequately control non-deterministic logistic systems; this task is essentially left to the working man. In order to overcome the challenges, appropriate models and methods of preventive work design are developed in the PREVILOG project. The paper presents cybernetic basics and preventive work design principles.
Industrie 4.0 Management | Volume 33 | 2017 | Edition 6 | Pages 38-42
Strain on the Musculoskeletal System

Strain on the Musculoskeletal System

Expert Interviews about Operational Intralogistics Jobs
Myriam Koch, Willibald A. Günthner
Musculoskeletal disorders are responsible for about one quarter of all days of incapacity to work in Germany. In order to identify which types of strain lead to an increased risk of the emergence and aggravation of work-related musculoskeletal disorders in operational intra-logistics and to identify in which types of jobs this risk especially occurs, 30 people working in different companies were interviewed. It was discovered that almost all types of manual handling of loads (lifting, carrying, pulling and pushing), and both standing permanently as well as forced sitting are relevant.
Industrie 4.0 Management | Volume 32 | 2016 | Edition 3 | Pages 66-69
Robotics as Key Component for Logistics 4.0

Robotics as Key Component for Logistics 4.0

Flexible Robotersysteme für dynamische Logistikprozesse
Hendrik Thamer, Florian Loibl, Claudio Uriarte, Michael Freitag ORCID Icon
In contrast to the use of robots in standardized production processes, robots must be flexible and adaptable within dynamic logistics processes in order to cope with variable environmental conditions and non-standardized goods. Due to the recent advances in the field of artificial intelligence and networking through industry 4.0, robots will perform complex tasks in logistics in a reliable way in future. A crucial component of a robot system represents the interpretation of the work environment with the help of multi-modal sensor systems, especially image processing systems. This paper describes applications for robotic systems in logistics as well as a concrete example of focusing on the interpretation of multi-modal sensor data for the automation of a logistics task.
Industrie 4.0 Management | Volume 32 | 2016 | Edition 2 | Pages 15-18
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