Augsburg University's team wins transport logistic think-a-thon 2019

June 11, 2019: During the three-day transport logistic think-a-thon 2019 event held in Munich from June 4-6, around 30 students of logistics disciplines, supported by professors and industry experts, pursued questions such as - How can logistics processes be improved through automation based on real-time and historical data? Which new business models are promising? Finally, four groups presented their ideas to the expert audience.

The approaches developed directly at the fair included an innovative platform concept for generating valuable information from raw data for companies along the supply chain and the use of automated robots for delivery over the last mile. Furthermore, fields of application of blockchain technology for safer supply chains were presented. The winner of think-a-thon, however, was the idea of a team from Augsburg University of Applied Sciences, which helps to make better use of loading space capacities by means of automated capacity optimisation.

The winning team from Augsburg University, HSA_ops Research Group for Optimised Value Creation, stated, "It was a great challenge to work on this topic in such a short time. But we were able to profit a lot from the input of the companies and in the end, we succeeded in combining the different ideas into one concept. And of course, it was fun, too."

"Bringing together academic expertise and practical know-how in this very dynamic way is enormously valuable for everyone involved. The students are a key to success because they search for approaches beyond the boundaries of individual companies and within the entire logistics chain and thus develop new solutions for our industry. The successful continuation of the think-a-ton in Munich makes us very proud as initiators," noted Martin Kraemer, head of marketing and PR of Jettainer GmbH.

The students of the Augsburg University of Applied Sciences, the Technical University Darmstadt and the Technical University Munich, as well as international students of the Erasmus program, were divided into groups during the think-a-thon. Each of them dealt independently with the given topic. They were assisted by the supporters of the think-a-thon, Fraport, Bosch, DAKOSY, and DoKaSch as well as other logistics experts of the 2,360 exhibitors at the fair. The federal ministry of transport and digital infrastructure was the patron of the think-a-thon 2019.

"With the think-a-thon, transport logistic has integrated the innovative format in Munich for the first time since its launch in Shanghai a year ago. The positive feedback from all participants confirms that the opportunity for creative exchange with universities and colleges and their students is an additional enrichment for transport logistic," said Robert Schonberger, exhibition group director for the transport logistic cluster at Messe Mnchen.

The concept was developed a year ago for transport logistic in Shanghai by the PR agency Medienbro am Reichstag, Jettainer and Messe Mnchen where students looked at developing blockchain in the supply chain.