On September 5, 2023 at the 8th HOLM Innovation Marketplace at the House of Logistics and Mobility (HOLM) in Frankfurt, two of the department's research projects were presented, which were developed as part of HOLM's innovation funding:
Julia Wenzel presented the results on the SpotIn project , explaining how the integration of small, high-performance tractors for moving and shunting load carriers, so-called spotters, in terminals can lead to increased efficiency in combined road/rail (CT) freight transport.
Felix Roeper presented the results of the project Decentralized Planning of Platoons , conducted jointly with the Center of Cognition and Computation at Goethe University Frankfurt, and showed how individual trucks can form automated platoons with the help of an AI through the use of car-to-car communication in road freight transport to realize cost savings for transport companies.
On April 25, 2022, we discussed how more goods can be shifted from road to rail and what potential Combined Road/Rail Freight Transport (CT) has in the Hanau/Gelnhausen-Schlüchtern region with the Mobility and Infrastructure Committee of the Hanau-Gelnhausen-Schlüchtern Chamber of Commerce and Industry in our Combined Transport Innovation Lab at the House of Logistics and Mobility (HOLM) in Frankfurt. This enabled a look at potential progress and innovation in CT from a research perspective with a practical view. Along with the exchange, there was a lively and animated discussion about the challenges of CT in the Hanau/Gelnhausen-Schlüchtern region. It did not stop at identifying the problems but also produced exciting approaches to solving them.
Looking at a sustainable shift of freight traffic using CT in Hesse and Germany, the 3rd Combined Transport Forum took place on September 15, 2023 at the House of Logistics and Mobility in Frankfurt am Main. Prof. Ralf Elbert spoke about concrete measures to strengthen combined rail freight transport in Germany in a keynote speech on the research project “KV-Radar” , which is being carried out together with Yuerui Tang. With the help of a two-stage survey interviewing experts from the industry, which was conducted for the second time this year, the project identifies measures in the areas of policy, infrastructure, cooperation & coordination, as well as technology & market. The measures are then evaluated on the basis of their feasibility and their impact on market share. While the opinions of our experts sometimes differed widely, most agreed that increasing train path prioritization for rail freight, alleviating staff shortages, and standardizing digital data transmission were particularly important – even if not particularly easy to implement.
At the 8th HOLM Innovation Marketplace at the House of Logistics and Mobility (HOLM) in Frankfurt, two of the department's research projects were presented, which were developed as part of HOLM's innovation funding:
Julia Wenzel presented the results on the SpotIn project , explaining how the integration of small, high-performance tractors for moving and shunting load carriers, so-called spotters, in terminals can lead to increased efficiency in combined road/rail (CT) freight transport.
Felix Roeper presented the results of the project Decentralized Planning of Platoons , conducted jointly with the Center of Cognition and Computation at Goethe University Frankfurt, and showed how individual trucks can form automated platoons with the help of an AI through the use of car-to-car communication in road freight transport to realize cost savings for transport companies.
What added value can research offer about current challenges to business practice? For example, the shift in transport routes or new technological demands requires new perspectives. A special exchange between practice and research took place with the workers’ councils of DB Cargo AG on December 13, 2022, in our Combined Transport Innovation Lab at the House of Logistics and Mobility in Frankfurt. The guests gained an in-depth insight into how application-oriented and practice-based our research is and what potential research cooperation can offer. With a unique and practice-oriented view, the guests asked exciting questions about current challenges, such as new requirements for technology and their implementation – topics that our current research also deals with, such as in the context of our research lab innovative freight car m².
On April 25, 2022, we discussed how more goods can be shifted from road to rail and what potential Combined Road/Rail Freight Transport (CT) has in the Hanau/Gelnhausen-Schlüchtern region with the Mobility and Infrastructure Committee of the Hanau-Gelnhausen-Schlüchtern Chamber of Commerce and Industry in our Combined Transport Innovation Lab at the House of Logistics and Mobility (HOLM) in Frankfurt. This enabled a look at potential progress and innovation in CT from a research perspective with a practical view. Along with the exchange, there was a lively and animated discussion about the challenges of CT in the Hanau/Gelnhausen-Schlüchtern region. It did not stop at identifying the problems but also produced exciting approaches to solving them.
As part of the BVL Schulterblick 2021, Prof. Elbert contributed to the success of the event with his presentation on the challenges and opportunities of rail freight as a beacon of hope for sustainable transport. He also addressed development potentials for combined road/rail freight transport and presented the results of the CT-Radar .
On March 23, 2022, we welcomed dual students from DB Cargo AG to our Innovation Lab CT at the House of Logistics and Mobility (HOLM) GmbH for a very lively and interesting exchange.
