Digital Intralogistics: From Visual Management to IoT

Today on the IoT Use Case Podcast, we’re talking about how intralogistics is evolving from analog to digital. Our guests are ORGATEX, the market leader for visual management in the factory. ORGATEX is represented by Nirugaa Natkunarajah—luckily for us, “Niru.” Niru is an Innovation Manager. Also joining us is Philipp Smolke, Head of Sales at ORGATEX. In intralogistics, it’s all about finding the right paths, among other things. We hope this episode supports you on your digitalization journey. Enjoy the episode.
I’m your podcast co-host Dr. Peter Schopf—today and going forward, just call me Peter. I’m filling in for Madeleine Mickeleit and I’m really looking forward to today’s episode. Before we introduce ourselves in more detail: Philipp, why should listeners stay with us until the end?

Philipp

I think we can share a lot with listeners—how we scaled from an analog product world into the digital world, how we develop IoT in a truly customer-focused and customer-centric way, and how we realize exciting use cases with our solutions for customers.

Niru, from your perspective: what are the highlights you want to bring into this episode?

Nirugaa

Above all, that we enable customers to introduce digital intralogistics in their own operations without having to start a major project business—and without IT. Developed in a relatively simple and customer-focused way.

And that customer-focused development is exactly your area, Niru. Tell us a bit about yourself: what do you do, who are you, and where are you based within the company?

Nirugaa

I’m at ORGATEX in our Innovation Lab, an interdisciplinary team. I’m an Innovation Manager there. I originally studied mechanical engineering, then found my way to ORGATEX through different paths, and now I’m responsible for innovation management within the company.

Mechanical engineering as a woman in Germany isn’t that common if you look at the enrollment numbers. What was that experience like for you?

Nirugaa

I started and told myself: if the first semester goes well, I’ll stay. And it was amazing and super exciting. It didn’t bother me at all to be basically the only woman in the program. I just went for it.

Really the only one?

Nirugaa

Yes, in our program, I was.

I have two daughters and I try to motivate both of them—engineering could be an option too. Hopefully that will balance out a bit more in the future. Philipp, over to you: what role do you play, and who are you?

Philipp

I’m Philipp, Head of Sales at ORGATEX. I’m responsible for everything related to customer proximity from a sales perspective. I’m based in Langenfeld—we have an office here between Cologne and Düsseldorf. That’s where our central functions are located; we also have a warehouse and a second production site in Germany. My job is to orchestrate the market and enable the team to be there for our customers in the best possible way.

With ORGATEX, you’ve already achieved quite a lot. You’re the market leader in visual management in the shopfloor environment. That’s a strong position—you’re very well known. And now digitalization: that’s a leap you first have to make. Niru, from your perspective: how did you approach that? How did you start from your analog products, and how did the idea come up to digitalize and offer digital solutions?

Nirugaa

We have a strong background in visual management—things like shelf labeling, floor markings, and a very broad portfolio with around 3,500 products. At the same time, we realized that due to labor shortages and other factors, digitalization in industry is moving forward—especially in intralogistics. So as a first step, we developed the OX-Label to digitalize processes and production orders. After that, we introduced location sensors as a new product, and in areas where classic floor markings don’t hold up or can’t be used effectively, we replaced or supplemented them with digital spots.

That sounds like a very logical next step. You have floor markings that don’t last in critical environments or are difficult to place permanently, you replace them digitally, and from there you expand into sensor technology and further solutions. Philipp, from your perspective: did customers proactively approach you and say they want these kinds of solutions from you, or did you build more of a master sales strategy that doubled revenue?

Philipp

Actually, it was more the first one. We are a sales-driven company, but we clearly translate that in a market-driven way. In very concrete terms: customers have problems and challenges that they can’t cover—or can’t cover well enough—with the existing portfolio. In those cases, we really appreciate proactive feedback from customers. And that feedback ultimately drives our development pipeline, and therefore the solutions we build and deliver.
A very concrete example is the topic of Spot. Niru already mentioned it earlier. When a floor sign in a crossing area keeps getting damaged due to heavy wear and tear and no longer delivers its intended value, customers come to us. Together with the Innovation Lab, we then developed a solution where a projector, or a spot control system, is installed—one that can also detect industrial trucks. The goal is to significantly increase awareness in the warehouse and warn colleagues on the shopfloor much more effectively about hazards like approaching forklifts, in order to reduce accident risks.

