Witron, the family-owned company founded by Walter Winkler from Parkstein, was awarded the prestigious IFOY Award at the world’s leading logistics show, CEMAT – an integral part of the Hannover Fair.
Witron’s CEO, Helmut Prieschenk, received the prize in the category 'Integrated Warehouse Solutions', which is considered the 'premium' award category. Witron, the general contractor for logistics, won the award for the implementation of logistics processes for the leading Swiss food retailer Migros at its distribution centre in Suhr.
With this solution, Witron combined the logistics processes for different distribution channels and different product groups into a mechanised system, and consequently optimised cost-efficiency along the entire supply chain.
Integrated Omni-Channel Solution
"Witron is the first system integrator worldwide to have succeeded in developing an integrated Omni-Channel solution and merging the volatile small-volume order picking of migrolino AG with the regular Migros store business", said Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Michael ten Hompel in a congratulatory speech. Today, the distribution centre in Suhr supplies 600 Migros stores of different sizes, and 300 Convenience stores for its migrolino subsidiary.
Helmut Prieschenk, Witron’s CEO, shared his feelings of pride with Witron Project Leader, Rainer Muendlein, and Ernst Pfrunder, the Management Board Member responsible for the distribution center in Suhr.
"The foundation for this extraordinary success is undoubtedly the cooperative partnership, which we have been maintaining with Migros for many years," emphasised Prieschenk. “As you can see, leading-edge solutions that generate sustainable competitive advantages for the customer in terms of cost-efficiency, flexibility, and ergonomics are generated in a business relationship characterised by mutual trust and loyalty."
A repeat rate of more than four projects per food retail customer shows that Witron keeps its promises.
The IFOY Award
The IFOY Award programme has established itself as an indicator of economic efficiency. Due to its specialised, underlying expertise, it is regarded as the most important innovation awards ceremony in the intralogistics area.
Thus, the demands of the international IFOY jury – more than 30 accredited consultants from manufacturing, logistics services, media, and science sectors – are equally high. The candidates are subjected to a selection and test procedure that lasts more than six months.
"In the end, it turns out that all finalists are far ahead of their competitors in terms of quality, innovation, and suitability for daily use – not only on paper but also in practical use," emphasised Anita Wuermser, Managing Director of the jury.
The IFOY Award, which is sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy is presented by the Association for Materials Handling and Intralogistics within the VDMA.
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