Master's program in Logistics (M.A.)

Our Master's program in Logistics has a modular structure and comprises - structured into the individual semesters - the following study contents in the curriculum.

Semester 1

Logistics Research (MLO100)

At the beginning of your Master's program, we prepare you specifically for scientific and hypothesis-driven work based on current, market-relevant issues. In doing so, you will become acquainted with essential scientific-theoretical approaches and receive an overview of relevant research designs, which you can then build upon in the further course of your studies within the framework of your seminar papers. In addition, you will already be on the move globally in your first semester. In the lecture International Logistics Markets, you will deal with dynamic topics such as China's New Silk Road, complex, geostrategic logistics issues, and current macroeconomic and industry-relevant developments for international supply chains and their infrastructures across all modes of transport and world regions.

Transportation Logistics (MLO110)

Today, transport logistics is unthinkable without technology support. Starting with the Transport Management System (TMS) up to the vehicle fleet. Therefore, you will deal with the current fields of application of modern technologies in transport logistics and supply chain visibility from the very beginning. In this module, you will also recognize the impact of the ecological footprint in the planning processes of international transport and supply chains. In addition, you will engage in a critical dialogue with alternative drive technologies from the perspective of different modes of transport in international logistics to city logistics.

Intralogistics (MLO120)

Industry 4.0 is closely related to the Smart Factory and thus also to upstream and downstream intralogistics processes. Automation, robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), additive manufacturing processes, sensor-based gloves, new identification technologies or exoskellet. These are just the first examples of the high level of technological penetration in intralogistics and warehouse management, which you will deal with more intensively from now on. In a project-oriented approach, you will also develop use cases for the optimal selection of technological modules and their implementation in operational intralogistics practice.

Management & Consulting (MLO130)

Start-ups, digitalization, transformation, change leadership and consulting. The Management and Consulting module not only rounds off your first semester in the Master's program, but also provides you with important impulses, tools, and business model variations relating to the digital business age from the perspective of strategic management. At the same time, you will learn about instruments for strategic corporate planning, the further development of organizational models in an international context, and change management across various industry examples, and transfer these to your own application-related use cases.

Semester 2

Logistics Law (MLO 200)

In semester 2 you will intensify your legal knowledge of cross-border flows of goods and information as well as international trade regulations. You will be able to legally evaluate relevant issues and independently apply relevant legal sources. You will become familiar with transport insurance and liability-related issues as well as with the contractual bases and legal relationships in freight, forwarding and warehousing law (e.g. CMR, CIM). Furthermore, you will learn about relevant legal issues of individual and collective labor law and will be able to apply them independently to specific cases.

International Business Skills (MLO210)

Logistics is culture-binding and international. Therefore, in this module you will be sensitized to your own culture and the cultures of other people and further develop your intercultural skills. You will learn to recognize and evaluate cultural differences and to act in virtual cooperation models when meeting people with different cultural backgrounds. Against the backdrop of the international context of logistics, you will deal with ethical issues in business contexts from both a theoretical and an application-oriented perspective and learn how to deal with them appropriately. In addition, you will become familiar with various negotiation strategies and will have a basic action set at the end of the module.

Data Engineering (MLO220)

Today, modern IT solutions not only offer possibilities to collect and process data. Business Intelligence (BI) or Big Data applications help you to manage the flood of data in companies and at the same time to gain better information for reliable operational, tactical and strategic decisions. Based on case studies, you will be taught basic concepts of decision-supporting information systems and their associated business intelligence tools in practice, including approaches to machine learning. Furthermore, important and current research approaches around the operationally relevant resource "knowledge" will be taught. Prerequisites and obstacles for a successful implementation of a learning organization will be discussed as well as an outlook on technical support possibilities.

Network and Tender Management (MLO230)

At the end of your semester 2, this module enables you to independently apply logistics planning and optimization methods on the basis of a software-supported case study and together with logistics consultants from practice, to methodically solve operationally relevant questions on network planning and to reflect on your decisions in a critical dialogue with other students. In addition, you will independently and creatively conceptualize an international inbound supply chain from the perspective of an international logistics service provider for an automotive manufacturer on a strategic and operational level. In an action-oriented role-play, which deals with outsourcing and thus the purchasing of transport and contract logistics, you and your team will then defend your concept in front of managers from the business world, who will challenge you realistically as a practice challenger in this module and thus further strengthen you in terms of content as well as in your ability to act for entrepreneurial practice.

