Linde Material Handling Relies on Artificial Intelligence from NVIDIA

Linde Material Handling is working with tech giant NVIDIA and the digitalization experts from Accenture to develop new AI solutions for the future of material flows. The goal is to make the warehouse of tomorrow more efficient, safer, and more flexible than ever before. Torsten Rochelmeyer, Senior Director Strategy & Solution Portfolio, and Ron Winkler, Managing Director of the Digital Business Unit, explain how this partnership started and what opportunities exist for intralogistics.

Mr. Rochelmeyer, how did this collaboration with NVIDIA and Accenture come about?

Torsten Rochelmeyer: Our parent company, KION Group, entered into this strategic partnership in January 2025. The goal is to fundamentally change both industrial automation and intralogistics through the use of artificial intelligence. AI market leader NVIDIA is contributing its powerful Omniverse platform, while Accenture is providing expert knowledge on all aspects of digitalization. We ourselves are contributing our decades of expertise in intralogistics. Together, we are working to develop solutions that optimally coordinate manual and automated fleets and raise warehouse processes to a whole new level of efficiency.

Mr. Winkler, one of the solutions you are currently developing is real-time localization. What exactly does this involve?

Ron Winkler: With our real-time localization system, or RTLS+ for short, we are aiming to enable seamless tracking of every truck in the warehouse, both indoors and outdoors. We are using innovative low-infrastructure ultra-broadband technology to achieve this. Drivers are given navigation instructions and their current driving jobs via a smart display. The idea is to combine location data with truck data so that routes can be adapted in real time; for example, if there is too much traffic on certain routes or if there are people in critical locations in the warehouse.

Mr. Rochelmeyer, the digital twin is another part of your AI solution. What is it and how does it work?

Rochelmeyer: We are developing the digital twin together with Accenture. It is the next step after real-time localization. To coordinate large fleets of trucks and ensure they work together in perfect harmony, we need higher-level intelligence and a huge amount of computing power. This is where NVIDIA’s Omniverse platform comes in. With their help, we will create a virtual map of the real warehouse. This digital warehouse contains all the physical data on industrial trucks, goods, and infrastructure, and is constantly updated with real-time information from sensors, cameras, and control systems. This allows us to carry out simulations in fractions of a second to optimize routes, coordinate truck types, or test improvements to the warehouse layout.

What do you think makes this innovation so special for intralogistics?

Winkler: Our solutions enable all processes and resources in the warehouse to be perfectly orchestrated. Just imagine: every truck (whether manual or automated), every pallet, and every storage location is localized at all times and connected to our AI system in real time. The AI will be able to react immediately to changes or problems, reallocate jobs, and adjust routes. For instance, let’s assume that a driver doesn’t quite place a pallet correctly. Our smart cameras will detect this and the AI will immediately find a solution—by assigning a corresponding driving task to an automated truck, for example. The warehouse will be able to optimize itself. This is a groundbreaking innovation and one which will revolutionize intralogistics.

What specific advantages does this offer your customers?

Rochelmeyer: First of all, it significantly increases efficiency and goods throughput. Bottlenecks and empty runs are reduced to a minimum and personnel and trucks are optimally utilized, resulting in significant cost savings. At the same time, it improves safety, as our system recognizes and prevents potentially dangerous situations at an early stage.

Winkler: Our customers also benefit from enormous flexibility gains. The digital twin will also make it possible to test new layouts or processes risk-free before they are implemented. And best of all, the system can be further optimized. With this solution, we are creating a warehouse ecosystem that gives our customers a crucial long-term competitive advantage.

Mr. Rochelmeyer, Mr. Winkler, thank you very much for speaking with us.