The daily friction still sitting in most internal logistics
Most plants still run internal material moves on a push model. An operator needs a pallet or a stillage, picks up the phone or radio, and a driver either answers or keeps circling until something appears. The calls pile up. The empty kilometers add up. Neither shows as a clean line on the monthly OPEX sheet, yet both eat labor minutes and interrupt the people who are supposed to keep lines fed.
That friction is the actual cost of the status quo. It is measurable in call volume and in the share of forklift time spent searching rather than moving. It is also the part of the logistics equation that rarely gets priced before a decision is made.
What the 30,000 sqm Tier-2 plant actually recorded
One documented automotive Tier-2 site of 30,000 sqm switched its internal dispatch from PUSH to PULL with the AOS module. The measured change was about 90% fewer phone calls between operators and drivers and the elimination of over 95% of forklift patrolling. The source material supplies no euro investment or saving figure for this specific case. The operational-friction reduction itself is the benefit that was recorded.
The switch turned the old call-and-search pattern into a marketplace-style pull: work orders appear, drivers accept, and the system logs who needed what, who took it, and when. The phone traffic and the empty loops largely disappeared. That is the complete set of hard numbers available for this particular change.
Why the missing euro figure does not erase the tradeoff
Phone time and unnecessary driving still consume paid hours and wear on equipment. When those two activities fall by the percentages reported, the plant recovers capacity without adding headcount or trucks. The cost side of the decision is the work of setting up the pull rules, connecting the triggers that generate the tasks, and getting drivers used to accepting instead of waiting. Because the case carries no euro numbers, the comparison stays qualitative: does the daily reduction in friction outweigh the one-time configuration effort?
Other plants in the same size band have published investment and OPEX figures for different modules. Those figures belong to those cases. Mixing them here would invent a number the source does not contain. The honest boundary is the call and patrol data that were actually measured.
How to test the same tradeoff on your floor
Start by counting the current daily calls between operators and drivers and the share of forklift time spent patrolling empty. Run a limited pull pilot on one or two high-traffic loops. After a few weeks, count the same two metrics again. If the percentages move in the same direction as the documented Tier-2 case, the friction reduction is confirmed. If they do not, the workflow rules or the acceptance process still need adjustment.
Keep the evaluation inside that narrow frame. The only evidence attached to this PUSH-to-PULL change is the drop in calls and patrolling. That is enough to decide whether the operating model is worth the setup effort, even when no euro conversion appears in the source material.