The innovation in E+P’s product lines
are Jens Heinrich of the E+P Group’s top
priority. Under his supervision, E+P’s
future lab is running several projects fo-
cusing on visionary technologies in the
field of warehouse management systems,
for instance, with the option of finding
new paths for warehouse logistics using
augmented reality. But that certainly isn’t
all they are doing. With the internal EPX
computing center supporting them, spe-
cialized teams are also working on more
and more sophisticated cloud solutions. A
further major topic is the increasing mo-
bility of warehouse management systems.
Regardless of the platforms, the custom-
ers want to use their own end devices in
order to obtain information immediately,
wherever they are. “We see a lot of poten-
tial for our cloud products in conjunction
with mobile warehouse management sys-
tems for our customers to design their
processes extremely intelligently in the
future,” emphasizes Jens Heinrich, Chief
Technology Officer, who has held several
positions at E+P since 2003.
Network I: Customers
Internal meetings or creative brain storm-
ing are only two building blocks for future
innovation. E+P is also supported by a di-
verse, professional network that was built
strategically over many years. Managing
this network, orchestrating different in-
fluences from customers, technology
partners and universities and leading to
more new groundbreaking results – these
are Jens Heinrich’s tasks. “The most im-
portant source for pioneering innovations
is and remains a large, active customer
network. Because ideas that sound spec-
tacular in theory have to be proven in
practice,” explains the Chief Technology
Officer. And in reverse: Which technical
opportunities are presently available for
clearing the path for the future together
doesn’t become clear until you talk to the
customers.
Network II: Technology and
Design Partners
Another dimension of the network is the
intensive cooperation with strong tech-
nology partners such as IBM, Microsoft
and Oracle or innovative design partners
such as the voice expert, topsystem. “Our
exchange with IBM, for instance, is very
close and personal. We evaluate togeth-
er which IT components will benefit our
customers. This creates the perfect com-
pilation of the software and hardware
in our product lines,” Jens Heinrich de-
scribes the process. E+P also works close-
ly with IBM, the second-largest software
manufacturer and the world’s largest IT
patent holder, on the architecture level.
Develop visions,
implement ideas.
Strong networks for the logistics of the future –
managed by Jens Heinrich.