An Update on The Logistics Tribe, a New Startup and a New Book (Boris Felgendreher and Marco Prüglmeier)

00:00:00: Hello and welcome to the logistics tribe I'm boss felgendreher found off the logistics tribe and today I'm talking to Marco prüglmeier.

00:00:12: Body and partner in crime here at the described at the beginning of the show I'm giving a bit of an update on the logistics tribe

00:00:19: we have published over 25 episodes so far in the feedback we've gotten from you the audience is super super positive which is very exciting makes us very happy to know that you find our content valuable and The Listener count and download numbers speak for themselves.

00:00:32: Will literally heard all around the world and I'll dive into all of that at the beginning of this episode

00:00:37: but I also talked to Michael about the startup that he launched and got VC funding for this year and the book he published on the topic of Innovations in logistics.

00:00:46: So wide-ranging episode this time but before I forget this week I recorded an episode with Akash Gupta.

00:00:53: Akash is the co-founder and CTO of grey orange and as you may know gray orange is an official partner of the logistics tribe.

00:01:00: The episode I recorded will be published on another successful podcast that I host in produce for the German Logistics Association bvl.

00:01:08: Most episodes on that show on German but on occasion we have international English-speaking guests like a cat on so if you're interested head on over to the bvl to the podcast And subscribe so you don't miss when the episode of the cash drops there.

00:01:21: And a couple of weeks super exciting conversation Akash actually grew up in rural India and build a global player in AI enabled Warehouse robotics automation.

00:01:30: Just ten years that's a story that you don't want to miss.

00:01:33: I'll leave a link to the bvl digital pod cast in the show notes but now without further Ado Here Comes Michael prüglmeier hello Marco welcome to the logistics tribe thanks for being on the program hi Boris

00:01:46: thank you very much for inviting me this time.

00:01:50: Yeah how does it feel to be on that side of the microphone again for a change oh actually it's very comfortable because I don't have to care about the questions I'm I'm the one getting asked two questions and so

00:02:04: that's pretty good yeah sometimes I wonder what's easier to be the interviewer or the interviewee it depends on your pizza I can tell you afterwards and you have no ideas what kind of

00:02:12: trick questions and difficult question going to ask you so you've you feeling uncomfortable now but wait until this is over okay oh no I'm gonna.

00:02:20: I'm going to launch a bunch of softballs today and then we'll go from there

00:02:24: no it's great to have you on again this is actually episode number 25 so yeah it's a times passing by you you actually hosted a record at one like eight or nine of those so

00:02:34: you've done your share of work excellent fantastic and it was a lot of fun actually yeah yeah I have to say I really enjoyed this project even though it is a lot of work we're sharing the burden but it's still quite a bit of work.

00:02:47: It was also probably the reason why it's a lot of new podcast pop up everywhere

00:02:51: also in our space but few actually have the stamina to go the long way I actually came across some interesting stats the other day on just podcast in general I mean it was

00:03:00: basically an explosion of new podcast formats and episodes

00:03:04: especially doing doing covid but I learned that 90% of new podcast never make it past episode 3 oh yes oh it's not much yeah that's that's incredible and out of and out of those ten percent that survive past three

00:03:17: only one percent make it past 20 episodes okay but I do think we have a big Advantage Boris you know what what is it

00:03:25: we both like to talk to interesting people

00:03:28: and that's something you would we kind of naturally like to do and now we're just recording how dogs or are being used and very true we try to let.

00:03:40: The logistics tribe also

00:03:41: yeah benefit from that and I think that's a very good concept yeah and actually I have to admit that the the actual conversations interviews or the conversations they don't feel like work know if you like playing same for me what's the work is afterwards you know this editing which I still do myself to this day so

00:03:57: I am getting a bit of tired of that stuff because I also as you know I do the podcast for the German of Justice Association where we just recently passed over a hundred episodes.

00:04:05: And for the last two years or so that's also quite a it's become quite a beast so that's a also very very very successful format.

00:04:14: And it also obviously be painful if this wasn't successful so we can look back at those 24 episodes and say that's really working I mean I.

00:04:22: It's often times see my post on LinkedIn when I when I chuckle when I look at where we're trending in the charts around the world it's so incredible to see how how far our reach is we've actually I just put the numbers just before this episode

00:04:37: we have now been listened to a 99 different countries around the world oh wait

00:04:41: yeah 99 so we're about to maybe with this one we're across the country.