That’s a really interesting point. We’re clearly talking about intralogistics here—an environment where a lot is moving, and it’s crucial that people know where they’re allowed to move, where they aren’t, and where items can be placed. How do you structure your business field in this context? Do you segment more by use cases, by products, or by other criteria?

Philipp

In our portfolio, we basically have three major areas that complement each other. We see ourselves as a solution provider and we consciously try not to think in individual products, but in solutions. One area is visual management. That’s about questions like: How do I separate vehicle routes from pedestrian routes? How do I increase safety? How do I improve efficiency by reducing search times—for example through shelf labeling? I like to use the example of a Swedish furniture manufacturer. You don’t need a logistics degree to find shelf 14 and bin 36 at IKEA. That’s a perfect example of solutions in the spirit of ORGATEX—regardless of whether the solution there actually comes from us or not. The principle is highly transferable, and that’s exactly the area we equip with visual management.
The second major area is material flow. The question there is whether I carry every single component from the warehouse to production individually, or whether I consolidate—for example into a KLT—and put it on a dolly. In this area, we are a strong partner of K. Hartwall in Germany, and from our perspective we have a very strong player in our portfolio. It’s about material flow, material supply, and FIFO compliance—so a wide range of in-house developed rail systems. Monorail is something many people have either come across before or at least heard of.
Out of these two portfolio components, digital intralogistics emerged. The trigger was customers coming to us and saying: “Philipp, it’s great that you offer shelf labels, container labels, and the KLT snapper—everything is nice and good—but I don’t want 60 pages of paper in my KLT. I want a smart digital solution.” Those are exactly the exciting cases where we work together with our colleagues from the Innovation Lab, actively develop with the customer, and build a solution that is ready for the market.

Niru, from a development perspective: how do you take on topics like this? Do you have a fixed development agenda and only take customer input on topics you already plan to develop, or what’s your approach?

Nirugaa

We actually have an innovation management model in place that is designed so that every employee can take part in the innovation process. That means everyone can submit ideas, and those ideas then go through different processes within the company. We work very closely with sales. When ideas come in, they flow into our system and are developed through several evaluation stages until they ultimately become an actual product or project.

From your perspective, what’s currently the highlight in development— something where you’d say it has created real value or is truly special?

Nirugaa

Definitely digital intralogistics. With the OX-Label, that is clearly our main focus this year. And also the entire infrastructure we’re building around it—the idea behind it and the vision—that’s definitely the highlight right now.

[08:57] Challenges, potentials and status quo – This is what the use case looks like in practice

What are the typical challenges customers face if they haven’t implemented your solution yet—or haven’t realized the vision? Philipp, what are customers currently struggling with in your conversations?

Philipp

Intralogistics is getting more and more attention. With many customers, we see that production processes are optimized down to the thousandth of a second—and then suddenly something very basic is missing, like an empty container that’s needed for production. That’s exactly where we come in. With relatively simple solutions—for example by placing a sensor that measures the buffer location, detects when a threshold value has been reached, and then automatically sends a message to logistics that replenishment is needed.
These are exactly the questions we’re seeing in the market right now. Intralogistics processes are part of the supply chain and are becoming increasingly important—especially given rising labor costs and the difficulty of recruiting staff. In the end, you have to become more efficient. You can’t run milk runs the way you used to, where someone stops at every station and manually checks the KLTs to see whether fill levels are okay or not. The key question is: how do we make this more efficient—and at the same time get a better overview of production by knowing exactly where a production order is located at any given moment?
Then there’s also the topic of safety. Peak periods are often covered through temporary labor. Those colleagues aren’t working in the same warehouse for years and don’t know every corner by heart. That makes it even more important to design walking paths and driving routes safely, secure crossing areas, and actively prevent accidents. These are classic topics where every customer initially thinks it’s a very unique problem. And I always say: on Monday I’m at a vegan sausage manufacturer, and on Wednesday I’m watching how cars are assembled in Munich. The problems are actually very similar across a wide range of industries—especially in manufacturing.

So you don’t really have extreme industry focus areas where one sector works heavily with you and others hardly at all—your solutions are broadly applicable and widely usable.

