How can one change and improve the delivery chain of milk in such a way that only a little milk is lost due to cooling problems? This is only one of the numerous questions that the international research project NAVEL – Logistics Innovation Center Ngaoundéré is addressing. The international project, which is receiving funding of 300,000 euros from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), has the aim of connecting many players in the logistics industry around the University of Ngaoundéré in inland Cameroon and making the implementation of innovation possible for them.
The example with the milk logistics has not been made up but is actually real. “On the one hand, this is a technical problem as the temperature of the milk should be efficiently observed throughout the entire change and be changed to suit the local conditions. On the other hand, it is a logistical and organizational task to bring together delivery chains that are currently rather relaxed and unofficial and to then operate them reliably,” explains Anna Förster from the University of Bremen. The computer scientist and her colleague and project leader Hans-Dietrich Haasis from the Faculty of Business Studies & Economics represent the University of Bremen in the project. “When answering the questions and finding an acceptable solutions, considerable challenges – some of which concern the transport infrastructure, internet-based communication, and culture-based organization principles – must be considered,” according to Haasis.
In NAVEL, scientists from the fields of logistics and business administration at the University of Ngaoundéré work together with business representatives and, above all, young entrepreneurs. In a logistics laboratory affiliated with the University of Ngaoundéré, the participants will come together to exchange ideas on technical and organizational innovations and develop concrete ideas.
Contact: Prof. Dr. Anna Förster
anna.foerster@uni-bremen.de,
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Hans-Dietrich Haasis
haasis@uni-bremen.de Photo: Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Hans-Dietrich Haasis / Universität Bremen