00:04:48: And of course there's a long tail I mean the there's a lot of lessons from Germany and that's normal because we're German we have a lot of network here a lot of guests have been from Germany but actually more guests from outside of Germany than from inside of Germany and the largest

00:05:00: it's a national or Global audiences from the US and then there's this long tail of 90 97 other countries including

00:05:09: get a one person from Napalm person from Malta it does actually numbers which is good but they really like that because remember that was one of our intentions that we actually do it in English even though we are both Germans.

00:05:23: But to do this because there are a lot of people interested in logistics out there in countries.

00:05:30: Verdi even might not speak fluent English yeah.

00:05:34: But they're still interested in logistics and and I was so happy when you shared one of your posts where we were I don't know number two or so in Jamaica right.

00:05:46: Through Jamaica yeah that's a that's a winner Squad that won us a win which you could argue I mean how big is Jamaica and of course we so I pulled a couple number so we're number.

00:05:55: We want number 5 and 10 Zania the Apple

00:05:58: and the Apple charts this is so again just to be sure we're not talking about the Apple charts in general we're talking about management which is a sub

00:06:06: category under business so there's is all podcast and then there's business and under business there's no Logistics and supply chain you have to go categorize yourself as management that's the only thing that makes sense and in that category we were.

00:06:17: Number 5 and 10 Zania number two in Jamaica 11 in Denmark 9 and Austria.

00:06:24: And then number 17 in India right so you can argue all Jamaica is a tiny market so what.

00:06:30: You know training in India on number 17 that was that was pretty cool so yeah so yeah good let's have some greetings to all the guys listening

00:06:41: they're in all the countries of the world it's amazing yeah.

00:06:46: Yeah the one thing the one thing I wish we had more but that's a typical thing of podcast in general is that.

00:06:51: You lacking that immediate feedback so you don't see the audience often times I pulled the numbers couple of months later whatever I COI interesting there's.

00:06:58: People from Malta but you don't you know you missing that immediate feedback which so I wish I was more interaction maybe maybe everybody's listening to this you know feel free to connect with us on LinkedIn if it is the platform we typically use so

00:07:11: so connect with us there if your listener ping us connect with us let us know how it's going I mean the anecdotal feedback that I've received so far it's super super positive everywhere I look.

00:07:20: And here in this into everybody is encouraging and saying what's his great great good stuff keep it up and keep going so yeah we will.

00:07:27: We'll take that also I mean room for improvement always if you have suggestions for what's working what's not working

00:07:33: what we should do more of less off let us know you know both our LinkedIn profiles are typically in the show notes so just click on that connect tell us your listener and we'll accept and will gladly

00:07:43: you know connect with you so yeah and in terms of the most popular episode

00:07:49: take a guess what do you what do you think is the most popular episodes so far that we've that we've bride test was so surprised very surprised that it seems to be that my most popular episode was on mqtt

00:08:02: right well that's a right and that is running that's that's just incredible because.

00:08:08: It's such a niche topic but that seems to interest a lot of people and

00:08:15: so yeah I was surprised to remember when we first talked about he said yeah I'm going to talk about mqtt I was like

00:08:19: I am sure you know I'm not sure it's you know I'm not even that deep into it but I learned a lot from it just listening to No I

00:08:27: I'm the expert mqtt not but yeah yeah that was a surprise to me as well but there's obviously a large Niche but did you know that actually most of the cars in the future will be connected with why mqtt

00:08:41: I know now because I listened to yes of course so we probably will have to do with mqtt.

00:08:49: Even if we don't know what it is so yeah everybody should say our old in our world and also in logistics yeah

00:08:57: and then you know so but overall the most popular episode was the one on the global ocean Freight crisis we did too but the one the most recent one.

00:09:05: It was called the ultimate analysis of the global ocean Freight crisis with your engagement from the intelligence who spent.

00:09:11: You know several decades at Mercy and then at Nestle and always working in a boutique Consulting see on that topic and it's.

00:09:19: All over the place right it's an air and all the new Cycles is everywhere so people are naturally drawn to that topic and having an expert like Johann to Deep dive.

00:09:28: On that topic was just awesome and that's I mean it shows a number it's still running I mean that's the other thing I see is that.

00:09:35: Even the episodes were recorded in january-february they still get a place so it's this is Evergreen content is just going to build and build and build so anyways enough about that so enough celebration.

00:09:45: We are off to a good start and of course in my last thing I say about it is that.

