Research

Building on projects and networks of the BMBF cluster of excellence, the ZLV succeeded for the first time in running a logistics research project  on sustainable management as part of the FONA (Research for Sustainable Development) programme from BMBF. The aim of “Innovative Logistics for Sustainable Lifestyles” was to develop sustainable operator models and logistics service portfolio extensions to connect decentralised, local production networks with decentralised fine distribution using e-commerce applications and shared-economy approaches. The ZLV has established itself with a profile in the field of sustainable food supply systems not least through the ILoNa project in the Sustainable Logistics/Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM) research area. Necessary social transformation processes play a strong role here and open up a research spectrum that goes beyond logistics. One example of this is the “Competence Net Urban-Industrial Supply System” (CONUS) project. CONUS aims at initiating a regional expertise and innovation network with living labs in concrete practical cases. The project builds on the strengths of and opportunities for the Lower Rhine region in the fields of logistics, IT and agribusiness in order to combine new digitalised supply solutions for urban and industrial basins with the realisation of high climate protection potentials and prospects for regional sustainable management.

The ERDF projects “Automation Technology and Ergonomic Support for Innovative Picking and Transhipment Concepts in Logistics” and “Health-promoting Work Design for Digitalised Scheduling and Documentation Tasks in Logistics” address both logistical transformation fields in the wake of comprehensive digitalisation and automation. “The Development of Lightweight Stacker Cranes Based on Cable Robot Technology” transfers newly developed technology into intralogistics/warehousing practice. “The Lower Rhine – a Secure Logistics location” and “Truck Parking Space Analysis Cologne” deal with the social and transport-related challenges of stationary heavy-goods traffic. The EU project “Promoting Innovation in the Inland Waterways Transport Sector” takes up approaches of the cluster of excellence in the field of digitalised and simulation-based qualification in addition to research competences of the DST in the energy efficiency of inland navigation. Other inland and coastal shipping area projects include “Multi-use Affordable Standardised Floating Space@Sea”, “Innovative Concepts for Decentralised Container Transport on Waterways” and “Autonomous Inland Waterway Vessel”, a feasibility study for a future test field in the Ruhr area.

A further strand is formed by activities in the logistics and mobility area in the context of the energy turnaround. Application-oriented projects for CO2 reduction include “Building a Multimodal LNG infrastructure”, “Smart Tracking Data Network for Shipment by Inland Waterways” and “Smart Port Cities through Transversal Traffic Management Systems”. With the participation of relevant stakeholders in the inner-city area, the project “Smart Platform for the Data-driven Networking of Taxi and Loading Operations” is examining the feasibility of the development. Other projects in the mobility field include “Taxi Loading Concept for Public Spaces”, “The Design of Revenue Management Instruments in Car Sharing” and “New Emscher Mobility: NEMO – Integrative Scenario Development for Sustainable Mobility in the Ruhr Region”.