In 2015, DB Schenker was one of the first companies to opt for the innovative form of joint research between business and science and set up a so-called Enterprise Lab at the Fraunhofer IML. Representatives of both partners work together on technical innovations, which they further develop and evaluate within the lab. DB Schenker, the global logistics service provider with 76,000 employees and offices in more than 130 countries, is focusing on key technologies that will secure the company's competitiveness in the future.

In the first six years, the interdisciplinary teams implemented more than 35 projects and 20 prototypes for various areas of application: Among other things, they developed virtual packing training and a virtual reality forklift simulator. Workshops, lab visits and doctoral programs were also part of the Enterprise Lab.

The Enterprise Lab is thematically very diverse and combines projects from different areas such as land transport, air and sea freight. "We are delighted that we have been able to extend our collaboration with DB Schenker and thus expand it to nine years of joint cutting-edge research. This underlines the mutual trust and excellent cooperation between the lab partners at both management and project level," emphasizes Prof. Michael ten Hompel, Managing Director of the Fraunhofer IML.

"DB Schenker has made a name for itself as a pioneer in the digitalization of logistics. Fraunhofer IML is the ideal partner for us to jointly develop the best and most innovative solutions for the supply chains of the future. We have succeeded in bringing science together with logistics experts. We are delighted that we can continue our successful partnership for another three years," says Erik Wirsing, Vice President Global Innovation at DB Schenker AG.

"In the coming years, we will focus on the topic of open source, among other things, and thus further digitalize the logistics processes at DB Schenker," says Dr. Martin Böhmer, Lab Manager at Fraunhofer IML, giving an outlook on further cooperation.