00:09:50: As you know we've recently had great orange become an official partner sponsor of the of the show so that's exciting that's exciting news yeah

00:09:59: that's a great validation and sort of stamp of approval I think that's that's awesome I love I love the team I mean I know if you folks that joined the Amia organization they up to something big here Automation in e-commerce warehouses and retailers warehouses is all over the place right now the the

00:10:15: the demand is going through the roof and they're going full force into Europe and all the stuff that was awesome

00:10:19: it's all dead me great partnership the means that we have to do more robotics episodes if you want to do more robotics I know that's your that's your that's your cup of tea.

00:10:29: Well that's maybe it's a great transition into what I want to talk to you about first which is you know after you left BMW where you wear for one for 20 years so I'm going to actually yeah.

00:10:40: 22 22 years of BMW you left BMW and then went to this sort of weird stealth mode we were sort of cryptic I didn't even know what actually I right away went to the logistics tribe

00:10:50: that's right that's right yeah you gave me what a great movie what a career move yeah Boris.

00:10:58: Nobody wanted this sort of semi stealth mode and I was like what else is he up to and then obviously he you came out and announced a few months back that you have a major funding for your new startup so tell us about.

00:11:11: What you doing why you're a late bloomer startup founder so to speak yeah actually the first step after the logistics tribe of course.

00:11:20: Was to to found a consultancy company on what else in logistics and Innovations in logistics which is kind of my topic

00:11:30: and I still do this so it's still a part of my

00:11:37: daddy worked at the Consulting business but it's getting less and less because there was one project actually that really took off like a rocket ship you could say.

00:11:48: And this was Noyes Technologies and what we are doing is.

00:11:54: We are actually building small tiny robotized warehouses that you can actually fit in every store.

00:12:03: In the town or in every corner yeah and we actually want to proceed to to be a real Nano Fulfillment company so.

00:12:17: Not only the storage system but also the picking of items and goods.

00:12:23: And as you are already really close to the customer in urban settings the customers are right around so it's it has nothing to do.

00:12:34: The normal Logistics that you might know from the 10 meter high warehouses and so on so it's really a custom customized for the urban eat and as the customers are already near by then.

00:12:47: The Next Step would definitely be also integrating delivery robots.

00:12:53: So it's something that starts with a robotized warehouse system but there is a lot more.

00:13:00: To come on that side and that's something that is really.

00:13:04: Making it very interesting also for investors and that's why we got funding around right away yeah awesome so you're basically jumping onto that new trend or that new emerging business field of

00:13:17: ultra-fast delivery in que Comer so you're so you your technology would basically operate like a dog store Warehouse in an urban environment.

00:13:27: That someone like a gorillas or like a get to you or if link would use right so yeah that's too too that's correct.

00:13:33: So typically what they have now they just rent a space and they put shelves up and people are roaming around and just picking by hand right and you're saying.

00:13:39: Something like that in the future will be totally automated with no people running around its all robot it's all automated is that what I'm

00:13:45: yes and hopefully in the near future so and that's totally correct but thing is that we are not with the with the warehousing

00:13:55: a solution alone we're not we don't only fit into the Q Commerce space we also can imagine

00:14:03: to use this in totally other verticals like like the postal office at the postal packages and so on.

00:14:12: And also the industrial use cases for small storage areas where the main part is actually on density that's.

00:14:21: Thing interesting interesting so are you using off-the-shelf technology for this or are you are you building proprietary hardware and software to build this or how do you go about this it depends in in in some.

00:14:35: Areas we are using just off the shelf and we are also working together with other companies.

00:14:42: Um that we cannot announce right away at this point but we don't do everything by ourselves.

00:14:51: About the core robotized warehousing solution that is really designed and.

00:14:58: Files yeah and are you ready to deliver now I mean if I want to order this tomorrow from our Dock Store here around the corner or are you still in development mode or where are you because I mean if you just found it this earlier this year then

00:15:09: the earliest are not that fast so it's not built yet we have some prototypes right now in our office here in Munich

00:15:17: and we are developing this together with to customers that we have already

00:15:23: and and we hope to open the first.

00:15:28: Real demo store let's let's say by next year fantastic how many people are you right now I mean you had to build up a team pretty quickly yes we're fast hiring mode 26 right now so the running things

00:15:42: anyway 0 at the beginning of the year right I mean Halliwell to two of us so two yeah two Founders and 12 Michael

00:15:50: and then we ramped it up step by step yeah are there any players out there that during something similar what's the competitive landscape look like if you look not just in Germany but across the world who else is out there trying to do something simple and it actually

00:16:04: not that many if you take a closer look because we are really going for the Nano fulfillment space and for most of the traditional companies let's say like like Auto store or

00:16:17: thematic or whatever they are coming from the pig and warehouses.

