Textile Logistics Center to start on September 1 in cooperation with Fraunhofer IML

The application-oriented research center is to be housed in the NEW Blauhaus. It will be headed by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Markus Muschkiet, Professor of Textile Logistics. Muschkiet was appointed to the Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences last September. He was previously logistics manager at Zalando.

State Secretary Dr. Thomas Grünewald emphasizes the importance of the planned Textile Logistics Center for the science and business location of North Rhine-Westphalia: "The combination of the high-performance textile and clothing technology of the Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences with the unique logistics expertise of the Fraunhofer IML is an asset for application-oriented research in North Rhine-Westphalia and a flagship for the region. This cooperation will enable groundbreaking innovations in textile logistics that will sustainably strengthen the competitiveness of the textile and clothing industry in North Rhine-Westphalia." The Ministry of Science is considering start-up funding of 400,000 euros per year for three years.

The Fraunhofer IML intends to install a cross-departmental textile logistics working group in Dortmund and will submit an application to the Federal Ministry of Education and Research in the FH cooperation funding program. "NRW is the economically strongest federal state in the textile and clothing industry as well as in logistics.

The partnership between the Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences and us at Fraunhofer will also provide textile logistics with important new impulses for corporate practice in order to be efficiently and innovatively positioned in competition," says Prof. Dr.-Ing. Uwe Clausen, Institute Director of Fraunhofer IML.

The center is intended to drive innovation for the textile industry, which continues to play an important role in the Lower Rhine region. "The textile industry is not competitive without sophisticated logistics. We must seize the opportunity that the Center offers the textile industry in the region," says Rolf A. Königs, Chairman of the Association of the Rhineland Textile and Clothing Industry, which today also represents the Northwest German Textile and Clothing Association.

In terms of content, the research center will focus on optimizing logistics processes for companies in the textile industry. Because: "Logistics is a decisive success factor in the textile industry. Among other things, this has to do with rapid seasonal changes, the high import quota, returns in online retail and a variety of other aspects. Logistics is an essential core competence for textile companies. This is where science can provide decisive support to industry," says Prof. Dr.-Ing. Markus Muschkiet, who is to head the center.

Muschkiet knows both sides. Before his appointment at the Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences in September 2016, the 34-year-old was Senior Manager Operative Transport Logistics at online retailer Zalando. There, he was responsible for transport logistics, consisting of the management and organization of outgoing goods and returns flows for the 15 Zalando markets, as well as internal transport between the logistics centers.

In the spirit of a university of applied sciences, the newly created Textile Logistics Center will develop solutions for companies. Muschkiet and his - probably - eight research assistants are concerned with the question of how companies can optimize and design their logistics processes.

University President Prof. Dr. Hans-Hennig von Grünberg sees the Textile Logistics Center as a further milestone on the Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences' path to becoming the most important textile education and research location in Europe. "With the new center, we are interlinking our focus areas of textiles and clothing on the one hand and logistics on the other in a highly innovative way. We expect this to provide a significant innovation boost for the region."

www.iml.fraunhofer.de