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Michael Forster glides smoothly
through the water with powerful arm
and leg movements. He has perfected
his swimming technique over many
years – also with dry runs on land.
Not only is he busy in his sporting en-
deavors with simulating movement se-
quences for optimization purposes, but
also in his daily professional life. As a
Senior Software Developer in the “Ma-
terial Handling” team he is responsible
for the visualization and emulation of
the material flow within the warehouse.
His equipment for this task: LFS.mfv
und LFS.mfe.
Mr Forster, which products are behind
the names LFS.mfv and LFS.mfe?
Both are components of our material flow
controller LFS.mfc. This controls, coordi-
nates, monitors and analyzes the entire
material flow of a plant. The LFS.mfv tool
integrated in the iBrowser visualizes all
real material flows and shelf systems in
live operations, both two and three-di-
mensionally. This means that it is imme-
diately obvious whether all plant parts are
harmonized with each other or if there
are malfunctions. The LFS.mfe emulation
tool maps real materials handling in a
model which behaves just like a real plant.
This enables a warehouse to be tested be-
fore it is commissioned and any material
flow optimizations to be identified.
What benefits are you offering your cus-
tomers with these solutions?
The increasing degree of automation in
logistics means that a material flow cal-
culator must be used, in order to ensure
an efficient and smooth interaction of
all plant parts. The benefit of LFS.mfc is
that the various mechanisms of different
manufacturers can be connected. The
product can therefore be installed inde-
pendently from warehouse management
systems and ERP systems. The virtual
commissioning of the warehouse using
LFS.mfe minimizes the risks of produc-
tion outages and system downtimes since
a test run will reveal any optimization po-
tential in advance. Another benefit over
competitive products is that LFS.mfc and
the associated functionalities are both
server-based and also available as a cloud
solution.
Looking into a glass ball, what will the
future look like for material flow control?
I can very easily foresee a situation where
more competencies are assigned to the
customers themselves with them using
our solutions to take control of the ma-
terial flow or the three-dimensional sys-
tem modeling. I am also convinced that
simulation – over and above automated
warehouse areas – will play an increas-
ingly important role. Therefore, any po-
tential will be used so much more effec-
tively.
Step by step to the goal.
Michael Forster optimizes his movements in water
and in the warehouse.
40 41 LFS.people