Intralogistics companies were increasingly exposed to strong market fluctuations, whereas in the past they could assume full capacity utilisation. For this reason, the Intralogistics Research Association commissioned the IZT to conduct a study entitled "Megatrends and intralogistics". The megatrend "Volatility of markets and competitive conditions" proved to be of the greatest interest to intralogistics companies. These market fluctuations could not be planned, so intralogistics companies had to respond with increasing agility and flexibility. A high level of system flexibility and reactive supply chains were discussed, as well as proactively and systematically organised employee flexibility. Companies wanted to avoid losses due to a lack of flexibility.

As part of an online survey of IFL member companies, assessments of the significance of market volatility and the associated flexibility requirements in the companies, the industry and topic-related experiences and plans were initially collected. In addition, guideline-based technical discussions were held with selected company representatives in order to obtain qualified and practical assessments of the significance of the focus topics for the further development of the companies and industry and the resulting need for research.