00:16:22: And they are now trying to shrink down the systems to smaller sides.

00:16:28: And but this actually in my point of view makes only sense to a certain extent.

00:16:33: Just technology wise and we are coming from the from the other bookend and we are building something really.

00:16:40: Dedicated to the small areas and for us it starts with

00:16:47: basically I don't know 20 square meters or even 10 square meters you could start wow and then you could add modules and you could go up to several hundred square meters probably but that that is really our sweet.

00:17:00: Bottom so the two I don't know a hundred to two hundred square meters and most of them

00:17:08: so called micro fulfillment sites they really started

00:17:11: mm square meters or or enough 900 square meters so but that's not really our sweet spot and right now currently in these warehouses that I've of these companies I referred to earlier get tear in the gorillas right now it's.

00:17:24: Is there any automation going on as it was all hundred percent manual stuff

00:17:29: even at places like gold powerful been around for a while are they how do they other the right now whether they're small weights more if you're taking a look into e-commerce there you would see automation of course like.

00:17:44: One of the bigger companies also ocado in the UK.

00:17:49: Um they are going for automation but not really the Q Commerce site because they are actually right now they are too small to really for automation the you need you need a different technology there.

00:18:03: To make it really happen

00:18:05: yeah and how similar are how different is this from what you've been doing for 22 years at BMW I mean they're obviously you have a lot more space much more space

00:18:15: different Vehicles how like what can you take away what can you learn what what are you bringing to the picture that that you can apply here or is this like a totally different animal basically.

00:18:24: It's different but also there are some some points in common here.

00:18:30: Of course we tested a lot of different startups a lot of.

00:18:35: Logistics Solutions especially especially the Innovative stuff yeah we tested that in my Innovation lab

00:18:44: BMW so basically a new all the existing Solutions and existing Technologies and that's what also my book is about so all the Technologies aspects on that

00:18:57: besides that we.

00:19:00: Actually build our own Hardware or own systems our own robots and actually BMW is now continuing in that part and since

00:19:12: beginning of our audience of last year BMW is not only selling cars and motorcycles.

00:19:19: But also am are so autonomous mobile robots under the brand of ideal works so.

00:19:28: Where I had a good knowledge is how do you build such a robot in different steps.

00:19:37: And what is the way to do it and which people do you need to do that so obviously I'm not building it myself so that.

00:19:47: There are some experts doing that but putting all the pieces together that's that's something that I definitely learned at we back at BMW and.

00:19:56: I'm very thankful for that and that's actually something that I can also apply right now in the company.

00:20:05: From the technology side actually what we are doing right now is quite simply a than what we did back at BMW yeah which is a lot more complicated.

00:20:15: Build a Neymar that really has a vision test perception of its surroundings and and now we are really building

00:20:25: quiet comparable easy robots yeah I mean take me one level deeper into I want to Envision how this very sort of very small nah know.

00:20:33: None of fulfillment center looks like it so this is a room I walk and I walk into the room or is it like a company is actually designed for rooms with a room height of.

00:20:43: Three meters height or so so you can put it in a normal store that that you would have a nice kind in any City

00:20:51: and from the outside looks like a locker system sort of like or is it open shelves or is it closed or was it looks like a locker system or like a modularized leg Lego bricks a little bit bigger of course curriculum bricks that you

00:21:06: put on top of each other and of course I cannot tell about the ingredients and what is going on sure she's right there.

00:21:13: But it's very modularized that's also something which I probably learned that BMW yeah in the automotive industry.

00:21:21: We always were thinking about platforms and modernization and scalability and that that's that's key there.

00:21:31: And that's something that we definitely built in from right from the beginning yeah but

00:21:36: maybe the difference here is once you've built a production plant BMW it's going to stay there for a long time where as a dog store for a quick Commerce company may go away very quickly only may need that flexibility so are you also thinking about that being able to scale up and ramp down quickly

00:21:51: okay so how quickly can I get this up and running and how long does it take to wrap it up and bring it bring it to a couple of blocks down the down the road it's probably a day okay alright.

00:22:01: Why are you being so secretive are you just going out a couple of maybe maybe that's your strategy you make it more

00:22:06: more appealing by being being very close lipped on it yeah that's kind of my industrial background you know we always rebuilding the stuff before and then we were talking about it

00:22:18: but now in the startup world to thinking is a little bit different so.

