1. Over the past 26 years, Logisoft has established itself as a leader in industrial and intralogistics automation. What innovations and key decisions do you think were decisive for the success and expansion of your business in over 20 countries around the world?

I have always said that Logisoft’s programming style is the basis of all our successes! It doesn’t matter which factory or business it is. Many companies work with Siemens engineering and programming software, but we stand out in the way we do it. Whether it’s a retrofit or completely new solutions, they all work flawlessly! Customers always make the difference. Logisoft is a recognizable company because of its Siemens style PLC programming. We have gained a lot of experience programming many factories in Bulgaria over the years, but our expansion into more than 20 countries in Europe happened incredibly quickly in our partnership with Gebhardt Foerdertechnik. Thus, we had the opportunity to invest a huge amount of Siemens equipment in projects for world leaders in the respective industries!

2. From the very beginning, Logisoft has been part of the partner network of Siemens Bulgaria, and since 2014 you have become an official Siemens Solutions Partner. How has this partnership contributed to Logisoft’s growth and success?

It is very easy when you are a partner of the world leader Siemens to convince end customers to choose you! We have already won the customer 50% by convincing them of his hardware independence, no matter where in the world they are. The remaining 50% are TIAs Logisoft’s Portal- based software, which, as I said before, makes our systems work. Not to mention that with many of our large customers, Siemens is a mandatory requirement for an approved supplier.

3. What made you decide to go with Siemens? What is the secret of this long-standing collaboration?

I did not start with Siemens when I founded the company. I just kept working with this technique. By programming an entire high-bay warehouse with Siemens equipment in my previous job, I gained such incredible experience that I didn’t think at all how to continue after that in my own company. I also remember the moment when Siemens officially came to Bulgaria. Then I even participated with a report in their first meeting.

4. What are some of the key projects that Logisoft and Siemens have implemented together, and what has been their impact on customers and the industry as a whole? What were the key success factors in these projects?

We have done many projects over the years with Siemens, but the most impressive ones are for managing dosing systems for the Nestle and Mondelez chocolate factories and the Jacobs coffee factory, Douwe Egberts. The factories for ceramic tiles in the city of Straldzha and concrete – for Bramak in Bulgaria and Turkey. We also have joint projects with Siemens in all Coca Cola Hellenic factories in Bulgaria, where we built a connection between all their production lines and SAP. Another significant project is Siemens PCS 7 system for the factory of “Kaolin” JSC – the largest at that time. For the first time in the world, with a Dematic project – a retrofit of a high-bay warehouse in Serbia – we implemented a direct connection between PLC and SAP without WMS. Now this is a very modern and popular solution all over the world, but 15 years ago we were the first to do it. We are proud that, in addition to being a long-term partner for us, Siemens has also become a customer with the modernization of their automatic high-bay warehouse in their factory in Pravets.

5. Your recent award of the German Economy Award in the category “Small and Medium Enterprise” is an outstanding recognition of your work and contribution. What does this award mean for ” Logisoft ” ?

This is a very big honour for us and our work, for our efforts as a family company all these years! This is not just some award for hitting numbers. I am connected not only technically, but also emotionally to Germany. I have attended several trainings at the Siemens headquarters in Nuremberg. I have hardly ever missed a tech fair in Germany, both as a visitor and as an exhibitor. Both my children are German graduates. Our new director of sales and marketing is also German and part of our family. In this sense, it is no wonder that this award means a lot to us.

In addition to the award of the German economy, we are proud to share that we also received another award – Certificate of Honor for Innovative Enterprise of the Year in the Market Leadership category of the Foundation for Applied Research and Communications.

6. How do you see the partnership with Siemens supporting sustainability and innovation in your sector?

There are many sectors in which we have worked and everywhere the complex palette of elements that Siemens offers has been sufficient to create perfect solutions from a single source. Thus, every old solution based on technology from different suppliers, which we have removed during modernizations, we have replaced with only one – only Siemens solution.

7. What are the future plans for the development of Logisoft, especially in the context of your partnership with Siemens? Are there new sectors or technologies you plan to expand into?

After the corona crisis and the drastic changes at the global level, we also had to quickly reorient ourselves, literally, in order to survive. With up to now 90% of our business being outsourced to Western Europe, during the pandemic when the borders were forced to close, we had to quickly assess how to proceed. It was then that we entered the new directions of the courier and e-commerce businesses. The old Logisoft, which only made programs up to that point, has become a complex supplier of complete solutions. Thus, we managed to build a new business model and stabilize the company. The future development of the company goes in this direction, with all solutions from one hand. This does not mean that we have terminated our relations with our German partners. On the contrary, we are currently continuing to work with them as well, making even more large-scale and interesting systems. But wherever we are, we take Siemens automation technology. It is always at the centre of our solutions.

8. What role do you think technologies such as industrial artificial intelligence, digital ecosystems and digital twins will play in the future of intralogistics automation?

There is no way the world can move forward and we stay old. That’s never been our style. I have always been proud that Logisoft was the company that looked for the most innovative Siemens solutions. For example, back in 2000, for the first time in Bulgaria, we used the ET200S peripheral and the first panel with 256 colors. The first WinCC preview Flexible is also in our project. Later, we were the first to bet the ET200SP series. Siemens Safety PLC, S7-1500 fail safe technology controller and SIMATIC also work in our systems for the first time ET 200 SP Open Controller.

Until now, we have relied more on our natural intelligence and we intend to continue to do so. With the company’s entry, however, into the field of robotic solutions, the technical vision and the need to test systems ahead of time, I think we have already taken the first steps into the future. We have long pre-tested our conveyor and high-bay automated systems virtually to ensure a trouble-free ultra-short site launch!

But, of course, there will still be huge potential for us in these directions!

Life goes on, so does innovation! We wish you many more years of great overall success at European and world level!