Philipp

From a company perspective, you could say we’re probably positioned in a fairly crisis-resistant way. In Germany, we have around 24,000 direct customers, with a clear focus on manufacturing. But we don’t have a classic industry focus like only automotive or only food. Our product portfolio covers a wide range of use cases and is continuously expanded—both analog and digital. I think that’s one of the charming things about ORGATEX. Many customers even take us with them to a new employer, because they’re convinced by the quality and the service mindset behind it. And for us, that’s of course very appreciated.

[11:59] Solutions, offerings and services – A look at the technologies used

Niru, what is your technological vision— first the overall vision, and then a bit more specifically, for example in relation to the OX-Label?

Nirugaa

Our vision is to become something like the smart home of intralogistics in the field of digital intralogistics. That means we want to enable customers to install and commission the systems in their own facilities themselves. We prepare everything in the cloud in a way that allows the customer to implement it independently. That is our vision. And to be honest, we don’t really see this on the market yet. The solutions we’ve seen so far—or tested ourselves—are mostly project-based. We haven’t found a true do-it-yourself approach in this form so far.

Very good. That can probably be broken down into different building blocks. Philipp, from your perspective: what are the key components of this vision?

Philipp

Exactly—there are of course different components involved. And it’s important to emphasize what Niru said: our goal is enablement and empowerment of users. We see a huge bottleneck when it comes to IT resources, whether internal or external. It feels like eight out of ten customers are currently in the middle of an S/4HANA implementation, and their IT teams are fully overloaded. So when we come in with topics like smart empty-container management, it quickly becomes difficult. That’s why our basic building blocks are designed around creating a user experience that is, above all, simple. “Simplify your workflow” obviously also applies to digital intralogistics.
Our idea is to enable project managers and users to integrate software and hardware components independently—and also to implement applications, meaning business intelligence, on their own. That includes adapting use cases, adjusting measurements, and changing KPIs. That’s what the entire portfolio is built on. We have a cloud solution with an interface where we map role and rights concepts, device management, and business intelligence in the form of use cases. And on top of that, we provide the right hardware solutions, which the customer can ideally scale on their own.
Of course, we don’t leave the customer alone with this. We have first- and second-level support, onboarding, and hypercare as part of the portfolio. So we don’t just ship everything and say, “please never contact us again.” We’re not a classic consulting company, but we do consultative selling—we provide guidance and aim to bundle the best possible solution for each use case.

These digital solutions you’ve developed together with customers are still relatively new on the market. Are there already initial success stories or ROI assessments? Do customers mainly use the solutions to solve acute problems, or are there solid business cases and calculations behind them as well?

Philipp

Especially when it comes to the OX-Label, our approach is not to say, “we simply replace paper.” A classic ROI calculation is actually quite difficult for that. Our ambition is rather to be the benchmark for the production order. If you had a greenfield situation and, as an industry, asked yourself what the production order of the future should look like, then the answer is very likely not a sheet of paper anymore. That’s exactly the question we’re trying to answer—by ensuring traceability, enabling real-time localization, and visually displaying the information that every colleague on the shopfloor needs via an e-ink display. We can map BDE confirmation processes and communicate with customer systems.
You asked about ROI—and that’s exactly where it gets interesting. How often are people actually searching on the shopfloor? We have customers where, after a joint and simple analysis, we found that the equivalent of two full-time employees are essentially busy searching all day long. With today’s labor costs, you very quickly end up in a six-figure range. That shows that from an investment perspective and a business-case perspective, it simply makes sense. Of course, it depends on whether search times exist, whether problems are present, and whether information is available at the right time in the right place. Ideally, we work through those dependencies together with the customer—if they want, also independently. We’re happy to support by pointing out the relevant KPIs. This is a key topic.

You’ve mentioned labels several times now. Are these wireless labels that transmit their position? And what other components do you have? You mentioned sensors for fill levels. What are the technological building blocks of your system?

Nirugaa

We have the OX-Label as a digital production order. Of course, you could still use paper, but that’s not the core idea behind our product concept. As a second product, we have the OX Kanban sensor, which can be used to capture fill levels in Kanban racks. In addition, there is the OX location sensor for detecting locations and their fill levels. And it’s not just the Spot itself—we also provide an intelligent control system for the Spot. So basically, these are four hardware components, complemented by the cloud platform behind them.

If we look at communication: on the shopfloor you have fieldbus systems, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, 5G, and additional technologies like Bluetooth. Which wireless protocols do you use, and how does data transport work—especially since many of your components are mobile, such as labels or sensors?

