About Materialfluss

Materialfluss

Materialfluss is a German-language trade magazine for intralogistics, published in Munich. As the specialist medium for the flow of materials inside factories, warehouses, and distribution centers, it covers storage and order-picking technology, conveying and lifting technology, industrial trucks, software, and identification systems. The title belongs to the WEKA Business Medien portfolio and operates the portal materialfluss.de alongside its print editions. Its readership consists of logistics managers, warehouse planners, and decision-makers in industry and trade who design and operate internal material flows. In the German logistics press, where titles such as Logistra and LOGISTIK HEUTE address the broader supply chain, Materialfluss occupies the intralogistics niche: the technology and organization of everything that moves between the factory gate and the shipping dock.

Overview

The magazine presents itself as the Fachmedium for intralogistics. Its editorial program is organized around the technology segments of the internal material flow: storage and order-picking technology (racking systems, shuttles, containers, boxes, and pallets), conveying and lifting technology (conveyor systems, cranes, lifts, and components from rollers to drive technology), industrial trucks (forklifts, tow tractors, pallet trucks, attachments, and increasingly autonomous mobile robots and driverless transport systems), software (warehouse management systems, optimization software, artificial intelligence, and transport management), and identification systems.

The readership is defined by function: logistics and warehouse managers, production planners, and managing directors of industrial and trading companies, as well as the suppliers of intralogistics technology — from racking manufacturers to software houses — who address this audience. The magazine appears in print with extended e-paper editions and publishes a newsletter twice weekly, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, carrying the top news from intralogistics alongside the contents of the print issue. Special editions, such as the annual "materialfluss WELT DER INTRALOGISTIK" with its special sections and the "Porträt einer Branche" industry portrait, complement the regular issues.

The brand's signature format is the "materialfluss PRODUKTE DES JAHRES" reader vote, in which the industry's best innovations are nominated and chosen by the readers themselves — a verdict from practice, as the magazine puts it. Categories cover storage and order-picking technology, conveying and lifting technology, industrial trucks, software, and identification technology, and the award is used by winners from the trade-fair trophy to the winner's button on their websites.

History

The materialfluss brand developed within the WEKA publishing group's business-media activities in Munich. WEKA Business Medien, part of the broader WEKA media group, built a portfolio of industry and technology titles serving the German manufacturing and logistics sectors, and Materialfluss became its dedicated intralogistics medium. The title grew alongside the intralogistics industry itself — a sector in which German and European manufacturers of conveyor technology, racking, forklifts, and warehouse software hold leading world-market positions.

Over the years the magazine tracked the structural changes of its industry: the automation of warehouses, the rise of e-commerce logistics and its demands on order-picking technology, the entry of autonomous mobile robots and AI-driven optimization software into the warehouse, and the growing importance of sustainability topics, addressed in special sections such as the "SPEKTRUM Green Logistics" issues. The twice-weekly newsletter and the continuously updated portal materialfluss.de reflect the acceleration of the industry's news cycle, while the print title retained its role as the curated monthly medium for trend reports, overview articles, and product innovations.

The brand's trade-fair presence is anchored in the industry's central gatherings: the magazine reports from the LogiMAT in Stuttgart, the leading intralogistics trade fair, and from the Hannover Messe, where WEKA Business Medien publishes the official daily newspaper with e-paper distribution via industrialproduction.de, kunststoffmagazin.de, and materialfluss.de. The "Produkte des Jahres" award, presented in the context of the industry's trade-fair calendar, has become one of the brand's most visible institutions.

Coverage and Content

The editorial coverage of Materialfluss follows the technology segments of intralogistics. Storage and order-picking technology is a standing focus: racking and shelving systems, automated storage and retrieval machines, shuttles, and the containers, boxes, and pallets that carry goods through the warehouse. Conveying and lifting technology covers conveyor systems and components, cranes, hoists, and lifting platforms, from rollers and drive technology to complete system installations.

Industrial trucks form a second major area: forklifts, tow tractors, and pallet trucks, their attachments and components, and the fast-growing field of autonomous mobile robots and driverless transport systems. Software coverage addresses warehouse management and control systems, optimization software and artificial intelligence — including supply-chain management, forecasting, and AI solutions — as well as logistics and transport software. Identification systems, energy supply, motors, and drive components round out the technology reporting.

Beyond products, the magazine publishes trend reports, overview articles, and industry portraits — such as the annual "Porträt einer Branche" with trend reports from the segments and a market-at-a-glance directory of companies, their portfolios, and addresses. Practice-oriented articles examine how medium-sized companies eliminate bottlenecks in their material flow: unnecessary travel distances, unclear responsibilities, and outdated processes that keep goods and components from arriving where they are needed, and how digitalization, data analysis, and process understanding turn stalled material flows into success stories.

Organization and Ownership

Materialfluss is published by WEKA Business Medien, the business-media arm of the WEKA media group based in Munich. The WEKA Group, founded in 1973 in Kissing near Augsburg, is a German media company focused on specialist information and professional training, with around one thousand employees and annual revenue above two hundred million euros; in 2020 the group was taken over by the investment company Paragon Partners. WEKA Business Medien operates the industry and technology titles of the group, including Materialfluss, from Munich.

The editorial team works within the WEKA Business Medien organization, serving the print title, the portal materialfluss.de, the twice-weekly newsletter, and the e-paper editions. The publisher's media data presents the title to advertisers with detailed publication schedules, advertising deadlines, and format specifications, and positions the brand's special editions — such as the "WELT DER INTRALOGISTIK" with increased circulation — as high-reach environments for the intralogistics supply industry.

Circulation figures for the current year are published in the publisher's media data for advertising customers; precise numbers are not publicly confirmed in freely available sources. The commercial model follows the standard B2B media pattern: print and online advertising, newsletter sponsorships, the "Produkte des Jahres" award program with its nomination and voting mechanics, and the trade-fair daily-newspaper business around the Hannover Messe.

Digital Presence

The digital centerpiece of the brand is materialfluss.de, which publishes the industry's top news on a rolling basis alongside the contents of the print issue. The portal carries the "Produkte des Jahres" nomination and voting process, presenting all nominated products and projects online and accompanying the application and selection period editorially. The twice-weekly newsletter, sent on Tuesdays and Thursdays, distributes the top intralogistics news and the print issue's contents to subscribers free of charge.

The e-paper editions at epaper.materialfluss.de extend the print title into interactive digital formats, and the portal's social-media channels distribute news and award content to the intralogistics community. The brand's digital formats are integrated with the WEKA Business Medien infrastructure: the Hannover Messe daily newspaper's e-paper is distributed via materialfluss.de alongside the group's other industry portals, and newsletter recipients across the WEKA Business Medien and WEKA Fachmedien titles form the distribution network for special editions. This integration positions Materialfluss as a cross-media brand whose print title, portal, newsletters, and award program serve the intralogistics industry across all channels.