The freight companies DB Schenker, Dachser and Rhenus as well as the port of Duisburg (duisport) founded the Open Logistics Foundation to promote the development of open software for the industry. The non-profit foundation aims to build an open source community for the logistics industry that takes “European legal norms and values” into account, the founders announced. The aim is to create an open source repository for logistics companies in which the e-waybill (eCMR) and the e-pallet note are the first to be included.
“New chapter”
the Open Logistics Foundation wants to write a “new chapter in digitization” in logistics. In addition to the use of open source software, it is the declared aim of the foundation to set “de facto standards” in the European logistics sector.
In addition to the logistics companies, that represents Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics (IML) in the also new association for the promotion of science. According to the institute, 150 scientists are working at the IML to set up the repository for the Open Logistics Foundation. The project is to be completed by 2023 and is subsidized by the Federal Ministry of Transport with 25 million euros.
“The logistics industry has to become more software-oriented if it wants to play a role in the coming platform economy and shape its future independently on the basis of European legal norms and values,” explained Institute Director Michael ten Hompel, who chairs the Board of Trustees of the Open Logistics Foundation.
e Waybill
The companies that have already announced their cooperation include AEB Software, the BLG Logistics Group, the Fraunhofer Society for the Promotion of Applied Research, GS1 Germany, the Lobster Logistics Cloud and the Setlog Holding. As the first open source project, the eFrachtbrief (eCMR) is to be implemented for domestic German transports, the the still incumbent Federal Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer (CSU) announced in mid-September.
(vbr)
