LogiMAT 2026: Digital twin creates double benefits

Today, digital twins play a crucial role in making complex logistics systems precisely tailored, robust, and adaptable. Unitechnik uses the technology both as a tool in projects and as a service for customers. This “double twin” ensures that processes can be simulated at an early stage, software can be tested under realistic conditions, and logistics processes can be optimized during ongoing operations. The system integrator will be demonstrating how this approach works in planning, implementation, and operation at LogiMAT in Hall 1, Booth J21.

A new logistics facility is being built. The layout is in place, the technology has been planned, and the software is in preparation. But one question remains: Will everything work as it should in the end? Digital twins provide the answer before a single storage and retrieval machine has even been installed. They create virtual representations of facilities and provide certainty as early as the planning phase. Unitechnik uses this technology in various forms: VR models allow customers to walk through their future logistics center, try out workstations virtually, and make optimizations at an early stage. Simulations show where bottlenecks could occur before they actually happen, thereby ensuring the plant layout is sound. Emulators create a realistic operating environment in which control and monitoring technology can be tested risk-free before it is applied to real plants. During operation, the UniWare warehouse management system offers the option of continuing to operate the digital twin as a live model in parallel with the real plant.

Double twin in the logistics center

Digital twins accompany logistics projects at Unitechnik from planning to ongoing operation. Even during implementation, emulators test control technology, material flow computers, and the UniWare warehouse management system before they come into contact with the real system. During operation, the real-time model continuously reflects load carriers, inventories, and relevant status data and compares them with the real system. This dual role makes the digital twin a double twin: a tool for Unitechnik in the project and a service for the customer in operation. As a project tool, it ensures that software is created efficiently and commissioning times are shorter, which is particularly important in modernization projects. “Testing on the physical plant involves a great deal of effort and risk. Therefore, using the digital twin is an ideal method for replicating and testing existing systems without touching the real plant,” explains Michael Huhn, Sales Manager at Unitechnik.

During ongoing operations at the logistics center, the digital twin becomes an operational tool for greater operational reliability. Changes can first be tested in the model under live conditions and then implemented in real life. Employees train in virtual environments without disrupting operations. In this way, the twin supports everything from the initial planning stage to long-term optimization.

Detail in planning, reliability in implementation, transparency in operation: the double twin represents Unitechnik’s commitment to using digital solutions not only as a project tool, but also to providing customers with services that can be used on a long-term basis. This approach fits in with this year’s LogiMAT motto, “Passion for Details.” At the trade fair, Unitechnik will be presenting specific application examples and inviting visitors to engage in professional discussions in Hall 1 at Stand J21.

For more information visit: unitechnik.com

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