Cube storage pioneers are the new members of the Logistics Hall of Fame

Arch into the future: Axel Frey andHarrySeifert are awarded the Logistics Leader of the Year 2023.

The jury’s decision has been made: Cube storage pioneers Jakob Hatteland (72) and Ingvar Hognaland (68) will be inducted into the Logistics Hall of Fame. The two Norwegians can claim to have reinvented and commercialised warehousing with the AutoStore system. The underlying principle of cube storage automation is one of the most important inventions in modern logistics and has established itself worldwide as the standard and model for highly efficient automated small parts warehouses.

In the 1980s, Jakob Hatteland built up the electronics parts wholesaler that bears his name, Jakob Hatteland Electronics AS, to become the most important player in the Norwegian market. In the 1990s, his technical director Ingvar Hognaland came up with the idea for the space-saving cube storage automation, an automated storage system based on the cube principle, which later became famous under the product name AutoStore. In 1996 Hatteland and Hognaland founded AutoStore as a technology company in Nedre Vats. Hognaland’s idea of using all the available space in a storage facility led to the central design element of AutoStore: the grid. The whole system consists of an aluminium grid, robots, bins, workstations and a controller. The robots run on rails along the top of the grid and remove bins from the bays as required.

After introducing the first AutoStore robot for internal use in 2002, Hatteland recognised the global potential of the system and decided to commercialise AutoStore from 2004. The AutoStore principle enabled unprecedented efficiency in warehouse logistics: it is scalable, space-saving and energy-efficient, offering high throughput rates and very good uptime. The modular design can be integrated into any infrastructure and can save 75 percent of the volume compared to conventional systems. Today, more than 1,250 AutoStore systems are in use at around 900 companies in 50 countries worldwide. After Hatteland and Hognaland successfully sold AutoStore to an investor, it was valued at more than €1.5 billion – before being sold to a second investor in 2019. It was Norway’s first unicorn.

“The induction of the two Norwegians into the Logistics Hall of Fame is overdue. Hognaland invented the automated cube warehouse and developed it into a perfect system that today has more than 1,600 patents. Hatteland will go down in logistics history because, on the one hand, he courageously believed in the success of the system for years and built up a network of selected international distributors who made AutoStore a global bestseller,” says Anita Würmser, Executive Chairwoman of the Logistics Hall of Fame jury, explaining the decision of the expert jury, which consists of 70 well-known personalities from business, science, politics and the media in 13 countries.

The cube storage pioneers will be officially inducted into the Logistics Hall of Fame at a gala reception on 29 November at the Tipi am Kanzleramt in Berlin.

Axel Frey and Harry Seifert receive Logistics Leader of the Year 2023 Award

The Logistics Leader of the Year Award will also be presented during the reception. This year the trophy goes to Axel Frey and Harry Seifert.

Harry Seifert is Chairman of the Advisory Board. In over 40 years at the top of the Swabian logistics provider, he has developed the Seifert Logistics Group into one of the top 100 logistics companies. Axel Frey, member of the management board since 2019 and CEO since 2022, oversees operations. Under the motto “Full speed ahead into the future”, both have implemented a strategic realignment of the family-owned logistics service provider in recent years, focusing on employees, digitalization, and sustainable growth. The management duo has attracted attention above all with its “employees first” philosophy.

The Logistics Hall of Fame has honored this achievement as exemplary for the logistics industry. “Through this transformation, Harry Seifert and Axel Frey have not only laid the foundation for economic success, moreover, they have set an impressive example for the future viability of the logistics industry. This impetus underscores the importance of the industry and provides orientation, especially for the medium-sized logistics sector,” the jury stated.

Founded in 1947, Seifert Logistics Group, headquartered in Ulm, Germany, is one of the leading logistics service providers in Germany with around 4,000 employees. Throughout Europe, the family-owned company implements procurement, production, and distribution solutions for the automotive, paper, chemical, building materials, pharmaceutical and consumer goods industries. The Group has grown steadily, with the contract logistics sector making a significant contribution.

The key figures are reflecting the success of the transformation process. Between 2021 and 2023, the number of employees has increased by 1,500 to a total of 4,000. In 2020, the company already achieved the second-highest sales in its history, and in 2023 sales will increase by a further 25 percent to a record 330 million euros. Contract logistics is a major contributor to the ongoing growth here. Even the forwarding and transport sector, which has faced challenges because of the Ukraine war, the associated fuel price problems and the shortage of drivers, is making significant gains.

The Logistics Leader of the Year Award honors pacesetters and trendsetters in logistics. Entrepreneurs and managers from the transport and logistics sector who have been particularly successful in promoting their companies or who have set trends are honoured. The focus is on topicality and benefit to the company as well as innovation, sustainability, and entrepreneurial change. The award is presented by the Logistics Hall of Fame and donated by STILL.

To be eligible for induction into the Logistics Hall of Fame, an individual’s achievements must not only be of benefit to an individual company but must have significantly and sustainably advanced logistics beyond the boundaries of the individual’s own organisation or have become an industry standard. To date, 43 logisticians have made it into the international hall of fame.

Background Logistics Hall of Fame: The Logistics Hall of Fame honors international personalities who have rendered outstanding services to the further development of logistics and supply chain management. The goal of the Logistics Hall of Fame is to serve as a global platform for documenting the milestones of logistics and honoring its movers and shakers, thus underscoring the importance of logistics for business and society. The Logistics Hall of Fame also presents the Logistics Leader of the Year Award to current pacesetters in logistics. The donor is STILL GmbH. In addition, the Logistics Hall of Fame recognizes innovative logistics projects by humanitarian organizations with the Lynn C. Fritz Medal for Excellence in Humanitarian Logistics. The donor is Fritz Institute. The non-profit initiative is supported by politics, associations, media, business, and science. Dr. Volker Wissing, Federal Minister for Digital and Transport, is the patron.

Supporter Circle: 24/7 ASSISTANCE, ADAC Truckservice, AEB, Working group logistics initiatives Germany, Baumann Paletten, BLG LOGISTICS, Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport, German Road Haulage, Logistics and Waste Disposal Association (BGL), German Association for Materials Management, Purchasing and Logistics (BME), Federal Association of Parcel and Express Logistics (BIEK), Federal Association of Forwarding and Logistics (DSLV), German Transport and Logistics Association (BWVL), Federal Logistics Association (BVL), Business+Logistic, COYOTE LOGISTICS, German Transport Forum (DVF), Duisburger Hafen (duisport), EPAL, Förderverein Logistics Alliance Germany, Fritz Institute (Donor), GARBE Industrial Real Estate, Gebrüder Weiss, Goldbeck, HHLA, HIAB, impact media projects, International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations (FIATA), International Road Transport Union (IRU), Interroll Group, Krone, Lebensmittel Zeitung, LIP Invest, Locus Robotics, LOGISTIK-Kurier, LOGISTIC PEOPLE, LTG – Landauer Transportgesellschaft Doll, materialfluss, METRO LOGISTICS, pfenning logistics, PSI Logistics, RIO – THE LOGISTICS FLOW, Schnellecke Logistics, SCHUNCK Group, Seifert Logistics, SETLOG, SSI Schäfer, STILL (Donor), TGW Logistics Group, trans aktuell, Automotive Industry Association (VDA), Wiltsche Fördersysteme, Winner Spedition, WISAG.

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