Philipp

We’re actually not big fans of Wi-Fi. There are several reasons for that, such as scalability and power consumption. Customer-owned infrastructure systems are usually already heavily utilized anyway. That’s why our tech stack is more focused on Narrowband. If you want to operate without your own infrastructure, Narrowband works very well in this area, with LTE-M as a backup. That way, we use part of the existing cellular network with very strong penetration—so industrial halls and warehouses are not a major issue for us.
On top of that, we’ve integrated a second layer into the products: an infrastructure-based solution using Thread. This is a protocol that originally comes from the smart home space and was co-developed by companies like Google. We adapted it for our needs and translated it into industrial use. In practical terms, that means: with a border router, we can create an infrastructure at the customer site with very little investment. The devices are mesh-capable, meaning they form their own network with each other. This gives us very high scalability while keeping infrastructure costs very low. For us, that’s currently the right approach.
Of course, there are other systems as well, but we always think backwards from the customer. What matters is low maintenance effort and low costs, because that’s a key success factor—for the customer and for us. In the end, it has to fit within a budget, and the investment has to make sense so that a return on investment can be achieved.

We recently had an episode with Siemens and Salzgitter on the topic of 5G. Does 5G already play a role in your thinking? Are you actively using it, or is it currently more of a topic in the innovation department? In theory, it could support these kinds of use cases very well.

Nirugaa

At the moment, we don’t have 5G in our portfolio yet, but we’re open to technologies for the future and we stay up to date.

Philipp

Exactly—and that’s very important to understand. We always develop starting from the customer, and that applies not only to use cases, but also to technology. We don’t have all the answers, the market keeps evolving, and we’re moving very dynamically. We develop a lot—actually almost everything—in-house, which of course gives us a lot of freedom. Siemens, for example, is also not a small customer for us. We’re in regular exchange with the colleagues there, and we know that they also develop a lot in-house. In the end, this exchange helps to make our solutions even better in the future.
If we talked again in six weeks, it could very well be that new features or extensions have been added. What we’re discussing today is always just a snapshot. At the same time, we of course keep a very close eye on what competitors are doing and where technology is heading overall.

I think that’s exactly how you should approach topics like this. Another aspect that plays a role here is the dynamic nature of ongoing development—and the topic of updates. Especially when many sensors or other components are installed on the shopfloor: how do you handle that? Do you already have solutions for it, and what does it look like in practice?

Philipp

We do over-the-air updates. That means firmware updates, security patches, and similar updates are deployed directly to the devices—either via the cellular layer or via the Thread layer through the border router. In practical terms, that means the solutions are largely maintenance-free and can also be updated during ongoing operations. The big advantage is that the customer’s internal IT infrastructure isn’t additionally burdened, and the updates run very smoothly. Basically the way you know it from modern smartphones. If automatic updates are enabled, you barely notice anything—except for larger major changes. That’s already how it works today in the existing portfolio, and that’s how it will be for future solutions as well.

Those are the stories where someone walks through the plant with a USB stick and manually updates a hundred devices. I assume that’s a thing of the past for you—or at least will be soon.

Philipp

We’ve seen all of that already.

[22:10] Transferability, scaling and next steps – Here’s how you can use this use case

When you look at your roadmap, what are the topics you’re currently working on most intensively? A lot is happening in intralogistics right now. Looking ahead, there will be humanoid robots, autonomous systems, small AGVs driving around the shopfloor and transporting goods. That changes quite a lot.

Nirugaa

A key focus area for us right now is AMR. We’re looking at where and how we can connect our products. Integration in general is a big topic. That’s why we strongly rely on no-code technologies, so we can connect to different platforms as easily as possible and integrate well into the customer’s existing portfolio. Data exchange should be as simple as possible. Looking further ahead, edge computing is also very exciting, as well as data processing using AI and machine learning—for example in the area of location sensing. These are the fields we’re currently working in.

That definitely sounds dynamic. Another important point is collaboration with partners. You’ve already mentioned that you work with strong partners. From my own experience, I know how important ecosystems are and how you grow together with partners. What role do partnerships play for you, and how do you approach them?

