Global logistics provider Dachser has expanded its research partnership with the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft effective February 1, 2025. As part of the DACHSER Enterprise Lab, which has been bringing science and logistics practice together in mixed innovation teams since 2017, the family-owned company is now cooperating with both the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics IML in Dortmund and the Fraunhofer Institute for Intelligent Analysis and Information Systems IAIS in Sankt Augustin, near Bonn.
Fraunhofer IAIS is a leading scientific institute in the fields of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and big data in Germany and Europe. Its roughly 380 employees help companies optimize products, services, and processes, and they offer support in the development of new digital business models.
“One key area of logistics where artificial intelligence could usefully be applied is in the processing of unstructured data or data in different formats. The industry offers many potential applications for optimizing and automating complex processes in goods flows and supply chains or in customer communication. Looking to the future, AI solutions will become increasingly effective tools for people to use, so we’re delighted to be working with Dachser and our colleagues at Fraunhofer IML in Dortmund to further advance the use of AI in logistics and at Dachser,” says Prof. Stefan Wrobel, Director of Fraunhofer IAIS.
Together with the universities in Bonn and Dortmund, Fraunhofer IML and Fraunhofer IAIS are partners in the Lamarr Institute for Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, which was founded in 2022. The institute is one of five university centers of excellence for AI that receive funding from the German government.
“Logistics companies that don’t engage with AI today won’t survive on the market in the medium to long term. After all, customer requirements and the complexity of the conditions aren’t getting any less demanding—and that’s before we factor in the growing lack of qualified personnel,” says Stefan Hohm, Chief Development Officer and member of the Executive Board at Dachser. “Whether in the warehouse, in the transit terminal, or in the office, we’re already using AI applications to provide our employees with the best possible support in decision-making and to relieve them of monotonous tasks. This expansion of the DACHSER Enterprise Lab strengthens our expertise in the field of artificial intelligence.” The Kempten-based family-owned company has been operating the DACHSER Enterprise Lab at Fraunhofer IML in Dortmund since 2017, with Fraunhofer scientists working together with Dachser experts to research various digital innovations. In 2023, Dachser and Fraunhofer IML were awarded the German Logistics Award for their joint development of the @ILO digital twin.
“Our long-standing collaboration in the DACHSER Enterprise Lab is a striking example of what you can achieve when you interlink science and business to come up with innovations for practical application. Winning the 2023 German Logistics Award was also an accolade for our successful Enterprise Lab format,” says Prof. Alice Kirchheim, Director of Fraunhofer IML.
