Bowe Group aims to provide integrated automation backed up by state-of-the-art software intelligence. Paul Hamblin spoke to two of the company’s leaders at LogiMAT.
All successful companies evolve. The 80-year journey of BOWE began with the manufacture of household goods, progressing via dry cleaning and car wash systems to document and paper management. Engineering innovation and fast identification of trends and customer needs ensured success and further growth.
Over time, the company began to focus more exclusively on paper insertion and document management technology, hence the renaming to BOWE Systec in 1991, the name by which most of today’s logistics professionals are likely to have first encountered its technologies.
Today, the company is a great deal more than document management and smart inserting systems. Eighty years on from those early days in the cowshed, the company is now one of the premier names in the global intralogistics landscape. Based in Augsburg, it operates a global sales and service operation. Manufacturing sites are largely European: sorters and conveyors are produced in Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands and Italy, while Holmfirth, UK houses the company’s Software Competence Centre.
1 Group, 4 units
The word ‘Group’ is very important because it conveys the integrated nature of the portfolio of solutions offered by the full enterprise. It comprises four business units: BOWE Systec, the ‘original’ arm, continues to handle mail, plastic card and inserting systems; BOWE Intralogistics takes care of materials handling for e-commerce, retail, manufacturing and parcel shipping via sorters and conveyors; BOWE IQ deals with the all-important software and BOWE Move is the division focused on the company’s robotics, automation and AMR portfolio.
The objective is to solve specific customer challenges across the warehouse logistics environment with a key role played by software intelligence. Where BOWE Systec once focused on a particular aspect of the intralogistics process, customers are now offered forensic choices to suit their wider automation needs.
Nick Craven-Smith is MD at BOWE IQ. He describes the challenges that customers wish to address:
“In simple terms, it’s about moving materials, more efficiently and more accurately. Our customers might be running with fewer staff or perhaps trying to increase operations efficiency with existing staff. Accuracy is absolutely key to that, making sure they are picking the right items in the right quantities. So, whether it’s about labour shortages or cost control, our software, AMRs, sorters and conveyors will provide a solution to cover these areas. We are a one-stop shop in that context.”
He explains what AMRs bring to the intralogistics challenge:
“AMR can enhance the operations of conveyor and sortation equipment collecting and moving totes and cages when ready to the next position in the warehouse flow. Our intralogistics solutions optimise a combination of fixed position equipment to work harmoniously with AMR. AMR may bring goods to the fixed sorters and once sorted carry the goods to staging areas or directly to the truck. Our software platform sits above it all.”
All is linked within the group umbrella. “Within IQ we have drivers and connectors for all of the equipment and platforms manufactured across the Group. We then have drivers and controls for each of those, and BOWE IQ brings it together, whether at the automation control level, the orchestration level or illuminating and informing on activities with reporting dashboards and KPIs.”
Craven-Smith’s business unit offers a comprehensive range of logistics-friendly software. The portfolio includes WMS and WCS process optimisation, asset tracking and asset management systems as well as last-mile tracking options.
AMR Versatility
Wolfgang Wagner runs the BOWE Move business unit. A significant innovation from his team on show at LogiMAT is the TugBot, a versatile AMR with an impressive pulling power of up to 600kg, a perfect fit for loaded cages.
He describes its attributes: “Parking tugged carts requires space. Reverse parking reduces that footprint – but is often difficult to execute. With its compact and agile design, the TugBot performs precise forward and reverse manoeuvres with ease, even in tight environments.”
At LogiMAT, the AMR is demonstrated in a live setup interacting with a sorting chute from the BOWE Intralogistics portfolio. As soon as a cart is filled with parcels, the BOWE IQ software detects it and triggers the next step: the TugBot autonomously collects the cart and moves it to its destination – including precise reverse parking where needed.
Wagner sees significant growth potential driven by the increasing need for efficiency in intralogistics. “Compared to production environments, warehouse logistics is still at an earlier stage of automation, offering substantial opportunities for AMR solutions. While the main growth is expected in warehouse logistics, emerging applications in hospitals and healthcare environments are also gaining momentum,” he explains.
Road to Automation
Integration of new software into legacy systems can make some customers wary of new automation projects. What is Nick Craven-Smith’s advice to them?
“All partners in the automation and logistics sector have to work together to ensure products connect, because no single solution in isolation fulfils a customer need. It’s all about working together, whether hardware, controls solution or AMR – on all the best projects we’ve had, everyone is on board, the customer stakeholders and ourselves. The IQ software might perhaps be integrated with older legacy IBM I-series systems, as well as at the same time an SAP in a different plan, and all that can be tied together with automation from both BOWE and third parties.”
What does Wolfgang Wagner advise to those companies that may be nervous about embarking on the road to automation?
“We guide our customers step by step, addressing concerns such as employee acceptance, hidden costs, and system complexity. With trials and proof-of-concepts, we can provide early insights before moving to full-scale deployment. As a full-service solution provider, we ensure transparency through digital simulations and ROI calculations – giving customers the confidence to make evidence-based decisions and scale at their own pace.”
