From factory organization to digital supply chain management
Since its foundation in 1971, the Chair of Enterprise Logistics (LFO) at TU Dortmund University's Department of Mechanical Engineering has been dedicated to the research and development of modern value creation networks. This timeline documents the historical development of the chair from its beginnings in classic factory organization to its current role in digital supply chain management under the leadership of Univ.-Prof. Dr. habil. Michael Henke. Along technological milestones, structural changes and the close partnership with the Fraunhofer IML, the chronicle illustrates how logistics research and teaching has continuously developed at the science location Dortmund - from early maintenance concepts to current innovations such as the Silicon Economy.
2025 - Setting the strategic course in teaching and new international research projects
2024 - New project launches, practical workshops and successful milestones
2023 - A year dominated by supply chain resilience and mobile robotics
2022 - First open source components for logistics
2021 - Between foundation and pandemic
2020 - Blockchain, Silicon Economy, digitalization in the Corona year
2019 - The chair is growing
2018 - Jun.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Anne Meyer and Dr.-Ing. Christoph Besenfelder
2017 - Innovation lab, performance center, management model...
2015-16 - International orientation of our subject areas
2014 - 2nd EXCHAiNGE in Dortmund
2013 - Prof. Dr. Michael Henke is the new Head of the Chair of Enterprise Logistics
From the foundation to the generation change
After the 40th anniversary of the chair in 2011, 2012 was a year of change. On July 31, Prof. Dr. Axel Kuhn stepped down as head of the LFO after 19 years as chair and 39 years at TU Dortmund University. On October 2, 2012, during the evening event of the Future Logistics Congress, we bid him a fitting farewell with a moving eulogy by Dr. Volker Paetz, a long-time companion of the LFO and now manager at ThyssenKrupp Materials.
Tobias Hegmanns has been acting head of the chair since August 1.
Alongside this drastic change, it almost fades into the background that the Chair once again did an outstanding job in 2012: a diverse teaching portfolio with 18 regular courses, the supervision of 43 theses and projects and the processing of a total of nine ongoing or newly started research projects. Two new DFG projects were started in 2012 on the use of simulation in anticipatory change planning and the use-dependent maintenance of intralogistics systems. Another research proposal on the topic of flexible capacity planning and provision for kmU was approved by the AiF for 2013.
