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With its reduced-infrastructure and automated logistics, the smart factory is no longer just a vision. It has long been a reality in the automotive industry and among its suppliers. Now, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics IML are demonstrating how simulation-based artificial intelligence can take the smart factory to the next level. With the highly dynamic autonomous transport robot “O³dyn,” which debuted at LogiMAT in Stuttgart, the future of material flow has arrived.

An end to paper-based freight documents, more digitalization in freight transport and logistics services and a uniform legal framework at EU level so that authorities can accept relevant freight transport information in electronic form: These are the three main objectives of the European Union's eFTI Regulation, which was adopted in 2020.

Not only climate change, but also the current worldwide crises and conflicts underline the necessity of concepts and solutions for the economical and efficient use of energy. Logistics has been a driver of innovations and models in the field of sustainability for many years. Currently, Lucas Schreiber, scientific employee at Fraunhofer IML, is working on a “Planning concept for an energy-efficient supply chain design” for his dissertation. This could solve many problems for industry.

In front of an audience of numerous high-ranking representatives from politics, industry, administration and the media, researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics IML demonstrated the initial results of the “Digital Testbed Air Cargo” (DTAC) research project at Munich Airport on May 13 - a groundbreaking presentation of solutions that will make optimal use of the potential of digital technologies and actively shape the future of air cargo.