Digital, real, real, digital. It sounds simple, but it’s rewriting how a warehouse gets designed.
Joel Thomas has spent over a decade in the Intralogistics space and now leads OEM Sales Data Center and Life Sciences at Siemens. Markus Thiel just crossed the six-month mark as Head of Intralogistics, after years on the manufacturing operations and supply chain side of the business.
Chris caught up with both of them live in Atlanta during MODEX, over a Weiss beer and a pilsner at Halfway Crooks. They talk about what Intralogistics is, and how it’s changed since the days of pallet jacks and conveyor belts.
From there the conversation covers the industry engineer shortage, robotics, AGVs versus AMRs, why standardization is becoming such a hot topic among vendors, and what a warehouse looks like when it’s designed digitally.
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3 Quick Things from this Episode
- Intralogistics has moved from pallet jacks and conveyors to full robotic, AGV, and AMR operations, and standardization across vendors now matters as much as the technology itself.
- Warehouses are increasingly built and tested as digital twins before construction starts, catching cost and capacity problems before ground breaks.
- The industry is short a million engineers, a gap that turned into a personal mission for Joel, who now mentors students on scholarships through the Material Handling Education Foundation.
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Tweetable Quotes
- ”We want more individualized goods, and we want it faster and sooner, so that thing will not stop. It will further accelerate. It’s great to see all the technology which is helping that development.” – Markus Thiel, Head of Intralogistics at Siemens
- “ It was always about taking off your professional hat, and just being a person. Go out and talk to people and just introduce yourself. The one great thing that you can do in this industry is say, ‘Can I help?’” – Joel Thomas, Director of OEM Sales Data Center and Life Sciences at Siemens
- ”If you asked me 7 years ago, I would say that Europe was way ahead when it came to automation technology. Now, I think the US has caught up, if not maybe surpassed it.” – Joel Thomas, Director of OEM Sales Data Center and Life Sciences at Siemens
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What We Discuss with Joel and Markus
- How the day-to-day work of moving goods within a warehouse has changed over the past decade
- The shift to robotics, AGVs, and AMRs, and why orchestrating all of it is now the hard part
- Why standardization is gaining ground even though flexibility with vendors used to be the priority
- How AI is being used to spot bottlenecks and predict maintenance
- What edge computing means for a warehouse
- What it takes to build a digital twin, and why Siemens tests new technology in its own factory first
- Whether a conveyor-less warehouse is realistic, and who’s already exploring it
- Why e-commerce has been the single biggest driver of growth in the industry
- What’s next for the space, software-defined automation and the IT/OT layer
Recommended Resources
- Siemens Intralogistics provides intelligent material handling tech that empowers intralogistics to meet demands and overcome challenges via AI-enhanced automation and sustainable design.
- MHI the nation’s largest material handling, logistics and supply chain association – active since 1945.
- Halfway Crooks Beer is the Atlanta brewery where this episode was recorded, known for traditionally brewed lagers in the Summerhill neighborhood.
Connect with Joel and Markus
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