The Weiden-based fashion retailer Witt has developed an overarching Material Flow Computer (MMFC) between 2020 and 2024. According to the company, this optimizes the flow of goods in the distribution center through a routing algorithm that determines the most efficient path for transporting items. Factors such as route length, system status, and specific characteristics are taken into account according to Witt.
"With our innovative Material Flow Computer, we can significantly optimize our logistics processes, which directly has a positive impact on the customer experience," says Tobias Nieber, Managing Director Finance & Operations. "Orders can be processed faster and more reliably, leading to shorter delivery times and higher product availability."
The development placed special emphasis on scalability:
"The Material Flow Computer was designed
to grow over time," says Daniel Vanella, Developer and part of the development team. "If our distribution center is expanded, our Material Flow Computer can also be easily extended."
The MMFC operates largely autonomously and offers options for human-machine interaction to respond to unusual system conditions. This means the system meets the requirements of a Digital Twin, which is a digital
representation of the facility that controls it at a higher level. In collaboration with a doctoral student from the Landshut University of Applied Sciences, bottlenecks in the system were also identified and possible optimization approaches were developed. Furthermore, a data archive provides the basis for potential future AI systems. These could be used, for example, to predict system defects that occur
