@ILO - Digital twin and AI for general cargo logistics

The @ILO digital twin combines AI-based algorithms with optical scanning to map all packages, assets, and processes in a transit terminal in real time. The research question: How do operators of transit terminals the size of a soccer field keep track of the location and size of every shipment? Dachser and the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics (IML) answer this question at the Dachser Enterprise Lab—using Data Matrix codes on the packages and hundreds of scanning units mounted on the warehouse ceiling. Eleven branches use the technology. The project won the German Logistics Prize in 2023 and the European Logistics Association (ELA) Award on February 19, 2026, in Vienna.

In general cargo logistics, several thousand loading units arrive daily at transit terminals—often as large as a soccer field—where staff reposition and forward them. Maintaining a comprehensive overview of the current situation in the warehouse required significant effort: staff could determine the exact location and size of each individual shipment only to a limited extent. Dachser and Fraunhofer IML addressed this challenge in the Dachser Enterprise Lab and solved it with @ILO.

The project goal is a fully automated, constantly updated digital representation of all packages, assets, and processes in the transit terminal, accessible to employees via mobile devices, displays, and a web application.

Three factors shaped the project: limited space, a shortage of skilled workers, and increasing customer demand for shipment information. Manual barcode scans, labeling packages, daily inventory checks, and searching for misplaced shipments consumed a significant amount of working time. In a crowded warehouse of this size, locating individual packages quickly became a time-consuming process.

@ILO (Advanced Indoor Localization and Operations) replaces these processes with automated identification, localization, measurement, and visualization.

You can leverage this expertise for intralogistics.

Services:

• Development of an optical tracking system tailored to specific conditions 
• Adaptation of the system for use cases involving ground-level storage outside the transit terminal
• Joint research in an Enterprise Lab format: mixed agile teams from academia and industry
• Integration of AI applications in logistics

Contact the project team

“The digital twin with AI delivers a real-time image of the warehouse: every package is identified, located to the meter, and measured. This turns data into a reliable basis for controlling general cargo transshipment.”
Dr. Volker Lange, Head of the Department of Packaging and Retail Logistics and AutoID Technologies at Fraunhofer IML

@ILO is a digital twin: a fully automated, constantly updated representation of a transit terminal and its processes. The technical foundation consists of two-dimensional Data Matrix codes on the top of each package as well as several hundred optical scanning units mounted on the ceiling that cover the entire warehouse floor. AI-based algorithms in the @ILO software interpret this data every second.

The four components in their process sequence:

1. Identification: @ILO automatically recognizes packages as they enter, remain in, and leave the warehouse and records them in the transport management system. Manual barcode scanning is unnecessary, and a real-time inventory is available at all times.
2. Localization: The scanning units continuously determine the position of each loading unit and each material handling vehicle, such as a forklift truck, with meter-level accuracy. While conventional RTLS technologies rely on active radio-based tags, @ILO uses passive 2D codes on the packages and optical sensors. This makes @ILO an Optical Real-Time Locating System (ORTLS) whose image data enables additional functions.
3. Volume Measurement: The system determines the length, width, and height of packages without a measurement station.
4. Visualization: The system consolidates all data into a digital representation and shows it on websites, apps, and in-vehicle displays.

Based on several years of research in general cargo handling, Fraunhofer IML identifies opportunities to enhance optical identification and localization in inventory operations. These insights are integrated into each project: the institute analyzes processes, assesses technical feasibility, scales the tracking technology, and supports pilot testing as well as integration into existing systems. An initial consultation is available upon request.

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@ILO is an Optical Real-Time Locating System (ORTLS) that uses hundreds of optical scanning units mounted on the warehouse ceiling to locate pallets and material handling vehicles with meter-level accuracy in real time. RTLS is the umbrella term for different real-time locating technologies, whereas @ILO is based on optical scanning and therefore requires no active tags, transponders, or additional radio infrastructure. The system automatically assigns a storage location to each shipment and continuously displays the positions of the material handling vehicles. Storage locations and routing information for internal transport are available on websites, in apps, and on mobile displays.

The benefits are measurable. The system significantly shortens search and loading processes and considerably increases warehouse transparency. Warehouse personnel can identify the location of goods without having to ask colleagues. Local delivery vehicles start making deliveries earlier in the morning and save valuable time during rush hour.

At the pilot locations in Unterschleißheim near Munich and Öhringen near Heilbronn, individual processes between goods receipt and goods issue accelerated by 15 to 35 percent. Scheduling and customer service also benefit, as do customers, who receive more accurate shipment information.

A new feature is the automatic pairing (linking) of the material handling vehicle and the package. The @ILO system automatically detects when a material handling vehicle picks up a pallet and transmits information about the respective package to employees in real time via displays. The necessary guidance information appears on the vehicle display without any further manual action.

In this way, the digital twin assumes tasks traditionally handled by conventional forklift guidance systems: the order, load unit, and vehicle remain linked without requiring additional input. This feature reduces processing times and makes it possible to redesign workflows in the transit terminal.

One effect is evident in the numbers: in 2025, the eleven @ILO branches saved over four million manual barcode scans in the transit terminal. The daily manual inventory of all packages has become unnecessary, and pallets can be tracked in real time. Technology creates value when it lightens the workload for employees in their daily tasks—this principle shapes development at the Dachser Enterprise Lab.

The fully automated and continuous measurement of all packages represents the next step in innovation toward Logistics 4.0. In pilot operations, the system determines the length, width, and height of the packages and displays the values in real time, enabling vehicles to remain in motion.

At the same time, Dachser and our institute are developing a simplified @ILO system. Customers can use it to equip their outbound goods areas and increase transparency in shipping. The technology is not limited to the transit terminal: it can be adapted for applications involving ground-level storage.

The numbers demonstrate the impact on operations. Between goods receipt and goods issue, individual process flows in the pilot branches accelerated by 15 to 35 percent.

The daily manual inventory of all packages in the warehouse is automated. The system locates pallets in real time, and local delivery vehicles depart earlier. For Dachser, the “Dachser Future Terminal,” in conjunction with the digital twin @ILO, represents the Enterprise Lab’s most comprehensive research project and one of the largest digitalization investments in the company’s history.

Awards: 2023 German Logistics Prize from the German Logistics Association (BVL); ELA Award (European Logistics Association Award), presented on February 19, 2026, in Vienna

Scaling: Launch at two pilot facilities; currently nine additional Dachser locations; up to ten additional branches by the end of 2026; over 100 locations in the European network in the long term

About Dachser: approximately 32,850 employees at 379 locations, €8.1 billion in consolidated revenue (2022), 81.1 million shipments, 42.8 million metric tons, wholly owned subsidiaries in 41 countries

Media contact: Christian Weber, DACHSER SE, +49 831 5916 1425