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Company/Investment

Forward-looking collaboration: Logistics pioneer Michael ten Hompel invests in Logistikbude

• Personal investment after years of collaboration on the board
• Software automates the management of pallets, containers and racks
• Shared vision: Setting the industry standard for automatic load carrier accounting

Prominent reinforcement for Logistikbude GmbH: Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Michael ten Hompel, former managing director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics (IML), is now a shareholder in the Dortmund-based technology start-up. He is thus expanding his previous involvement and will support ‘Bude’ not only professionally but also financially in the future. The private investment underscores ten Hompel's enthusiasm for the start-up's leading technology and vision.

‘Michael ten Hompel stands for innovation and progress in logistics like no other. The fact that he believes in our vision not only with advice but also with his own capital means a great deal to us and shows that we are on the right track,’ says Dr. Philipp Hüning, co-founder and CEO of Logistikbude GmbH.

The software developed by the Dortmund-based start-up automates the management of all types of load carriers, such as pallets, containers or racks, through the intelligent use of existing data. This creates real-time transparency along the entire supply chain without any manual effort, while processes such as account reconciliation, stock reconciliation and inventory are triggered automatically. In addition, any documents, especially pallet notes, are automatically recorded using AI. The start-up's grand vision is to fully automate load carrier management.

Even during his time at the Fraunhofer Institute, ten Hompel always encouraged his employees to become entrepreneurs and start their own start-ups – including the Logistikbude team. Ten Hompel has been supporting the young company on a voluntary basis as a member of the board for around a year and a half, contributing his scientific and strategic expertise. By becoming an investor, he is deepening this commitment – out of a deep conviction in the concept. Ten Hompel explains:

‘With Logistikbude's software solution, we have a unique opportunity to establish a digital standard in a central logistics process. Opportunities like this to create standards are extremely rare – which is another reason why I want to play an active role in this development.’

For the former institute director, who spent his entire career working with forward-looking technologies such as the Internet of Things, load carrier management is an overarching challenge that has always been a concern for the transport and logistics industry, retail and manufacturing companies. The vision of Logistikbude therefore strikes a chord with the industry:

‘Logistikbude is thinking in a completely new dimension,’ he explains. ‘We're not talking about a few percent increase in efficiency here, but about a solution that fully automates load carrier management for the first time. It was clear to me from the outset that this idea had the potential to fundamentally change logistics processes.’

Ten Hompel is one of the best-known figures in the German logistics industry and is considered one of the inventors of shuttle technology in intralogistics. He is a member of the board of directors of the Lamarr Institute (AI) and a senior professor at TU Dortmund University. Until spring 2024, he was full professor of the Chair of Materials Handling and Warehousing and managing director of the Fraunhofer IML. Before his scientific career, he was an entrepreneur. Among other things, he founded GamBit GmbH (now Vanderlande Industries) in 1988 and managed the company, which primarily focuses on the development and implementation of warehouse management systems and industrial control systems, as managing partner until 2000. Ten Hompel has received numerous awards for his commitment, including the Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2023.