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10/10/2022

The digital twin in groupage handling

Together with Fraunhofer IML, DACHSER continues to advance the level of innovation in groupage logistics. In two digitalized transit terminals, a new system is generating a digital image of all packages, assets, and workflows. The resulting process improvements benefit customers, employees, and service partners alike.

The digital twin

@ILO stands for Advanced Indoor Localization and Operations and is a research project from the DACHSER Enterprise Lab, which the logistics provider operates together with the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics IML in Dortmund. In what is known as the @ILO terminal, a digital image of all a transit terminal’s packages, assets, and processes—a “digital twin”—is created fully automatically and in real time.

The digital twin in detail

The following picture gallery provides a glimpse of pilot operations as well as quotes from the DACHSER Executive Board on the project. You can find out exactly how @ILO works in the downloadable document at the bottom of this page.

The technological basis for all the innovations in the @ILO terminal is provided by 2D data matrix codes on the top of each package.

With such a large number of packages, any package registration system needs to be simple and environmentally friendly.

The data matrix codes are captured by several hundred optical scanning units in the facilities’ ceiling area. New custom AI-based algorithms interpret this data every second; this way, they can ensure the automatic identification, location, and measurement of all packages in real time.

The @ILO system automatically detects when a ground conveyor picks up a pallet. It then transmits the information on each package in real time using a WiFi connection and the MQTT protocol.

This data can then be immediately shown on displays, for example, without further processing.

Using a website or other means such as smartphone apps, e-ink displays, and 3D visualizations, it’s possible to map both the locations of shipments and the position of ground conveyors in real time.

Employees at the DACHSER Future Terminal stand to benefit the most from all that the digital twin has to offer.

Burkhard Eling, CEO of DACHSER: “Digitalizing our core processes offers the greatest opportunity for further improving our business—not only by using state-of-the-art technologies, but also by involving and engaging our employees in the digital world we’re creating. The @ILO terminal has the potential to be a milestone on the path toward more efficient and more sustainable logistics by providing a whole new level of transparency in transit terminal operations.”

Stefan Hohm, CDO at DACHSER: “The results so far make us very confident that we can achieve a new level of supply chain visibility with the @ILO terminal. In the future, we also plan to give our customers and partners access to this new type of transparency on all goods movements in the transit terminal, plus the associated optimization options.”

Professor Michael ten Hompel, Managing Director of Fraunhofer IML: “I’m delighted that we were able to develop this extraordinary digital twin together. Our approach employs state-of-the-art algorithms based on artificial intelligence to make the internet of things and the vision of Industry 4.0 and Logistics 4.0 a reality—even in the challenging area of groupage logistics, with its marked heterogeneity, wide range of package volumes, and high pallet weights.”

Alexander Tonn, COO Road Logistics at DACHSER: “@ILO is a highly promising innovation within the Dachser Future Terminal. Initial tests have already clearly demonstrated the advantages: the system saves our employees valuable time and lets them organize processes in the terminal even more efficiently. In the future, we’ll also be able to further increase truck utilization by measuring the packages and using appropriate, AI-supported preliminary load planning. All this has the potential to trigger an innovation leap in groupage logistics.”

DACHSER worldwide

Contact Christian Weber Corporate Public Relations

+49 831 5916-1425 christian.weber@dachser.com

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