OM STILL has been among the actors of the Conference organized for the presentation of the Contract Logistics Observatory 2013 research results. During this Conference have been examined progress, areas of activities, players and technologies, trends and development expectations of third party logistics in Italy.

Promoted and organized by the Politecnico School of Management in Milan, in collaboration with Assologistica, the Contract Logistics Observatory, now in its third edition, has become an essential meeting for the logistics operators interested to deepen their knowledge of the field trends. OM STILL, leading company in design and production of forklift and warehouse trucks, tractors and integrated logistics systems, strongly believes in the validity of the project and has chosen to join it as a qualified partner. A partnership started one year ago, during which many meetings have taken place between the Company management and the editors of the study aiming to deepen the trends shown by OM STILL in Factory Logistics or warehouse logistics.

Besides contributing to the fulfilment of this study, OM STILL has given a tangible contribution to this event of presentation of the research, by means of the intervention of Mr. Ettore Zoboli, Company Chief Executive Officer, invited to participate in the workshop “create value  through innovative logistic services”.

“The logistic market – explains Ing. Ettore Zoboli – is moving towards two main directions: specialization and efficiency. These characteristics are the basis of the extraordinary development of third party logistics, to which our country gives about 40% of the sector turnover, with shares in constant growth. If we dealt directly with companies before, today our partner is the logistic operator who perfectly knows the most suitable means and solutions to make the handling of logistic flows efficient.”

“About market trends – continues Ing. Zoboli – challenges on which logistic operators confront us are: flexibility, customization, innovation and automation. The forklift truck is today a concentration of technology aimed to reduce operating and maintenance costs, becoming an integral part of the management system, with which it is fully integrated. The trucks  are getting more and more flexible and multifunctional, totally customizable and modular. Furthermore,  trucks are produced specifically to meet the new needs of the sector, like the  “Tugger train”.

Finally, more and more frequently we are not only suppliers but true partners of our customers, with whom we study ad-hoc solutions to meet specific needs. This is a phenomenon particularly evident in case of Strategic outsourcing, that is to say when the logistic operator has a long-term contract with the customer, so by means of this contract he can plan the logistic activity in a structured way, proposing and creating innovation.”

“About future expectations – Ing. Zoboli concludes  – we notice a growing attention to automation systems, thanks to which it is possible to reduce labour cost increase and make processes more efficient. It might seem impossible but, we can already offer today in the smallest warehouses solutions to handle remote activities by the use of a tablet app. And this is because as always in OM STILL, future is today.”