Driving digitalisation forward together

Many cooks spoil the broth? Wrong. When everyone combines their expertise with the know-how of others, they create recipes for success from which everyone benefits in the end. The approach of the Open Logistics Foundation, which aims to further advance the digitalisation of logistics, can be described in this way. The basic ingredients are open source software and hardware. viastore SOFTWARE is convinced by this approach of the non-profit foundation - and therefore joined the European open source community. »Digitisation only works if we understand it in an overarching way. We are happy to be part of an initiative that jointly develops solutions for uniform processes in the digital value chain«, explains Dr Harald Göbel, COO of viastore SOFTWARE.

With its open source platform, the so-called repository, and the members behind it, the Open Logistics Foundation bundles the forces of IT developers and users from very different areas of logistics. Instead of closed software and hardware solutions, the open source idea aims at de facto standards for logistics processes. For example, to be able to handle different shipping documents in a uniform manner with the help of electronic transport documents or to use blockchain technology for the digital handling of customer-relevant data along international supply chains.

The initiative for the Open Logistics Foundation was taken by the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics IML as part of its »Silicon Economy« research project. The founding sponsors are Dachser, DB Schenker, duisport and Rhenus. The Open Logistics e.V. support association is open to new members from all areas of logistics.