Semester 3

Supply Chain Management and Sourcing (MLO300)

In your last semester, the focus is strongly on end-2-end related supply chain issues. And this across functions and industries. Therefore, in this module you will first deepen your knowledge of strategic-operational procurement in the environment of industry, trade and also services. Questions about due diligence in the international supply chain, sustainability criteria in the selection of partners, and current solutions for Purchasing 4.0 play a major role here. In addition, you will investigate in depth the requirements, developments and specific supply chain architectures of a wide range of industries in a project. From electronics, pharmaceuticals, aviation and defense, chemicals, food, FMCG to semiconductor and photovoltaics. You will then have to convincingly present your findings with your team in a role play in English and make recommendations.

Automotive Supply Chain Management (MLO310)

In the past, the automotive industry has repeatedly played a pioneering role in new logistics concepts, including the lean philosophy. Many of your fellow students are already drawn to this demanding industry during their studies. An industry that is characterized by transformation in the product, but also in the supply chain itself. Starting with purchasing from tier-1 suppliers, process auditing and quality in ramp-up management to supplier management, area freight forwarding and the latest concepts in the end-2-end supply chain for battery cells. In this module, you will develop along the entire value chain to become a proven expert in the automotive industry and also play through your own negotiations up to compliance issues in automotive supplier purchasing.

Top Management Consulting Pitch (MLO320)

In addition to your subject-related development, we place great emphasis in the Master's program on sharpening your eye for decision-making issues at the top of the company. Industry 4.0 is strongly process-driven and continuously determined by restructuring waves. With all the associated questions for the analysis and optimization of business management business processes in the structural and process organization up to questions of shared service centers and management margins in multinational companies. The application-oriented character of the course is taken into account in this module in that you will independently apply all the knowledge gained from the course, including consulting techniques. In a holistically designed top management role play, you slip into the role of a strategy consultant and have to sell your pitch in English in a team. Executives from industry and logistics services play an authentic role in this role play against the background of their management experience and challenge you once again in your ability to act. At the end of the module, you will have refreshed and deepened your knowledge of business administration and acquired convincing presentation techniques at management level, including the design of management consulting documents. This means that you are already optimally prepared for a consulting position as a staff or line manager, as an in-house consultant or as a consultant in a management consultancy.

Elective module 1: ERP systems and processes  (MLO330)

In the Master's program in Logistics, you will also be given the opportunity to deepen your knowledge in a business-related field of activity. In the elective module ERP Systems and Processes, the focus is on the optimization of business processes as well as  ERP and IT-related management consulting techniques in the supply chain management application context. In this context, you will already learn about performance characteristics and architectural concepts of selected business application systems in this module. Based on use cases, you will develop a realistic understanding of the complexity of IT projects and the integration of new applications into an established system landscape, including questions of user acceptance, change request management and possible approaches in the context of development and implementation phases in a company.

Elective Module 2: Human Resources  (MLO340)

Instead of ERP systems and processes, would you like to take your business soft skills as a future specialist and manager up a notch at the end of your studies at ? Then this elective module is the right choice for you. Together with experienced lecturers with broad international management and store floor experience, you will get the opportunity to coach and personally reflect on your future leadership skills in workshop mode, and even to moderate and solve tricky conflict and project situations in face-to-face and virtually organized teams. 

Semester 4

Master Thesis

In the fourth semester, you will complete your master's degree by writing your master's thesis. In accordance with the orientation of our study program, we focus on application-oriented research work and thus on a practical reference point in the business environment. This gives you the direct opportunity to work on operationally relevant issues with recourse to your theoretical knowledge, to directly apply your soft skills as well as your subject-specific competences in a company, to gain extended professional experience and in this way also to expand your personal network to later, potential employers. We are also open to current questions that can be worked on from a theoretical-conceptual point of view and within the framework of an independent empirical study.

Professional supply chain simulation software. Field trips to Innovation Centers in the logistics industry. Factory tours in the automotive industry. Top managers and management consultants as challengers in seminars. Practical guest lectures directly from the companies. Internships, case studies, projects and final theses with practical partners from a wide range of industries, including dedicated lecturers from renowned companies.  

A cooperation with our practice partners has different faces. We are continuously developing our Master's program in dialog with practitioners and in line with their needs. Due to the restrictive handling of company logos, you will find below an abbreviated excerpt on our partners who actively contribute to a transfer and application-oriented teaching in our lectures and seminars.

Dear companies: Please feel free to contact us if you, too, take maximum pleasure in developing people and decisively shaping their professional biography in a high-performance cooperation.