Philipp

In a way, the market is still at an early stage, so you can’t really avoid partnerships—and we don’t want to avoid them either. We’re very open to third parties, to new ideas and innovations, no matter the format—whether it’s a shared portfolio or a complementary one. One very important point that Niru already mentioned earlier is compatibility. I might already have a sensor from provider X and want to add a sensor from ORGATEX. The question then is: how do we control that together? And how does the information ultimately reach a humanoid robot that is supposed to pick up the goods? In my view, that’s where the key lies. I don’t think there’s a solution on the market today that fully covers all of that. At some point, one or two ecosystems will definitely emerge—similar to Android and Apple. That will happen. But for us, what really matters is having a concrete use case, a concrete customer, and a concrete project. Otherwise, these conversations and workshops quickly fade into a “let’s talk again in six months.” And we’re not big fans of that. We work in a very hands-on, practical way.
We’re always open to discussions in the context of a joint project. And we’re still at the beginning of building up our digital portfolio. If we think about measurements like quality, air quality, vibrations, or signal lights—those are all topics that fit very well into our portfolio and have historically always been ORGATEX topics. There’s a lot more to come. And we’re also open to the idea that if someone has really great hardware that performs extremely well, why not integrate it through an ORGATEX cloud? These are topics we definitely explore, and we approach them in a very customer-driven and open way.

I really like how you describe this partnership mindset. Doing workshops “just in case,” like “maybe we could do something,” is often difficult.

Philipp

I wouldn’t call it a waste of time, but we take a very practical approach. We’d rather align details together shortly before a customer meeting, plan a proof of concept, implement it, and then convince the customer that the solution is exactly the right one because it delivers the highest value. That’s more our approach. For example, we currently have a joint customer project with a small AGV manufacturer. The customer already had the AGV in operation, and the first question was: would you really work with them? Of course. The customer knows the provider, knows the infrastructure—and we add our IoT hardware and cloud solution on top as a second layer. It works very well together. That’s exactly how we approach projects: hands-on and open.

Especially in projects, my experience is that technology is one thing—but adapting processes, and above all getting the employees who will work with it on board, are two completely different challenges. What has your experience been, and what approaches or learnings can you share?

Philipp

We actually see the same topic in the analog world as well. If a company hasn’t used visual management for decades, it’s naturally confusing at first when you walk into a shopfloor on Monday morning and it’s suddenly fully equipped with ORGATEX solutions. I think what’s really important is to involve many colleagues early on, explain transparently why you’re doing it, and clearly communicate the value. Especially with digitalization, there’s often a concern in Germany along the lines of: you just want to cut my job. But that’s simply not the case. Efficient processes secure jobs because companies become more competitive, can produce more, and win new customers.
A key success factor is therefore to gather opinions early, bring the teams along, and ideally not start with a full rollout across the entire warehouse right away. It’s better to start with one area, learn together, collect feedback, and ask whether it works like this. Based on that, you can roll the solution out step by step. This applies to the analog as well as the digital side, and it works very well for us.
What also helps is being present on site. We really like to spend time at customer locations across all areas and speak directly with the employees. If an external person gives feedback—someone you might not know that well yet—but explains in a fact-based way and at the same time with the right emotional tone why a solution makes sense, acceptance increases massively. That’s how you create enthusiasm for digital intralogistics and smart solutions.

That’s definitely very convincing. Unfortunately, we’re almost out of time. But feel free to share a few closing words. Niru, maybe you can start: what would you like to leave the listeners with, and how can they reach you if they want to connect?

Nirugaa

We’re always happy to get inspiration from industry. If there are questions around intralogistics—whether digital or analog—feel free to reach out. You can contact me anytime via LinkedIn, I’m easy to find there.

Philipp

One thing that’s important for me to emphasize is that we’re not a classic project service provider. We see ourselves as an OEM that provides software and hardware components for digital intralogistics—and also as a sparring partner. Even without a large project budget, we’re happy to discuss challenges, have conversations, exchange ideas, and run workshops, whether digitally or on site. That’s what drives progress—both for customers and potential partners, and for us as a company. That’s how we can develop further together. You can also find me on LinkedIn or reach me via email. Phone works too, although sometimes I’m a bit hard to reach.

It has actually become less common to just pick up the phone, hasn’t it?

Philipp

It depends, but yes—less than it used to be, that’s true.

Then thank you very much, Niru and Philipp, for being here today and for discussing digital intralogistics with me. I really enjoyed it and found it super interesting. We’re looking forward to more conversations and wish you a great day. See you soon. Bye.

Nirugaa

Thank you very much. Bye.

Philipp

Ciao.