Thank you, Prof. Michael ten Hompel!

As part of an event that consisted of an official part and a private farewell, Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Michael ten Hompel bid farewell to his colleagues, employees, and companions at the Dortmund Logistics Campus. The speeches were all characterized by very personal, long-standing experiences that the speakers had with the long-time institute director. And one thing became clear unanimously: Prof. Michael ten Hompel has left a lasting impact on logistics. Technical innovations, tireless research drive, and the ability to convey complex issues in an understandable and effective manner have made Dortmund a central location for international logistics research.

We are delighted to have been part of this journey together. Bitergo GmbH has a long-standing connection with the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics IML and with Prof. Michael ten Hompel in particular. One of the predecessor companies of Bitergo GmbH, LinogistiX GmbH, was founded as a spin-off from Fraunhofer IML in 2006 by Prof. Michael ten Hompel and Andreas Trautmann, now managing director of Bitergo. The open-source Warehouse Management System myWMS, as well as the logistics mall platform, whose intellectual father is Prof. Michael ten Hompel, have been successfully transferred by us into industrial use. Both developments are an important foundation of our current product landscape.

In recent years, our employees have had the opportunity to work on groundbreaking projects. In addition to myWMS and the logistics mall, these included the BMBF research projects Hub2Move, the control of an autonomous mobile robot swarm for cellular conveyor technology, and Smart Face – Smart Micro Factory for electric vehicles with lean production planning. Participation in the logistics IT database warehouse logistics, initiated by Fraunhofer IML in 2000, has proven to be a success factor for us.

Now, anyone who knows Prof. Michael ten Hompel – and it was repeatedly mentioned at the farewell – knows that retirement certainly does not mean laying hands in his lap. We wish him all the best for the future and look forward to a continued exchange of ideas and further fruitful collaboration with the Fraunhofer IML and Prof. Dr.-Ing. Alice Kirchheim, who has taken over the Material Flow Systems department and the Chair of Materials Handling and Warehousing at TU Dortmund as Prof. ten Hompel's successor.