DACHSER and Fraunhofer IML win the European Logistics Association Award with @ILO
DACHSER and Fraunhofer IML have been honored with the European Logistics Association (ELA) Award for their jointly developed @ILO digital twin. The award ceremony took place in Vienna on Thursday, February 19. The ELA (a federation of national logistics associations from Europe and beyond) presents the award in recognition of innovative projects and outstanding achievements in the field of logistics and supply chain management. Back in 2023, @ILO received the German Logistics Award from the German Logistics Association (BVL). Now the technology has also been recognized at the European level.
The fully automated @ILO digital twin records up-to-the-minute data on all packages, assets, and workflows in the transit terminal. Employees can access all this information presented clearly on mobile devices and displays, which ensures greater transparency and speeds up process times in the warehouse. The application also benefits customers, since it enables them to receive more precise information about their shipments. The @ILO digital twin is a core result of many years of joint research conducted at the DACHSER Enterprise Lab. This is where experts from the logistics provider work with researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics IML in small, agile teams to develop innovations for the European groupage network and its transit terminals. Since the introduction of @ILO in two pilot plants, the technology has now been rolled out to nine more DACHSER locations. By the end of 2026, up to ten more branches and, in the long term, over 100 locations in the European DACHSER network are to follow.
The DACHSER Future Terminal in conjunction with the @ILO digital twin is our DACHSER Enterprise Lab’s most comprehensive research project and one of the largest investments in digitalization in DACHSER’s history.
Stefan Hohm, Chief Development Officer (CDO) at DACHSER“We’re delighted that our innovation in groupage logistics has once again been recognized. With @ILO, we’re achieving a new level of transparency in the supply chain,” says Stefan Hohm, Chief Development Officer (CDO) at DACHSER. “The DACHSER Future Terminal in conjunction with the @ILO digital twin is our DACHSER Enterprise Lab’s most comprehensive research project and one of the largest investments in digitalization in DACHSER’s history.”
“@ILO is the result of many years of collaboration between Fraunhofer IML and DACHSER, and it lets us demonstrate how jointly developed innovations can sustainably improve everyday logistics,” adds Prof. Alice Kirchheim, Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics IML.
Measurable successes
@ILO hugely accelerates certain process sequences performed between inbound and outbound goods. In 2025, for example, the eleven existing @ILO branches managed to avoid over four million manual barcode scans in their transit terminals. A daily manual stock count of all packages is also no longer necessary, since the pallets can be located in real time. As a result, short-distance transport vehicles can start making deliveries earlier in the day, which gives drivers a head start in morning rush-hour traffic.
@ILO is the result of many years of collaboration between Fraunhofer IML and DACHSER, and it lets us demonstrate how jointly developed innovations can sustainably improve everyday logistics.
Prof. Alice Kirchheim, Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics IMLYou can find out how @ILO works in detail here.