In the innovation lab, under the guidance of Felix Roeper, the inquisitive students were able to apply their wealth of knowledge to solving two brainteasers, working together to solve them. Afterwards, the students discussed current fields of action on the topic of “Combined Transport” together with Prof. Elbert and got an insight into the research work of our department.
The 6th HOLM Innovation Marketplace took place on 01.09., where projects that were developed within the framework of HOLM's innovation funding were presented.
Prof. Ralf Elbert's Chair of Management and Logistics was also represented with a total of 4 projects. In addition to the presentation by Julia Wenzel and Tim Steinebach on the AufKomm project, Johannes Rentschler presented the results of the ÖGNV project. Michael Gleser presented the projects KV-Radar and EurAsia.
In a presentation entitled “Datengetriebene Planung und Analyse im Kombinierten Verkehr – Beherrschung von Unsicherheit durch Optimierung und Simulation”, Ralf Elbert and Johannes Rentschler presented their research results at the 2nd Forum Kombinierter Verkehr. The conference took place on August 30, 2021 in Frankfurt and was organized by the House of Logistics and Mobility.
On 09th June 2021, a workshop on the topic of “Smart Logistics” was held as part of the Tongji Days @ TU Darmstadt. The workshop focused on possible research collaborations in the field of supply chain management, logistics and transportation to strengthen the cooperation between TU Darmstadt and Tongji University Shanghai. Prof. Elbert and Roland Lehner gave a presentation on digital pallet exchange platforms in connection with the workshop.
“Does the future belong to combined transport” was the topic of a discussion Prof. Dr. Elbert and around 40 experts held on the 13th of September 2019 at the Forum Kombinierter Verkehr in the House of Logistics and Mobility, Frankfurt. The event was rounded off by exciting lectures from practice and science as well as a panel discussion. On the podium, in addition to the two hosts Prof. Dr. Ralf Elbert and Michael Kadow (HOLM GmbH), Dr. Christian Langhagen-Rohrbach (Head of Department Mobility, Logistics, Inland Waterway Transport, HMWEVW), Frank Erschkat (Senior Vice President Intermodal Sales DB Cargo AG), Dr. Thorsten Bieker (Vice President Rail and Site Services BASF) and Armin Riedl (Managing Director Kombiverkehr) discussed the future of combined transport.
On 17th May 2018 the 2nd Darmstädter Logistics Summit of the research field Logistics & Supply Chain Management took place at the Georg Christoph Lichtenberg-Haus. The event focused on the interaction between digitization, automation and manual processes in logistics. The resulting challenges and potentials were examined from different perspectives in exciting lectures from science and practice.
Prof. Dr. Ralf Elbert from the Chair of Management and Logistics accompanied by Jan-Karl Knigge presented the topic “New Realities in Research – Using Virtual Reality in Order Picking”. In this context, visitors could also become order pickers themselves using VR glasses to perform order picking in a virtual warehouse.
On 10.06.2018 TU Darmstadt opened its doors for the second time for visitors following the “hellwach!” motto. The Department of Corporate Management and Logistics presented exciting insights into current research on the subject of “Virtual Reality in Order Picking”. Visitors were able to explore the virtual reality in logistics and get to know the picking of goods in a real and virtual warehouse.
On 4th September 2018, the 3rd Innovation Marketplace took place in the House of Mobility and Logistics (HOLM). All projects that were financed last year through the promotion of innovation were presented with posters and a short lecture in the plenum. In this context, research assistant Katrin Coleman presented “LogIn – Analysis of the acceptance of inter-actor cargo community systems (CCS) in air freight“. This project (HA-Project No.: 534/17-16) was funded by the State of Hesse and the HOLM-Förderung within the initiative ”Innovations in Logistics and Mobility" of the Hessian Ministry of Economics, Energy, Transport and Regional Development. In addition to the presentation of the research project, future topics for the application of the next years were discussed together with the representatives of the innovation promotion in the following World-Café.
On 15th February 2017, research associate Katrin Scharf presented the new project “LogIn – Analysis of the acceptance of inter-actor cargo community systems (CCS) in air freight” to the Hub Performance team of excellence of the Air Cargo Community Frankfurt (ACCF). Besides the LogIn project other research projects around the Frankfurt Airport (e.g. on registration processes of truckers and waiting times, IATA-eCargo and customs processing) were discussed. The project LogIn started in February and is funded by the project promoter HOLM and the state of Hesse.
Further information on the project is available here .
