TUP annual review of 2022

Another year has passed. 365 days in which a lot has happened, both in terms of economic development and the tense global situation. General overviews of topics, events and issues of the past year can be found online in abundance – for example from Google Trends or Destatis. But when it comes to developments in the TUP universe, we will take the pleasure of guiding you through the year 2022 ourselves.

To get the nomenclature straight again first: At the beginning of the year still known as DR. THOMAS + PARTNER GmbH & Co. KG, the time had come on March 16th: the renaming to TUP GmbH & Co. KG. Understandably, a name change entails a certain risk. However, since the three letters had already been filled with values and life over decades and had already been established as a shorter name variant, this was not an issue. And so we continue to be a successful player in the intralogistics industry as “T-U-P”, as the rest of the past year was able to demonstrate.

On February 24, we “woke up in a different world,” as Foreign Minister Baerbock put it. The war in Ukraine set many things in motion – including at TUP. The company is aware of its social responsibility and often participates in numerous projects for a good cause. This is also the case here. In addition to various donations, the management of TUP also initiated and organized a larger food delivery. The economic development over the course of the year was… let’s say opaque. At TUP, we are of course pleased that we were able to successfully face all these adversities as a team, manage large projects well and also provide assistance.

As we longingly announced in last year’s review, we can once again look back on a LogiMAT this year – and we are very satisfied with it. In addition to our traditionally eye-catching presence with a booth, we were invited by two moderators to present our expertise at specialist forums. CIO Eduard Wagner and CMO Mathias Thomas proved the profound knowledge behind TUP on the big LogiMAT stage. The booth concept created an ideal environment for getting together and having good conversations, which was also confirmed by a visit from LogiMAT-TV. In the interview that resulted from this visit, CEO Simon Thomas explains the focus topics of the 2022 trade fair year.

These were by no means the only occasions worth mentioning in the context of moving images. For example, the TUP City Logistics project [R]ealtime [U]rban [L]ogistics [S]ystem was taken up by the Ministry of Economic Affairs of Baden-Württemberg as part of its Initiative Wirtschaft 4.0 and highlighted on film in the series “Digitale Geschäftsmodelle@BW”. During the course of the year, public television also visited TUP on campus. Subsequently, the WDR consumer magazine “Markt” aired a report on smarter parcel delivery* at prime time 8:15 p.m., based on the interdisciplinary application of intralogistics technologies.

*Report on smarter parcel delivery from minute 17: 50; TUP & RULS from minute 24:00

Lectures at LogiMAT have already been mentioned. As usual, the year at TUP was also characterized by various activities with the aim of passing on and multiplying knowledge. For example, TUP provided “Opportunities of artificial intelligence for small and medium-sized companies” for the Ministry of Economic Affairs of Baden-Württemberg in the Initiative Economy 4.0, which has also already been mentioned. Our expertise also gave us the pleasure of providing the supraregional Austrian daily newspaper “Die Presse” with assessments of the effects of social challenges on intralogistics. In addition to various events in the academic environment, such as the continuation of a logistics IT lecture at the KIT, Logistics KNOWHOW (LKH) was also further filled with life. The knowledge platform operated by TUP, which covers the areas of intralogistics, supply chain and e-commerce, is a popular starting point for anyone – from students to practitioners – who needs detailed information of a corresponding nature. From TUP for everyone, and with a revised look in 2022. Numerous FORUM events took place internally: From topics such as increasing the efficiency of intralogistics packaging processes, clustering-based storage location allocation, the use of drones as service units in warehouses, AGV routing (driverless transport systems), practical applications of artificial intelligence (AI) to the latest developments in software architecture, many topics were highlighted and shared between our experts.

Honour to whom honour is due! But since anniversaries that fell during the critical Corona period could not be given due consideration, a race to catch up began on campus. Over many weeks, anniversaries were celebrated every Thursday. The 10 a.m. coffee break, one of the two collective breaks when everyone gathers in the in-house cafeteria, was used for this purpose. Breakfast and personal tributes by the management were held for a total of 19 employees whose time account at TUP added up to an impressive 360 years. Certificates, vouchers and, depending on the individual number, even special leave were also given. Of course, current anniversaries were not forgotten: as in the large group, there were also a 30th and a 35th anniversary among those present.

With over 40 years of company history, some of the company’s veterans have retired in recent years. But on the other hand, as will be the case again in 2022, many new faces have become part of the TUP family. In this respect, it is also a clear signal that we want to continue growing. However, our culture has been thrown into disarray by Corona in recent years. Now that things are starting to return to normal, at least in this respect, our goal for 2023 is to fill the campus with life again: whether it’s working together, celebrating together, holding events or just enjoying our TUP coffee breaks.

This wish also culminates in the development of the second construction phase of our company location. The decision in favor of another building in the special passive house construction method with ice storage heating may surprise some people in this time, but if you know TUP, it is the logical step. Space for 80 new employees as well as further offers for the workforce will be created. Construction and design work began in 2022, with completion scheduled for 2023. Although the construction work took place at a time when materials were not always readily available, the project went ahead without major problems. We are looking forward to moving into the new building and, above all, to meeting the new colleagues who will be based there!

It is an exciting time ahead, in which a lot will change and society and economy will have to adapt to new situations again and again. That is why we at TUP are actively preparing to be best possible prepared for all eventualities. The spectrum ranges from internal modernization and digitization measures and change management to targeted R&D measures and the very practical expansion of optimization options for our customers.

In addition to modern dialog systems, efficient development environments, well-thought-out processes and stable systems, this also includes developments in the field of artificial intelligence. In this sense, the year 2022 is particularly marked by the newly established strategic partnership with AIM – Agile IT Management GmbH. AIM’s AI specialists for industrial applications are now part of the TUP expert family as cooperation partners. Thus, TUP and AIM not only combine sophisticated and proven toolboxes for machine learning and warehouse management, but also profound domain knowledge in the respective areas. A promising synergy, the results of which will be published in the new year.

As we look back on the past together, we are sure that we will continue to be successful as a team. We would like to thank our long-standing and new customers for the good cooperation in challenging times and look ahead with confidence together.

A happy and healthy year 2023 – to you and your loved ones!

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