STILL conneXXt Nr. 01 English

26 The relentless increase in demand for customised products and services is leading this revolution. With countless possibilities to customise each individual product and service as well as being able to order online on demand, the previous culture of “one size fits all” and buying products straight from the shelf has become a thing of the distant past. The more conventional vertical manufacturing and logistics processes are becoming less and less able to keep up with this development. Production, logistics and IT in particular are all facing the enormous task of incorporating their customers in a more intensive and even faster fashion than ever before into their production process. This will in turn require that production and logistics be able to communicate with each other and be adaptable in the future. On top of this is the need for the database containing all of the individualisations in a customer profile to be shared between manufacturers and logistics partners. This is important because without access to the real-time database it just wouldn’t be possible to map out all of the modifications requested at short notice for the end product which is a typical occurrence in today’s processes. This also includes integration into customers’ future business plans and incorporation of their focus on new areas which they are looking to grow into. In this light, individualisation opens up the opportunity to develop an intuitive and emotional connection with customers and their strategic objectives. To achieve this, the flow of information and material must be adaptable and capable of two-way communication. All this points to the fact that “demand” and “supply” are moving increasingly closer together in terms of the amount of time between them. It’s for this reason that logistics and IT systems will have to be designed together in the future. Customers are being supplied with increasingly smaller items tailored to meet their needs, on a just in time basis or completely customised. Or to put it another way: Container ships are getting bigger and bigger, whilst the pack- ages being delivered to customers are getting smaller and smaller. Individualisation is the new norm WHEN UNIQUENESS COMES AS STANDARD – in a nutshell, this is the revolution from mass consumption to a customised industrialised society.And this transition presents both an opportunity and a challenge at the same time. “The era of standard solutions is over,” says Thomas A. Fischer, Man- aging Director for Sales, Marketing and Service at STILL.“Every indus- try, every business size and every application has its own rules and requirements.Intralogistics compa- nies offering a “one size fits all” solu- tion are now well and truly outdated.It can be a really simple solution for the small haulier around the corner who needs to transport pallets from A to B, or even an ingenious high-tech solution for a customised flow of goods.In any case, the STILL brand stands for innovation.” PERSPECTIVE CAUTION: wild animals! Mast-Jägermeister SE uses special custom-made paint for the design of its vehicles.

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