Fraunhofer IML Information

The Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics IML is said to be first address in the holistic logistics research and is working on all fields of internal and external logistics. According to the idea of Fraunhofer, problem solutions for the immediate benefit for companies are worked out on the one hand. On the other hand, preliminary research of two to five years, in individual cases beyond that, is executed. At the Institute, founded in 1981, there are at the moment 290 employees as well as 250 post-graduates and students, supported by colleagues in workshops, laboratories and service areas. Made-to-measure arranged teams create cross-industry and customer-specific solutions in the area of materials handling, warehouse management, supply chain management, simulation supported business and system planning and also traffic systems, closed loop economy, resources logistics, building logistics and e-business. For interdisciplinary projects the Institute can draw on a total of 25,000 employees of 72 institutes within the entire Fraunhofer association. Not least the Fraunhofer IML is acting as general coordinator for the multi-institute central theme »Internet of Things« within the entire Fraunhofer association. Furthermore the office of the Fraunhofer-Alliance traffic, in which 19 Fraunhofer-Institutes bundle their traffic relevant competences, is also located in Dortmund. Initiated by Fraunhofer IML, 120 companies and 11 research institutes won the »Spitzenclusterwettbewerb« of the German Government in 2010. The three directors of the Institute who also hold chairs at the Technical University Dortmund in the faculty mechanical engineering, take care of manifold research associations in fundamental researching. Beside the location in Dortmund, there are additional locations in Frankfurt/ Main, Prien at Chiemsee and Hamburg as well as international offices in Lisbon and Beijing.