It all started 86 years ago with a hydraulic lifting winch for loads up to 10 tons. Today, Weber-Hydraulik manufactures high-quality cylinders, power units, control blocks, valves, and a comprehensive range of workshop equipment at five locations. Kardex modernized the buffer warehouse for production supply.

 STRIX point cloud

The countdown to the International Forklift and Intralogistics of the Year (IFOY) Award (award ceremony on July 3rd) is underway. Results from the test week in Dortmund, for example, yielded interesting assessments for the nomination of an AI-supported system for freight measurement and automated dispatching called aluco STRIX .

“If only full pallets are being stored and retrieved, there’s no longer any reason for customers to purchase a manual vehicle.” Pascal Kuster, Sales Trainer for Automated Guided Vehicles at Linde MH, is fully convinced by the automated Linde K-MATIC k combination narrow-aisle forklift. However, not all processes currently handled by manual vehicles make sense to automate them directly.

At the 79th general meeting of the Swiss Association for Temperature-Controlled Logistics (SVTL) in Meisterschwanden, President Marco Manzetti summarized a year filled with numerous activities and important discussions on AI, targeted electricity procurement, and energy efficiency in cold storage facilities. The focus was on future ESG reporting requirements.

 "Streetview" in the warehouse

Linde Material Handling CH now has its own “Inspiration Center” at its Swiss headquarters in Dietlikon, where everything related to the automation of industrial trucks in and around high-bay warehouses, fleet management, efficiency optimization and new safety solutions is presented “live”.

With the appointment of Kai Beckhaus as the new CEO of Wagner Fire Safety Canada Ltd., based in Burlington (Ontario, Canada), the fire protection experts of the Wagner Group are relying on a specialist who has already been managing the US subsidiary in the greater Chicago area for almost two years.

Th. Müller

Gilgen Logistics is strengthening its German business with the appointment of Thomas Müller as the new Managing Director in Dortmund. The intralogistics provider has already been present in Germany for several years with two locations: a development center for storage and retrieval systems in Stuttgart and a customer service center in Dortmund.

Innovative technologies, live product demonstrations, and networking with experts and industry insiders were the focus of the customer event "SSI Insight"for which the intralogistics experts opened their doors in Giebelstadt on May 20 and 22. Around 150 international customers participated over the two days.

The N series forklifts with combustion engines were introduced in 2022. Now, the electric forklift models are following. Both versions share numerous identical features, with even more power under the hood, additional equipment options, and lifting capacities of up to 3.5 tons.

Fraunhofer IML and Wecon from Ascheberg have jointly launched a project called "FlexRailUnit". The aim is to develop a flexible loading unit for highly available standard container wagons in order to combine the high payloads of classic railcars with modular load carriers.

SSI Schäfer is setting up a new logistics center for Liebherr in Tupelo, Mississippi, encompassing warehousing, distribution, pre-assembly, customs and export processing for earthmoving, cranes, concrete technology, and components. At the heart of the facility is a seven-aisle high-bay warehouse with 39,700 pallet spaces.

 Load extender

Combilift will be present on the continent again from May 26th to 30th: The Irish manufacturer will be showcasing the new Combi-FSE 8000, a powerful electric four-wheel side loader with an 8 t lifting capacity, and the Load Extender at Ligna 2025 in Hanover.

Interroll presents some interesting figures in its 2024 sustainability report. According to the report, the company, which employs 2,393 people, consumed 33.7 GWh of electricity (53% of which came from renewable energy sources). With a turnover of CHF 527 million, this resulted in approximately 403,000 tons of CO2 equivalents. The facts and background information are explained in detail over 68 pages.

Photo: ILS

The Swiss Intralogistics Association (ILS) held its annual general meeting in Langenthal in mid-May, with 82 members and guests in attendance, and reported a significant increase of 20 new members. Lea Lauffer was elected as the new vice president.

Fig.: Kardex

Kardex highlights the importance of a balanced approach to automating small parts warehouses with moderate throughput in a new white paper, which uses twelve parameters and concrete examples to evaluate cost savings, quality improvements and the acceleration of processes.