"Dematic can look back on a long tradition. Thanks to our innovative strength, we have had a decisive influence on the history of intralogistics. We continue to set ourselves this standard today," says Rainer Buchmann, CEO Dematic Central Europe. After the first mechanical loom heralded the first phase of the Industrial Revolution in 1784, Mechanische Werkstätten Harkort & Co. was also an early adopter of water and steam-powered production systems. The company developed the first steam-powered crane as early as 1819 and began mass producing overhead cranes in 1840.

Second phase of the Industrial Revolution
The second phase of the Industrial Revolution began in 1870 with the introduction of electricity as a driving force. The internal combustion engine replaced the steam engine and the chemical industry and electrical engineering developed into new sectors. Influenced by the resulting opportunities, another precursor company, Stöhr Elevatorenfabrik, was founded in 1900, specializing in continuous conveyors, elevators and bucket elevators.

Bulk goods conveyor from 1900 from the Stöhr company © Dematic

In 1922 - around half a century before the start of the third industrial revolution - the company built its first mobile conveyor belt. A few years later, Stöhr developed the first suspended conveyor technology: an advance that enabled a completely new and more effective use of space in factories.

Paradigm shift in intralogistics
At the end of the 1950s, Stöhr brought about a paradigm shift in intralogistics with the world's first storage and retrieval machine. Three years later, the company built the first fully automated warehouse for Bertelsmann. From then on, up to 15,000 orders could be processed there every day. While the company was renamed Stöhr Förderanlagen Salzer in 1968, it also changed its focus from a pure product provider to a fully-fledged solution provider. The aim was to supply customers with systems for their entire business processes.

Stöhr conveyor belt at the harbor, 1920 © Dematic

The third industrial revolution began in 1970, when the first programmable logic controller (PLC) called Modicon 084 came onto the market. This device made it possible to control and regulate machines and systems digitally for the first time. PLCs are still widely used in automation technology today. Three years later, Mannesmann, which had acquired Stöhr in the meantime, revolutionized the design of distribution centers with the world's first automated high-bay warehouse. In 1990, the company finally became the world market leader in conveyor technology. Five years later, Mannesmann Demag was the world's first full-range supplier in intralogistics.

Industry 4.0
The turn of the millennium marked the start of the fourth phase of the industrial revolution, in which cyber-physical systems take center stage. These ensure decentralized and dynamic control and networking of all components via the Internet, mobile computers and cloud computing. After Dematic was founded as an independent company in 2005, the intralogistics automation specialist turned the market for automated small parts warehouses upside down and invented the Dematic Multishuttle.

Storage technology 1970 © Dematic

In 2011, the company presented the Rapidstore storage and retrieval machine, the Rapidpick picking station, the Multishuttle Flex and the DC Director warehouse management software. The second generation of the Dematic Multishuttle, launched in 2012, was lighter, faster and even more powerful. Today, Dematic is one of the leading providers of integrated automation technology, software and services for optimizing the supply chain. as