Why AutoStore guides visitors through LogiMAT

When product interest becomes project orientation

Those who come to LogiMAT today are often looking for more than just a new technology. Many visitors want to understand which solution fits their own processes and how an automation project can be set up sensibly.

This is exactly what Cathrin Hunter, Marketing Manager Central Europe at AutoStore, assumes. She describes a typical trade fair visit as follows: "I come to the fair with limited time and questions I want answered. I may want to take a closer look at one product or another, but what I'm concerned with is a solution that fits my processes and my long-term strategy."

This need is not new, says Cathrin—but it has gained significance. "Automation projects have become more complex and framework conditions more volatile. Both lead to more factors being considered and decisions being made more strategically."

Why integration is part of the solution

Especially with automation projects, looking at a product alone is often not enough. What is crucial is also how the solution is planned, implemented and later operated. At AutoStore, integration partners take care of this. They develop, implement and support the solutions at the customer's site and are central contacts throughout the entire project cycle.

For companies dealing with AutoStore, it's therefore not just technical questions that arise. According to Cathrin, it's often also about comparing different integration approaches: "How do different solutions complement each other in practice? Which partner fits my requirements? How do approaches and project setups differ?"

This part of the research is often time-consuming. Companies talk to different vendors, check references and try to figure out which specialization fits their own project.

When the trade fair can shorten this process

LogiMAT creates a special situation for this: many of the relevant vendors are at one location anyway. AutoStore uses this advantage with a guided partner tour across the fair: "The Partner Tour offers an opportunity to get to know the AutoStore ecosystem in a structured and compact way," says Cathrin.

Participants start at the AutoStore booth and then visit several integration partners in a group. There, the companies provide insights into their approach, specializations, technical options and already implemented projects—"like a kind of speed dating," as Cathrin describes it.

Especially for solution seekers in an early or middle evaluation phase, this format can be helpful: it consolidates conversations that would otherwise have to be prepared and conducted individually.

Different integrators, different strengths

That such a comparison is worthwhile also has to do with the diversity within the network. According to Cathrin, many of the partners have in-depth expertise in certain industries, applications or regions. This is precisely where AutoStore sees a strength of the model: customers should be able to find a partner "who really understands their processes and challenges."

Cathrin describes the network itself not as a classic supplier structure, but as a closely interwoven ecosystem in which partners, customers and AutoStore share knowledge, best practices and experiences from real projects.

For trade fair visitors, this is particularly relevant because the tour does not offer an isolated product view, but brings together different perspectives on the same technology.

A trade fair format designed to create orientation

The Partner Tour is aimed at companies who are evaluating an automation project or AutoStore and want to understand how different integrators work.

The added value lies less in a single product presentation than in compact comparability. Within around 1.5 hours, an initial impression emerges of which approaches, specializations and project logics might be relevant for one's own project.

Or, as Cathrin puts it: some participants may find the right partner directly this way, others take a shortlist as a basis for further analysis.

All information about the AutoStore Partner Tour

Start: AutoStore booth (Hall 1, Booth J53)

Duration: approx. 1.5 hours

Schedule:

• Brief overview of product innovations at the AutoStore booth
• Guided tour including quiz to integration partners in Hall 1
• Short presentations by partners
• Subsequent snack and exchange in the group

Participating integrators:

• AM Logistic Solutions
• Dematic
• Element Logic
• FORTNA
• HÖRMANN Intralogistics
• Kardex
• Swisslog

By the way: Participants can win an AutoStore Grid LEGO worth €1,099.

More information about the tour can be found here.