It’s a step into the future for DB Schenker, offering interesting opportunities when you consider the difficulty of finding onsite warehouse workers. And for the German tech start-up, enabl, it is a significant milestone. Over on LinkedIn, enabl says “This is just the beginning” of a bigger movement. The two companies signed an historic Letter of Intent last week, that will see the deployment of remote-controlled forklifts being trialed at DB Schenker’s Contract Logistics site in Kassel, Germany.
What is meant by remote-controlled forklifts, is that forklift drivers – or, more correctly – ‘operators’, in this case, control the vehicles from a distance. The beauty of this is that, via the enabl platform, a single operator can be connected to several different vehicles at different locations. Clearly this flexible application has the potential to solve a great deal of staffing problems in an industry that has long felt the pinch. The Letter of Intent between DB Schenker and enabl, will see the two collaborate long-term on increasing automation within Schenker’s logistics processes, by scaling enabl’s advanced remote control and automation technology for forklifts at a number of DB Schenker’s international locations.
Lucas Mömken, Vice President Global Engineering & Innovation in Contract Logistics, DB Schenker, explained: “The collaboration with enabl allows us to react flexibly to fluctuations in demand and automate our processes to increase productivity. We see this partnership as a valuable addition to our CL digitalization strategy, which will help us to secure our competitiveness in the long term.”
Julian Wadephul, CEO enabl Technologies, declared: “Our solution has been in continuous use at DB Schenker for nine months and has shown that our product meets the needs of our customers and market trends. This collaboration is a big step for us on the way to becoming a global leader in warehouse automation. We are pleased that our safety concept makes it possible to dispense with a support driver with immediate effect.”