On 16th November 2016, the association of german mechanical engineers (Verband deutscher Maschinen und Anlagenbauer e.V. (VDMA)) organised the “Informationstag Lagertechnik” in Frankfurt. Planners and constructors of warehouses were invited to inform about innovations in storage technologies and to discuss with each other. Lecturers, from research as well as from practice, gave information about recent research intentions, innovations around standardization and safety requirements in storage technologies. Another focus was on the demographic change and resulting challenges for planners of logistics facilities. The event was moderated by Prof. Elbert.
Foto: Moderation Prof. Elbert
With more than 3,300 visitors the 33rd German Logistics Congress organised by Bundesvereinigung Logistik (BVL) e. V. (the federal association for logistics) was ministerially and royally supported taking place in Berlin from 19th to 21st October. Many high-level representatives of the industry presented their recent developments around the key issue “Digital Transformation”.
The Department of Management and Logistics presented the AiF research project (18499 N) “Time Slot Management for road freight services” at the “Treffpunkt Forschung”.
With more than 3,300 visitors the 33rd German Logistics Congress organised by Bundesvereinigung Logistik (BVL) e. V. (the federal association for logistics) was ministerially and royally supported taking place in Berlin from 19th to 21st October. Many high-level representatives of the industry presented their recent developments around the key issue “Digital Transformation”.
The Department of Management and Logistics presented the AiF research project (18499 N) “Time Slot Management for road freight services” at the “Treffpunkt Forschung”. (poster session: video; further information about the project: link )
On 6th October 2016, Prof. Elbert and his research associates, Katrin Scharf and Jan Philipp Müller presented intermediate results of the “Logistikstudie” to the traffic committee of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce of Darmstadt. The “Logistikstudie” consists of an online survey for enterprises from the region of Darmstadt Rhein Main Neckar and deepening interviews with experts to get an impression of the current situation and needs of the logistics business. Hereby the impact of relevant developments in logistics (e. g. digitisation, environmental specifications and security) is being discussed showing up their requirements in dealing with these developments. The intermediate results were intensively discussed by the members of the traffic committee (consisting of owners, CEO’s and logistics managers of enterprises which are members of the IHK Darmstadt). The final results of the study will be published in early 2017.
More information about the study: http://www.log.tu-darmstadt.de/forschung_log/logistikstudie.de.jsp
The 1st “Darmstädter Logistics Summit” which took place at the Georg-Christoph-Lichtenberg-Haus on 12th May 2016, organized by the branch of research for logistics and supply chain management and supported by the circle of friends association of the TU Darmstadt (“Vereinigung von Freunden der Technischen Universität zu Darmstadt e.V.”) as well as the Chamber of Industry and Commerce of Darmstadt (“IHK Darmstadt”), attracted about 80 representatives of research and practice. Different research projects and results around the topic “Warehouse Management – The Digital Revolution – a Support or a Substitute for Human Work?” were presented and actively discussed. The presentations of the branch of research for logistics and supply chain management were completed by contributions from the sports science department and the department for electromechanical constructions.
- Link to the website of the branch of research
- Link to the “Rhein Main TV” video
On 9th February 2016, a workshop about the “factor human” in the context of the “DB Schenker Lab TU Darmstadt-Kooperationsinstitut” cooperation took place in the “Alpha Rotex” in Frankfurt. Within about three hours the influence of the “factor human” on process efficiencies and intra-company tasks as well as the support of human work through IT/digitization in the context of “Industrie 4.0” was discussed.
The second DB Schenker Science Day on 23 September 2015 was characterized by the current topic Service Engineering in Logistics”. First, keynotes about network thinking, digital revolution, digitalization of the workplace as well as logistics service concepts in context of service engineering were presented. Afterwards, in three subsequent workshop sessions the subject areas opportunities, framework conditions and consequences of service engineering in logistics were discussed. The workshops were brought together in a panel discussion where Prof. Elbert countered all major points of the discussion concerning the framework conditions of service engineering in logistics. One highlight of the second DB Schenker Science Day was the presentation of the DB Schenker Science Award in the evening.
The DB Schenker Science Day on 08 September 2014 was characterized by the current topic “digitalization in logistics”. First, the current state of research, the constitution protection and economic espionage as well as the current state of the industry was spotlighted in the context of digitalization and brought closer to up to 90 people in various presentations. In 3 workshops the subject areas “opportunities, risks and degree of digitalization in logistics” were considered. Prof. Elbert chaired the workshop “risks of digitalization in logistics”. Here the many different facets and contact points of this topic, especially in regard to “working environment”, “network effects” and “mass customization” were discussed. The workshops were brought together in a panel discussion where Prof. Elbert countered all major points of the discussion with the opportunities and the degree of digitalization. One highlight of the workshop was the presentation of the DB Science Award in the evening.