00:22:26: And that's interesting yeah that's where I'm also really learning a lot right now yeah where do you see yourself or you will you see the company in five years from now well domination if you ask me like that on the New York Stock

00:22:40: exchange of quiet okay okay because we want to heat very bold with this so it's nothing that we do on a small scale we do it either on a really big scale or we

00:22:52: we don't do it at all so you going all-in and and see what happens

00:22:57: yeah I think that's that's how you have to do it and I kind of industry it's too fast pacing that you can do it alone or

00:23:06: a small kind of startup I think you have to go all in a lot of success probably also hinges on this whole model of quick Commerce really catching on I mean it's a New Concept it's only been around let's look at gorillas I mean they weren't around two years ago before the covid crisis.

00:23:24: That company didn't exist it came out of nowhere it quickly made it to the top of the hype cycle and tell me about how you thinking about this whole Space are we are we going to see.

00:23:35: Boom and bust and cycle is a sort of a hype cycle that's going to fall back or is it going to just continue on from here is it just the first stages and this is a lot more to come talk to me about how you how you see this whole Space of cucumbers evolve if it is such a big part of your

00:23:50: your strategy so to speak okay yeah that's a big topic to talk about and we can do a whole episode on that but

00:23:59: to answer it short I think it's it's going to stay it's not going away anymore and there are other markets where you can see that already like in Russia in the cities and so on

00:24:11: nobody is going under

00:24:14: or AB off the two-hour delivery time anymore so that's not accepted anymore form from people there and I think that's.

00:24:24: Definitely going to stay I'm not sure

00:24:27: personally if it has to be 5 or 10 minutes that's probably something very good to to enter the market and and to to get to Consumers to change

00:24:39: but I think if you talking about I don't know half an hour to two hours that will be our

00:24:48: we are convenient delivery cycle in the future in the cities and that's something that I think is not going away anymore and that's why we have to rethink the logistics Solutions.

00:25:02: To fit that in the future and of course one part is automation because nobody actually.

00:25:11: And I know this pretty well from all the logistics operations in.

00:25:15: In the automotive industry and of course there are also is a similarity because we also hit supermarkets there.

00:25:23: It was not with apples and bananas it was more with mirror caps and door handles in different colors and so on but still it's the same operations and it's very hard

00:25:35: to to really get the costs down because it's a very manual.

00:25:40: Processor and unless you're not using robots for that you you get stuck with the high cost and that's something

00:25:50: the the consumers will not agree to so you want to have it in half an hour but you don't want to pay a lot more cost so that's basically how everybody will see it in the future.

00:26:04: And to think this to an end you probably have to lose a lot more automation

00:26:09: we have nowadays Yeah you mentioned earlier that you also think about combining this automated Nano fulfillment center with an autonomous.

00:26:18: Delivery bot right so right in other words your you're envisioning a time when this entire process for me ordering something ad hoc.

00:26:26: To it being fulfilled in an unofficial Furman Center to it being delivered to my doorstep not being touched by any humans I was um right there's going to be a time.

00:26:34: Where this is fully automated where no human touches yes and touches my wires and I will be even a little bit more bold I think this time is really.

00:26:43: Um we're getting close now because it will not take I don't know 5 to 10 years I guess I think it will.

00:26:52: Get through the next two three four years.

00:26:57: That we will see delivery pots on our streets and I'm really talking on our street here and then Hamburg where you live and then Munich where I live.

00:27:06: But you talking first first the first sort of regular use of those as opposed to it being the normal the normal effect you talking about where we see the first occurs two years where we see the first the first robot sort of two legs actually I did

00:27:21: the calculation for that because today it's bicycle drivers yeah and they are doing three.

00:27:30: In the maximum three or four deliveries at maximum in an hour and.

00:27:37: Would our high wages at least in Germany and in other high-wage countries this is not really feasible

00:27:44: it's not really a sustainable process you

00:27:48: you have to do the optimization and and I think actually it's very profitable to do that and to go into this direction today we still don't have to regulation side

00:27:59: but actually we did I did an episode in the logistics tribe but burn garage

00:28:05: on the topic yeah and he's already working in in the US with cities like London and Pittsburgh and so on on the regulation side in an easel standard so

00:28:20: that's something that is that is coming next year so and if we have to standardization side.

00:28:27: The technology should be ready yeah but how long is it going to be until you can.

00:28:33: You can fulfill an order with the the robot that's roaming that's rolling on the street at the same speed that it would take a human with a bike

00:28:41: right as I think there's a lot of things still to figure out because we don't want to do these things to go like 20 kilometers an hour on the sidewalks on the streets and

00:28:49: I've got to be crazy yeah first of all there will be different types of delivery vehicles my point of view so there will be some that are not carrying

00:29:00: carrying only one load but multiple baskets

00:29:05: enter will be a smaller ones that will be only responsible for one basket to One customer so a point-to-point relation and I think there it's not.

