The best quotes from Trends in Automotive Logistics (TAL 2025)

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How are people in logistics using AI – and is it paying off for them? Is standardisation going out of style? And how is humans’ role within the factory evolving in the real world? Trends in Automotive Logistics 2025, a conference with the tagline Digital. Future-Proof? answered all these questions and more. Experts from key companies such as BMW Group, Bosch, Škoda Auto and Siemens shared their experience and visions for this field’s future. Read on to see the most distinctive words that resounded at this year’s conference. And find out who has the world’s best potato salad.

Artificial intelligence is transforming production lines

AI has grown from just some amusing chatbots into a helper in real-world manufacturing and logistics processes. And when used well, AI can significantly improve the efficiency and predictability of the entire supply chain.

“AI is already seeing intensive deployment within predictive maintenance. We measure the temperatures, vibrations and noise levels, and the model identifies even anomalies on its own. We know from experience that similar problems can bring production to a halt in just two days,” pointed out Tobias Mayr, IT Inbound Logistics General Manager at BMW Group.

“We approach every new technology as if it were a proof of concept. We gradually draw it closer and closer into our business – for example through pilot projects all the way to our digital delivery centre. We gain people’s trust that AI will actually help them. Today even our warehousemen know they can rely on materials arriving in time,” says Škoda Auto Logistics Systems Coordinator Mojmír Barák of the cautious approach at his firm. In his view, this caution is entirely warranted; in the last five years, the volume of data within the Czech Republic’s largest automaker has grown by over 600%.

“Don’t invest in AI all alone. Make use of open source logistics projects, where companies join forces to use AI more effectively. That’s the foundation of the silicon economy,” recommended Thilo Jörgl, Managing Partner at TEST CAMP INTRALOGISTICS & impact media projects GmbH regarding cost-sharing in logistics.

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From standards to the secure logistics of the future

Standardisation is an essential step towards increased efficiency, yet at the same time, it brings challenges regarding costs and flexibility. 

“A standard is expensive. You need a large team to develop it, take care of it and maintain it. If you overdo things with standardisation, your costs once again start rising, because maintaining a standard is extremely expensive in both time and money,” explained Tomáš Brotz, Automation Engineer for Automotive Standards at Siemens – a company that has developed a unique standardisation framework for companies of all sizes.

Data security is one topic that goes hand in hand with standardisation. Some answers here may lie in technologies that, while not yet in the market, are all the richer in possibilities. One example is the private 6G network whose development was presented by Zdeněk Bečvář, Head of 6G Mobile Research Lab at Czech Technical University in Prague, and Jiří Maršík, Group Leader at Bosch.

“In manufacturing, it is essential to protect data and ensure network security. 5G is however a public network, which does not enable this. A private, secure 6G network made just for your company should provide the solution. Its development and standardisation are now in process, and we expect it will enter operation in about five years, said Bečvář of this unique project in which the academic sphere and an innovative technology company have joined forces.

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People won’t be in second place. Not at all.

Successful digital projects never arise in isolation. “Last year alone, we managers flew around so much we could have orbited the planet eighteen times. When you want to truly innovate and do high-quality digitalisation, it’s not enough to just do that from your desk. You have to talk to people across every level of the company and at all of its sites,” noted Selim Caluwaerts, Chief Data Officer & DigiMaps Program Director at Safran Cabin while sharing tips from his latest digitalisation project.

The assumption that digitalisation will replace humans is still going around in the backstage of logistics. But it is fundamental to consider what standpoint you take toward the personnel changes connected with automation. “The first step in automation is to admit you have a problem. We started with the simplest of our tasks. Logistics automation saved us thirty jobs, and we achieved an ROI of 4.5 years. But in the end, the most profitable thing was our team of people with a passion for our cause. Today our colleagues come up to us on their own with ideas on how to improve things,” said GZ Media’s Chief Executive Officer Michal Štěrba.

It’s not just automation that’s bringing major changes to how work is organised. The new generation entering the job market is doing the same. What has changed, and what may await us in the future?

There’s no universal how-to for areas like digitalisation, automation and standardisation. TAL 2025 showed us that even when companies are facing similar challenges, they’re each taking their own road toward resilient logistics. Technologies are just tools – what’s key is how an organisation uses them and interconnects them with its own culture and needs.

“It’s important to look at your company and find your own solution, your own combination. You know the old story – the best potato salad is always the one you have at home.” That’s how Mojmír Barák, Logistics Systems Coordinator at Škoda Auto, summarised this year’s advice.

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