On the 06th of July the day of cooperation between Technische Universität Darmstadt and Deutsche Bahn AG took place in Frankfurt, Germany. Alongside sessions of committees from the innovation alliance the innovation summit was held where Prof. Dr. Ralf Elbert was invited to give a keynote speech with the title “Digitalization of Intermodal Transport Chains – Visions and Reality”.
On 06 June 2014 the Department of Management and Logistics (Prof. Ralf Elbert and Torsten Franzke) organized a workshop on “Process Stability in Manual Picking” together with the Department of Industrial Management (Prof. Christoph Glock and Eric Grosse). The background is a research project, which the two departments have been conducting together lately. They investigated how uncertainties in manual picking can be reduced by appropriate actions.
For that expert interviews have already been carried out with various companies and experts (from the picker to the warehouse manager). Furthermore, a simulation model was developed to investigate the effects of deviations from the target process.
During the workshop the first results were presented and discussed with more than 30 experts (representatives from SMEs to DAX companies). It became clear that the theme is very exciting for the practice and will be continued in cooperation with interested companies.
Prof. Ralf Elbert attended the board meeting of the Association of German Industry Engineers (Verband Deutscher Wirtschaftsingenieure e.V. (VWI)) on 23 April 2014 in Karlsruhe. Further information can be found in the magazine Technologie & Management: T&M (opens in new tab) .
At the meeting of the Trade Committee of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK) Darmstadt Rhein Main Neckar on 13 March 2014 in Weiterstadt Mr. Jan Tränkner and Mrs. Cora Bogusch gave a presentation entitled "Urban Value Creation – Future Perspectives of Logistics and Implications for Retailers”. At first, the presentation highlighted changes due to urbanization and digitalization based on the research findings and subsequently referred to the situation of the retail. Finally, an interesting discussion about the current challenges of retail in context of the development of e-commerce took place.
At the 7th Scientific Symposium „Supply Management“ of the BME in Würzburg Prof. Ralf Elbert and Torsten Franzke presented the topic “Cooperative procurement of logistics services in the logistics network of the automotive industry: Analyzing the joint usage of capacity of a logistics service provider employing ”Principal-Agent-Theory". Further information can be found in the magazine Best In Procurement: BIP (opens in new tab) .
As part of the “KoVoS” project, workshops in which deal with the combined road-/rail freight or road transport take place on a regular basis. The project aims to develop a web-based guideline for the integration of combined transport into existing production concepts of haulers. The participants of the workshop are formed from the project advisory committee of KoVoS and further interested partners from industry, associations and science. Participation in the workshop is free of charge. More information about the project and the next workshops are permanently updated at www.kovos.de
In the context of the user forum Chemical and Pharmaceutical Logistics Mr. Pontow from the Department of Management and Logistics presented current research results in the field of rail hinterland transport. Thereby, the container based exports of the chemical industry were focused. Referring to the sequence Manage & Service inter-company activities and information flows could be further identified. The harmonization of these promises a further increase of the transport service quality.
More information on this topic can be found here.
On 25 September 2013 a half-day expert workshop to complete the project "Market Potential of Vehicles With Hybrid Drive at Logistics Providers " was held in Darmstadt. Representatives and employees of the Department of Management and Logistics discussed the results of the study together with representatives of the surveyed logistics service industry. In addition, a prospect of the future market for hybrid trucks and possible solutions for hybrid commercial vehicles were presented.
The conclusion of the event was a visit to the test facilities of the department of Internal Combustion Engines and Powertrain Systems at TU Darmstadt. Hence the workshop participants could gain an insight into current research projects in the field of hybrid technology.
At CeBIT 2012 the Department of Management and Logistics was represented by the joint booth of the TechnologieTransferNetzwerk Hessen (TTN – Hessen). At CeBIT 2012 the department presented the latest research results on simulation and data flow in transportation networks and conducted numerous discussions on the development of research focus on Transportation Management with other fair participants. The CeBIT 2012 took place between the 6th – 10th March 2012 in Hanover.
Simulation and data flow in transportation networks
An important research focus of the Department of Management and Logistics at the TU Darmstadt is transport management, where the focus is on IT-based decision support for business processes.
For the continental transport chain an estimation of the market potential of horizontal technologies for handling freight transport and within the maritime transport chain routines and governance structures for an early exchange of information between the actors were investigated and simulated. The research results provide the foundation for further development of this research focus at the TU Darmstadt.
You can find more information about Hessian universities at the Cebit 2012: Cebit