00:29:17: About the final speed so that the maximum speed max speed is not crucial it should be around I don't know six kilometers per hour or so in the maximum but that's totally enough.

00:29:30: That's something that we actually also encountered in our in the automotive world.

00:29:37: Dad everybody was talking about yeah the speed is not enough of the robots and so on but if the speed is reaching a certain level and this decent enough.

00:29:48: Then it's more the continuity of the robot and the robot not

00:29:54: needing any break times or so yeah it's just doing the work and it's doing it very continuously and and slow and that's enough

00:30:04: at least in my calculation

00:30:06: this new calculation yeah yeah and I can really recommend the the episode you recorded with being gross who was like this this expert on this this or especially around the all the regulations and sort of permits and what has to happen with in conjunction with cities to make this reality so that was a good episode yeah

00:30:24: and then Michael you also

00:30:26: I have here on my on my desk the signed copy of the of the book that you published so this is going to be a collector's item because it came with a personal donation.

00:30:35: So mine is called ton of innovation in the logistics

00:30:37: I believe there's no an English version of the book out what's it called is Innovations in logistics yes it is not much change on that side so you also on top of the logistics tribe and founding a start-up at hog

00:30:51: quickly from 0 to 26 people with funding.

00:30:54: This year you also publish a book what else are you what are you not what are you not doing well we had we had a lockdown remember so we had a lot of time you know and that's actually where I got to write a book and find the time to write a book.

00:31:09: Now it now it would be much more difficult for me

00:31:13: yeah no kidding what made you want to write the book I mean was it something on your bucket list you always wanted to publish a book he wanted to get all your ideas down on paper or what how did that come about no it was actually more the experience and the knowledge that I

00:31:27: collected during my work at

00:31:30: BMW that we are really on a point where Logistics is dramatically changing with all the robots a Mars coming getting cheaper and cheaper and and

00:31:44: all all the other technologies that I described also in the book

00:31:48: and what I work at really worried about is once the technology is really ready and and ready to apply and you can buy it off the shelf which is starting right now I mean I just told you to

00:32:03: about ideal works and and BMW selling a Mars and once the technology is ready.

00:32:11: It goes very quick and the scalability is very quick and very fast.

00:32:16: And then we really have to think about what are we doing with the people that are doing the drops right now and.

00:32:25: I think there we did a really really good job at BMW because we were very forward thinking.

00:32:33: And we were taking into account that we followed a very.

00:32:38: Yeah a very good concept introducing the new technologies without ending up at some point and.

00:32:47: Just seeing that we now have too many forklift drivers on the shop floor and we don't need them anymore and.

00:32:56: I was thinking about okay but what can I do to help bring my pot to that and to avoid that situation in the future which would not.

00:33:08: Actually great for the company it would not be great for the people itself for the former forklift drivers and it would not be good for

00:33:16: us as in Germany as an economy and and for all Logistics and that's what I wanted to prevent

00:33:23: and I thought OK the simplest way to.

00:33:27: To start even with the prevention would be information and that's why I wrote this book.

00:33:35: And I rolled it in that way I did not ride it alone I have to say I had a co-author which is Alex Pinker.

00:33:42: He's a great guy coming from the journalism.

00:33:46: And also our journalism background and also he's an innovation profiler so he knew what

00:33:56: the Technologies are all about and he knew what I'm talking about but you did not know the logistics pace so and we both said that very well together yeah in the.

00:34:09: It I have to say it really became a friendship with with Alex because.

00:34:14: It was my first book then I rolled and of course he was much more experience on that side.

00:34:22: And he had to always trigger me a little bit and then follow on and yeah did you did you write the chapter.

00:34:29: No stop a recording all those podcast get back to your device that's right and then you on the other line calling with the podcast that's right now and I think that was a very good fit.

00:34:41: And we designed the book actually in that way that it's not.

00:34:45: Only for the management or for the logistics leaders and the CEOs of the production plants it's actually for everybody of course it's for the CEOs and decision takers.

00:34:59: But it's also for the forklift drivers and they can take a look into the book it's easy.

00:35:06: To read it it really has everything to know what we'll tackle us in the future in logistics.

00:35:15: And it basically follows three three parts so the one is.

00:35:21: As I said describing the base base of the Innovation that is taking place this was mostly Alex part then the second part how does this.

