Sustainability in logistics
Today, every company has to deal with the question of how emissions can be reduced within the various logistics processes and how resources can be conserved. Our researchers are making a key contribution to this with new and innovative approaches - from the reduction of packaging materials and the optimal utilization of warehouses and containers to optimized routes and sustainable site conditions.
Sustainability is a principle of action that asks: “Is our economy fit for the future?” However, with regard to industry and companies, “sustainable” also means competitive. It is therefore necessary to consider the economic, environmental and social impact of our actions - and in some cases to rethink them.
With the ESG Legal Framework, the European Commission has already set the course for a sustainable Europe. Companies are now legally obliged to act more sustainably: They must comply with mandatory requirements to reduce emissions, dispose of waste or use renewable energy. In logistics in particular, many companies have already invested in measures for greater sustainability on a voluntary basis - partly because they wanted to set standards as pioneers and partly because their customers have demanded these measures. Sustainability is now one of the number 1 competitive factors.
One of the keys to sustainability projects today is transparency. Today, companies - whether manufacturing companies, manufacturers of logistics facilities or logistics service providers - must be able to determine key sustainability figures from which recommendations for action can be derived. Sustainability targets are also setting the direction for local authorities and districts today.
Two use cases from our E-Design research project illustrate how great the energy-saving potential in companies is. It also shows that the potential - depending on the industry and products - can lie in very different areas. The results are based on a holistic simulation-based optimization approach with algorithms that calculate a wide variety of scenarios in promising configuration areas on a self-learning basis.
At industrial group Thyssen Krupp's Materials Services division, potential energy savings of up to 19 percent were identified in the transportation of the company's products, which tend to be heavy and large. This was achieved by saving on transport by means of optimized product allocation in the distribution centers without a significant increase in costs.
At Behr-Hella Thermocontrol GmbH, developer and manufacturer of climate control units for the automotive industry, the “energy backpack” that the raw materials used in the electronic components shouldered weighed more heavily than their transportation. The potential energy savings could be put at five percent.
Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics IML
