Germany is in the midst of demographic change. The population is getting older, which means that the number of older employees in companies is also increasing. This also applies to logistics, retail and production companies. It would be ideal if, wherever people and machines work together, processes were optimised so as to make them more efficient and better for employees. The more this would be the case, the more benefits it would deliver for businesses, in the markets as well as in the competition for the best skilled workers. Whilst it is certainly true that work processes can be organised with just a stopwatch and a clipboard, there are other ways.

Dr Sascha Feldhorst was convinced early on that digitalisation and big data would make it much easier to systematically analyse work processes and identify potential for improvement.  During his time as a research assistant at the Chair of Materials Handling and Warehousing at TU Dortmund University and later at the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics, he was already pursuing the right ideas. In 2017 he laid the groundwork for his idea to become reality: Together with Dr René Grzeszick and Sascha Kaczmarek, he founded MotionMiners GmbH in Dortmund. The jointly developed technology uses mobile sensor technology, AI and machine learning to analyse movement data and manual workflows quickly, anonymously and cost-effectively to provide a valid basis for decisions on improvements. Basically, this is about ergonomics and how not to use resources inefficiently.  The data is collected with the help of wearables worn by employees. By optimising efficiency and ergonomics, businesses can gain a competitive edge and employees can benefit from improved working conditions. The company now has more than 60 employees and over 100 customers worldwide from logistics, retail, production and the automotive sector.