Posters, flags and logisticians meeting and exchanging ideas everywhere.
A district entirely dedicated to the German Logistics Congress 2019
Then on Wednesday, the crowds poured in and a total of a good 3,500 visitors came to the “hallowed halls” in the Hotel Intercontinental and Hotel Schweizerhof. About 200 exhibitors showed their products and services.
The theme of the event was “Making Courageous – Inspire, Encourage, Act”.
At the welcoming ceremony under the glass pyramid of the Intercontinental, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Thomas Wimmer, Chairman of the Management Board of the BVL, was accompanied by two “logistics heroes” to draw attention to the BVL’s “Wirtschaftsmacher” campaign. Some of the real logistics heroes introduce themselves on posters.
The opening event was so well attended that many visitors could only get standing room in the large hall.
This congress is simply a must for the logistics industry.
The first day of the congress was filled with interesting presentations, top-class speakers and many conversations with other visitors to the event.
“Silicon Economy – Big Picture of Logistics”
I was particularly impressed by the lecture by Prof. ten Hompel, Fraunhofer and TU Dortmund, on the topic of “Silicon Economy – Big Picture of Logistics”.
On the graphic, Professor ten Hompel shows the Silicon Economy and where digitisation will occur in logistics. Interesting in the middle is “International Data Spaces”. The professor tells the congress participants that they have to change for the future and no longer separate their data. He says only with shared data will we remain competitive in the future.
Great film examples were shown of how swarm intelligent networked self-driving pods called “load runners” sort and transport goods in a warehouse. Swarm intelligent drones were also shown. I am curious when these research results will find their way into the warehouses of European logistics companies!
The next graphic shows the success factors of the digital transformation in logistics from Fraunhofer’s point of view.
This will also be a challenge for the manufacturers of logistics software.
Many top-class speakers let the audience participate in the new developments in logistics. Among others, Federal Minister of Transport Scheuer gave a lecture on the topic.
“Digital, networked, climate-friendly – transport policy for a successful future”
On the graphic, Professor ten Hompel shows the Silicon Economy and where digitisation will occur in logistics. Interesting in the middle is “International Data Spaces”. The professor tells the congress participants that they have to change for the future and no longer separate their data. He says only with shared data will we remain competitive in the future.
An annual highlight of the DLK: The Gala Evening
In the evening, the participants were taken by shuttle bus to the location for the evening gala with the presentation of the German Logistics Award. A varied programme awaited us at the Arena in Treptow.
In addition to speeches by Michael Müller, Governing Mayor of Berlin, H. E. WU Ken, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China, and Erich Staake, CEO of Duisburger Hafen AG, the #Logistikhelden and the #Wirtschaftsmacher campaign were presented.
The audience then eagerly awaited the presentation of the German Logistics Award, which this year went to BMW for their innovative intralogistics. Autonomously driving transports on the factory premises, robots for sorting and allocating parts, data glasses and artificial intelligence were combined into an impressive network across locations in the “Logistics Next” project. Click here for an article with more details: https://logistik-heute.de/news/deutscher-logistik-preis-2019-bmw-group-gewinnt-18632.html
After a big round of applause for the BMW team, the social part of the evening got underway. There were specialities from all over the world at numerous stands and the participants came together in ever new groupings
For music lovers and dance enthusiasts, live music continued in the separate stage area. Even though everyone’s feet were certainly tired after such a day at the congress, there were still many hours of partying and dancing until the shuttle buses took the guests back to their hotels.
A day with an incredible number of impressions …
The next morning, silence and nature were the first things on the agenda. At the Landwehr Canal and in the Tiergarten I review the impressions of the previous day before starting the second day of the congress.
This day is characterised by meetings and conversations. Customers, interested parties, press representatives and business partners take the opportunity to meet at the congress and exchange their thoughts.
In the afternoon, the Ladies in Logistics meet and the conversations with the power women in our industry continue throughout the evening and the next days. We notice that only 10-15 percent of the visitors are ladies, but that we are well represented, also among the speakers and moderators.
On Friday I will hear 3 interesting lectures on Supply Chain Risk Management from different perspectives.
Presentation by Petra Becker, Contnental Automotive GmbH on the topic of supply risk management. What does a large corporation do when it is foreseeable that raw materials or components will not arrive in production on time.
Organised to perfection and perfectly presented by Continental.
On Friday at noon, the congress will end with the closing event, where top-class speakers will present their vision of the future of logistics and try to give encouragement despite all the signs of a declining economy, as befits the motto of the congress.
With an incredible amount of impressions and information, I set off on my return journey and am glad to be able to let everything sink in on the ICE.