00:35:34: Shape the future of the logistics which was my part and then the third one is.

00:35:40: How to get there so what are the steps to get there and not to end up in a catastrophe where you got all the robots ready

00:35:51: to to buy and you got all the people still on your payroll and don't know what to do so that's what we wanted to prevent.

00:35:59: And there are some site anecdotes also so like like interesting anecdotes to make it a little bit more

00:36:08: readable and interesting also for people yeah this quite readable has got a lot of pictures a lot of illustrations that's that's helpful so it it does come across a little bit like a textbook

00:36:17: like so like a like there's something you would you would

00:36:20: used to learn something but it's not as dry I mean it's written in a very accessible way that's at least how I saw it and what I like I mean I

00:36:29: I started reading about I didn't really cover to cover but that's not the point.

00:36:32: I mean that's not how it's supposed to be red but it's supposed to be you can dive in and out right so you don't have to sit down and one session and read the whole thing but it's meant to

00:36:41: for you to peruse and pick topics depending on need so I mean I actually used it a couple of times to just refer a bag in preparation for conversations I had or episodes I

00:36:52: I sort of went in and looked at certain

00:36:54: the way certain topics were covered and you know that's it so tell us about the Technologies for example the technology section what's mm what are the most relevant Technologies and how are they are presented in the book okay the most basic

00:37:05: Technologies are actually those that we know from other Industries yeah so it's AI artificial intelligence of course it's

00:37:15: a are so augmented reality and VR virtual reality and Robotics in general that's that's the one part of the model basic part.

00:37:26: But then it goes a little bit deeper and it talks about Technologies like lidar yeah so.

00:37:34: You need that you need a lighter sense of for for every Amarr and every decent robot probably and it's called light detection and ranging.

00:37:48: And.

00:37:48: It was actually very interesting it's a very old technology it was already used on the moon so the Apollo missions actually used the lidar technology to measure distances and

00:38:02: the mountains on the moon and so on and this is

00:38:05: basically now the two core technology to do all the safety in a robot and then especially in moving robots and a Mars.

00:38:15: So it also describes something like that or also NADA it's basically an algorithm it's called slam.

00:38:23: So it's still simple taneous localization and mapping.

00:38:27: Which is basic which is a topic that you are going to do a podcast episode of yes I talked about that yeah do that but with a German Professor on that on that topic.

00:38:37: We already in Campton.

00:38:39: And I think what why I'm doing that I mean it's a crazy topics lamb and and it's an algorithm that is basically.

00:38:48: Out of the lighter signals are actually the good that we explain the lighter before it takes out the information and calculates back where is the robot in this moment

00:39:00: so it's doing the mapping of the surrounding and localization of itself and

00:39:07: that's also a core technology it's in every moving robot nowadays even if you're in your vacuum cleaner robot yeah so so that's something that people should be aware of

00:39:19: at least have read a little bit about it and that was my intention.

00:39:23: Also camera systems very important like different types of death cameras.

00:39:31: Like a time of flight camera which is very close to the Lida.

00:39:35: Or a stereo camera where you have two cameras basically and algorithms are calculating the depth information of in the picture.

00:39:45: So that's another technology all kinds of Eden Technologies so barcode qr-codes rfids and so on of course that's all.

00:39:56: Already very entangled with Logistics since the beginning.

00:40:02: A nice anecdote on that is do you know where the when and where the first barcode scan took place.

00:40:12: Probably on the moon just like the light are no this one was not on the moon it was in Troy Ohio in the supermarket okay 1974 and guess what they scanned the first item ever

00:40:25: that got scanned you tell me.

00:40:28: It's an interesting trivia question I should know if I were if I participate in Jeopardy it's a you whatever what's the items chewing gum it's a true no yeah

00:40:37: look at me Rick Lee had no idea this was a totally random gecko of Wrigley's Spearmint Gum so those are the nice side anecdotes that I was talking about something like that.

00:40:51: I don't know I think I found it very interesting this was kind of my daily or nightly.

00:40:57: Drive and I was writing the book finding those those nice little nuggets of maggots in signs and I said oh that's that's interesting for somebody in logistics.

00:41:08: Yeah no I think you did a you did a great job I think this is a that's an easy digestible book for.

00:41:14: For very wide audience I would have to say is this I think there's really thing in here where somebody would say oh I know all of this this is not the case like even experts like you.

00:41:23: Or someone on your counterpart would find valuable insights from this book.

