Fraunhofer IML and Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences with Center for Textile Logistics

The importance of logistics for the textile industry has increased under pandemic conditions. Due to online trade, rapid seasonal changes, or the necessity for storage, the challenges for companies have grown. For two years, the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics IML and Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences have been researching at the Center for Textile Logistics under the motto ‘Logistics for Textiles – Textiles for Logistics’. The cooperation has now been successfully evaluated. This is custom heading element

(Dortmund) ‘We are pleased that we can continue our joint work,’ says Prof. Markus Muschkiet, who leads the Center for Textile Logistics at Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences and Fraunhofer IML. To scientifically support companies, Fraunhofer IML, in collaboration with Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences, established the Center for Textile Logistics (CTL) in 2018. The logistical expertise of Fraunhofer IML is combined with the textile know-how of the Textile and Clothing Technology department at Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences.

Government Support

In interdisciplinary projects, the Dortmund team from the fields of intralogistics, transport logistics, and environmental and resource logistics works closely with the team in Mönchengladbach to support companies from various sectors. Over the past two years, the working groups in Dortmund and Mönchengladbach have been established and expanded. The formation of the groups took place within the framework of the Fraunhofer cooperation program with universities of applied sciences. For the establishment of the Dortmund working group, the Fraunhofer Society provided financial resources amounting to one million euros for a period of four years. Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences contributed the Textile Logistics professorship with Prof. Markus Muschkiet, supported by the Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia.

The researchers focused, among other things, on optimizing intralogistical processes at the site of a manufacturer of home textiles. They also conducted a sorting analysis, examining old textiles that were collected at recycling yards. They gained insights into textile fiber material groups and their mass proportions. This data forms a preliminary basis for closed and sustainable textile material flows of the future: the textile circular economy.

Cooperative Performance Structure

Based on projects like these, the Center for Textile Logistics was successfully evaluated in 2020. The evaluators praised that the success criteria established in the Fraunhofer cooperation program were particularly well met. A cooperative management structure and the thematic alignment of the group into the strategic development planning of both partner institutions were achieved.

The goal for the coming years is to stabilize the group within the Fraunhofer model, to continuously expand personnel, and to enhance teaching and research offerings. In addition to the previous key topics, the pandemic has initiated further changes in the market. These range from the reactivation of local textile production to upheavals in brick-and-mortar retail and the growth of e-commerce.

Photo: © Fraunhofer IML

http://www.iml.fraunhofer.de