LogiMat 2023: Visit report & final report

The official final report is below

While LogiMat 2022 was well attended with 50,000 trade visitors, it was even more popular this year with over 62,000 visitors. The trade fair was so well attended - at least on the middle day - that it was borderline at times. It is worth remembering that LogiMat is not purely an automation trade fair. There are classic racking systems as well as forklifts or waste compactors to marvel at. Therefore, not every visitor was immediately a potential automation specialist.

In contrast to last year, there were now also many exhibitors from overseas. Corona is definitely over. This was also reflected in the proportion of mask wearers, which is likely to have been at the pre-panedemic level.

It was interesting for me to see the well-funded US startups that are always reported about here. There were also many Chinese exhibitors. They may have taken advantage of the close timing of the Hannover Messe, which continues to be highly regarded by the Chinese. Unfortunately not photographed: At a Chinese stand on the subject of palletizing, cartons with Chinese characters were processed. How this company will credibly assure prospective customers that it offers a good service in Germany remains an open question.

In the following, technological highlights will not be discussed, but impressions will be given. Innovations such as the world's fastest bin picker from Schmalz or the new AMR control from ABB had already been presented here. Fraunhofer IPA also has a world first, which will be reported on separately here soon. I was reminded of an innovation shown "incidentally" by Fraunhofer IPA when I later jumped into our supermarket. The aisles were partially blocked because goods were being replenished.

Fraunhofer IPA makes it possible to fill shelves at night using mobile robots. Then there are no more trolleys in the way during the day. The video shows the removal process. Of course very slow due to public demonstration with visitor traffic:

Bin picking everywhere

Just as more and more cobot providers have entered the market in recent years, more and more bin picking providers now seem to be entering the market. Siemens is represented as well as RightHand Robotics, Covariant, Plus One Robotics and many others from the USA. I was very pleased with the exchange with Christan Fenk from robominds. robominds is represented at the booth of the partner Hörmann Logistic and is on the road at Autostore or also laboratories, among others. Christian Fenk referred to the particularly high level of his solutions: Smallest parts are just as little a problem as sunlight, he said.

His statement that many people apparently see robots up close for the first time at such a trade show and are amazed at what they can do is also interesting. This is astonishing in that not only trade journals report on robotics, but also IHK magazines and others from time to time. This raises the question of how this large number of potential customers can be reached. On the other hand, every Cobot demonstration would need a "reduced speed" sign.

Mobile robotics

Mobile robotics continues to be a major topic for all company sizes. Otto Motors from the USA calls itself the market leader and is now aiming for Europe. Other giants are doing the same with complete software solutions for major customers.

Hybrid cobots, i.e. the combination of a mobile robot and a robotic arm, were seen rather rarely, and the hype has probably died down:

There are also Polish providers, such as VERSABOX. Already presented here.

Jungheinrich seems to be succeeding in the difficult task of appealing to both conservative core customers and those who want innovation and robotics. Jungheinrich acquired startups early on(link).

There were really a lot of Chinese suppliers. Equipped with high volumes in the domestic market, they should have massive purchasing advantages. This one already has 2,000 robots in operation in 100 warehouses. Now they want to open up Europe:

Will industry and logistics remain completely different markets?

Interesting was the low or even non-existent presence of the well-known large industrial robot manufacturers. Sure, they can sell bin-picking solutions through partners. But isn't branding worthwhile for logistics? In any case, Kuka was represented via Swisslog, ABB with two rather smaller booths, but the large Japanese manufacturers were not present at all. Mobile Industrie Robots seems to have decided to participate on rather short notice - like many others. MIR got a place in the aisle

Think the frequency and the neighborhood fit. Be it Brightpick, Noyes or RightHands Robotics - it's hard to imagine more innovation in the neighborhood.

Beckhoff, of course in a hall, also showed its Atro in Stuttgart - only in video, but it seems to become important after all.

Many of the American startups were represented exclusively by U.S. personnel, it seemed. covariant already has German employees.

Are we networking? LinkedIn
-> Go to the Cobot group on LinkedIn (link). The author is also a consultant (robotics, tech & finance). Hardly anyone is likely to have a comparable market overview.

Official final report

Stable number of exhibitors, once again full utilization of exhibition space and strongest visitor rush in 20 years: LogiMAT 2023 builds on last year's success and continues its growth course. Overall, this is the best result in the history of the intralogistics trade fair. With a 35 percent share among exhibitors, companies from 39 nations underscore the international nature of the trade fair.

Dear Mr. Bruch, with a significant increase in visitors compared to last year's result, LogiMAT 2023 closed its doors today, Thursday. During the three days of the trade fair, a total of 62,343 trade visitors (+25%) came to the Stuttgart exhibition center. Thus, the current event even exceeds the pre-pandemic result of 2019. "A LogiMAT of records," states trade fair director Michael Ruchty from the trade fair organizer EUROEXPO GmbH, Munich. "LogiMAT 2023 achieved the highest visitor attendance in the show's history. Together with the increase in international exhibitors, this proves that the LogiMAT brand is firmly established as the world's leading trade fair and a permanent fixture for future-proof design of efficient intralogistics processes. "In the fully booked ten exhibition halls of the Stuttgart trade fair center, 1,563 exhibitors from 39 nations presented their latest developments and innovations for optimum material flows and efficient process management. 125,000 square meters of used gross exhibition space at the trade fair center offered international exhibitors a net exhibition space of 65,503 square meters (+8%). In the run-up to LogiMAT 2023, exhibitors already reported more than 100 exclusive product premieres. These included world firsts and globally unique innovations such as the 3D ultrasonic sensor "Toposens Echo One", which Meysens GmbH developed for acoustic recording and was awarded "Best Product" in the category "Order Picking, Conveying, Lifting, Storage Technology".