00:41:27: But the same time someone like me who knows a lot but isn't as deep into the topics yeah it can learn a lot from the book I think that's it's a no you did it that a great job here so we could stop how was it being received so far

00:41:39: any good any good feedback I'll just say I'll tell you what bestseller this are you on are you trending in Jamaica it's no kind of a niche product you know it won't ya sure you rich and

00:41:52: the you cannot compare the sales numbers or so with a I don't know with a.

00:41:58: Normal book it's a very kind of a niche product but I hope it gets more popularity especially in those people groups that really need to know about it and that are really affected in the future

00:42:12: so glad that we got the chance to talk to talk about it

00:42:17: makes a great Christmas present if the supply is there hopefully after this podcast episode there's enough Supply that

00:42:24: this thing is falling flying off the shelf hopefully to who knows well we leave let's leave a link in the show notes so people can order it I know it's a I don't know what the price is but

00:42:33: because I got it for free I'm the send it to me for free but it's not cheap it's not it's there's no Kindle version for $5.99 this is actually

00:42:41: little bit expensive but it's worth the investment in that about that but this was not my decision on that part but it's not really a cheap.

00:42:51: But yeah whoever's interested

00:42:54: feel free to ya next time for your for your next your next book then you do everything differently self-published and with ebook it candle and podcast version and etcetera etcetera

00:43:04: Yeah we actually we might come up with some follow-on like kind of a kind of booklets that are a little bit cheaper and are only covering.

00:43:16: Smaller sections of the whole variety.

00:43:19: So that's a positive yeah interesting stuff awesome so let's get as maybe as a wrap-up what's what's what's on the horizon in logistics tribe what else do you want to

00:43:28: cover we've already hinted at some interviews and ideas that are out there without giving away too much and without.

00:43:35: Raising expectations because oftentimes you know you have a plan but the gas doesn't work out the top it doesn't work out what else would you like to cover and then.

00:43:43: Before the end of the year well I would like to cover is all the technology issues that I also mentioned in my book because I really believe that worth talking about it and spreading the word on that.

00:43:58: So I I'm actually hoping that we will have an episode with a.

00:44:05: Big us podcast actually on Robotics and I'm really looking forward to that I hope

00:44:15: everything works out I have one great guest planned in the supply chain field actually somebody very well-known in that space

00:44:26: and other than that I'm always looking for

00:44:30: interesting conversations because that's just yeah something that I like to do and.

00:44:38: As I said we recording it and then we are hoping that the logistics tribe tribe men members or listeners can.

00:44:48: Can benefit from that yeah yeah I was also a couple of things squared away and plan but I don't want to give it away yet because you never know what happens so I don't want to raise the expectations but a lot of stuff around startups and and lock Tech startups and the hype around that.

00:45:03: And the possibilities that are possible for Founders as well as for employees so the pros and cons of joining joining a start-up I think that's a topic I really want to dive into.

00:45:13: I mean I've been in that place I've worked for a lot of tech startups before they were called lock textile apps so I've I know that space very well so that's Jonah or new.

00:45:22: Member on board so to speak who's already done a couple of episodes and it actually hosted the the most popular episode with Yahoo judgment.

00:45:31: That was hosted by Jonah so wasn't me wasn't you wasn't Donna was Jonah who took the crown of the most popular episodes so far great congratulations and welcome

00:45:42: tribe welcome to the chime exactly well awesome

00:45:46: thanks Marco Ford for taking your time was great to catch up with you and to give it a bit of an update on what's going on in the world of the logistics tribe and your startup and your book all kinds of things as we said in the in the beginning

00:45:58: we'd love to hear from you I mean if you have insights ideas feedback on what we've done so far.

00:46:05: Please let us know I mean we we do get a lot of inbound stuff these days from sort of PR agencies all kinds of stuff some of this great some with not so great.

00:46:14: Like send everything our way I mean if you have ideas and for guess if you want to be on just talk to us I mean we're open yeah definitely I really am good looking forward to two new guests

00:46:26: proposals and we are trying to get everybody on the show that or in the interview that we.

00:46:35: Yet that we can reach out to so if you know somebody that could be interested just let us know yeah.

00:46:42: Awesome well again thanks very much Michael good luck with everything good luck on the book and great luck with

00:46:48: the startup and let's let's talk soon Cube or he's by my all right that was the logistics try podcast episode with my partner in crime Marco prüglmeier I hope you enjoyed it if so please subscribe so you don't miss any of the future episodes.

00:47:02: If your regular listener please feel free to connect with us on LinkedIn the links are in the show notes I'm boss felgendreher until next time.