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Your entry into the ultimate industry of the future
The Master's degree program in Logistics: We stand for future viability in an Industry 4.0
After the years of the pandemic, the semiconductor crisis and other supply chain disruptions, it is becoming increasingly clear that logistics is not only fascinating, but above all highly dynamic and systemically relevant. What's more, geostrategic relocation projects and digitalization are in full swing. Worldwide, simultaneously and across all sectors.
Today, logistics and its people must be one thing above all: resilient and change-ready. But logistics today is much more than that. Namely, access to physical and digital (geo-)strategic infrastructure and thus also enabling competitive advantages for business and society in the interplay of people, data, technology, sustainability and assets.
Are you just as enthusiastic and want to pursue a dynamic career in the ultimate industry of the future as a function in industry, trade, consulting or international logistics services? Perfect. Then you are one of the winners of an industrial policy-driven transformation process. In Germany. Worldwide. On the way to a technologically advanced Industry 4.0, it is our Master's in Logistics students who are now at the forefront and are already being recruited from their studies.
What's more, unlike many other rather standardized, rigid business administration functions, logistics (service) provision is characterized by highly decentralized experience, knowledge and decision-making structures. Close customer integration requires industry-specific and even order-related expertise and knowledge to be anchored directly on site at the operational transport and contract logistics locations. And despite all the digital prophecies of doom: logistics remains a physical and people's business. But one thing above all: absolutely dynamic and future-oriented.
Curious?
Then welcome to the Master's degree program in Logistics
and to one of the most fascinating industries of the future worldwide.
Application-oriented education & research
High-quality studies in presence at the pulse of time with application-oriented questions for practice and research in an international context and room for dynamic developments in the market
Smart factory & end-2-end supply chain applications
Strong application focus along the entire end-2-end value chain from purchasing and tendering, supplier management, transport logistics, data-driven network optimization to Smart Factory 4.0 and today's strongly technology-supported contract logistics
Professors & lecturers with strong practical experience
Small group-oriented studies with personal support from experienced professors with leadership experience from business, a broad industry network and lecturers from international management and the store floor
Action-oriented teaching formats & business soft skills
Competence-promoting learning settings with the necessary degree of individual coaching to strengthen your personal disposition and the realistic development of success-relevant business soft skills, also for prospective management careers during your studies
Practical guest speakers & motivating networking
Diverse touch points with experienced practitioners from industry, retail, consulting, IT, logistics services and professional sports for maximum transfer of experience embedded in lively and interactive courses through to excursions to automotive factories and logistics centers
Industry-specific know-how & international perspective
Comprehensive knowledge building around the specific requirements of transportation, contract logistics, supply chain and IT for later specialist and management tasks in automotive, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, electronics & co. through to logistics services and consulting
Electromobility, technology & data
Ongoing examination of the current status of drive technologies that fully contribute to sustainability right through to city logistics as well as in-depth skills development in the areas of business intelligence, data analytics and SAP (ERP) applications for non-computer scientists
State-of-the-art new campus & daycare center
Study at a highly attractive, modern new-build campus for business administration, business informatics and social affairs with communication areas, in high-performance partnerships such as SAP, Mercedes-Benz, BASF, Amazon & Co. as well as a docked daycare center for students and employees
Nils Haring, Kerry Logistics (Germany) GmbH, Managing Director Germany, graduate and practical guest speaker
"The Master's degree program in Logistics impresses with its practical approach. For years, the focus has been on the logistics world of today and tomorrow. Both at the management level and on the operational store floor, including tender management, outsourcing and tenders, which is probably unique in Germany. This Master's degree program promotes your independence in finding solutions to complex issues in the form of case studies and consulting pitches. This degree program prepares you for your future career. And with maximum realism in individual lectures!"
Lara Steiger, student on the Master's degree program in Logistics
"The Master's degree program in Logistics is characterized by practical relevance in its content. It prepares you for a wide range of entry-level jobs in industry, retail, consulting companies and logistics service providers. The content is geared precisely to these logistics professions. From electromobility to IT, change management, contract logistics, industry-specific supply chains and digitalization. In this course, you will learn a lot of real-life skills that you will need later in your professional life."
Joshua Gaab, student on the Master's degree program in Logistics
"The Master's degree program in Logistics is characterized by the fact that it systematically builds on the previous knowledge from the Bachelor's degree and then deepens it. This sharpens the overall understanding of the individual logistics disciplines and has helped me personally enormously in my choice of future employer. I particularly like the strong practical background of the professors and lecturers. They teach with a lot of experience and are also absolutely approachable for questions and discussions of any kind. In my opinion, the focus on top management level in the form of role plays during presentations lays the foundation for professional work, also with regard to soft skills and abilities. The level is demanding, but you get an absolutely authentic feel for management-relevant decision-making issues in such role plays. So if you want to deepen your knowledge in logistics after your Bachelor's degree and be prepared for a management and specialist career in practice, this degree program is the right place for you."
Stephen Klein, Miebach Consulting Group, Head of Material Flow Planning, graduate and lecturer in the Bachelor's degree program in Logistics
"The Master's degree program in Logistics offers you a well-founded examination of various theories and approaches from the perspective of different business administration disciplines. And if you write your Master's thesis in a company, you can also put theory directly into practice. The professors even come to you on site at the company and thus increase your personal standing in the company."
Yvonne Wolfgramm, CMS Hasche Sigle, partner and guest speaker in practice
"Outsourcing, company transfers, strike waves and thus collective bargaining issues on the line between Verdi and IG Metall are among the management issues not only in the logistics and automotive industries today. The Master's degree program in Logistics will make you aware of these tricky and sometimes not always conflict-free challenges in operational practice in a practical way."
Thomas Blank, VP EMEA Region, CNW Courier Network and Practice Challenger
"Durability is the buzzword in the logistics industry today, in terms of capacity flexibility, customer solutions and decision-making channels. At the heart of these efforts is a digital industrialization of the structural and process organization and thus more efficient processes for internal and external customers. The Master's degree program in Logistics prepares you for such management issues in tenders as well as restructuring waves in companies while you are still studying."
Our interdisciplinary team
The world of logistics is diverse - just like the profiles of our team.
With six dedicated logistics professors in the Department of Services & Consulting, we cover a wide range of services across all industries, from transport, contract logistics and supply chain management to current issues relating to digitalization, business models, change leadership and drive technologies.
Our interdisciplinary team on the Master's degree program in Logistics is rounded off by our professors from the fields of business informatics, business law, marketing and corporate management. Lecturers for special tasks, such as business ethics or cross-cultural management, as well as experienced managers and specialists from renowned companies from a wide range of industries complete our team in the Master's degree program in Logistics in the form of lecturers or exciting practical guest speakers.
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Wolfgang Müller
Program Director Master Logistics
Teaching areas
Intralogistics
Knowledge management
Prof. Dr. rer. pol. Stefan Bongard
Diplom-Kaufmann
Professorship for Business Administration and Logistics
Prof. Dr. rer. pol. Stefan Iskan
Chair of Logistics and Information Systems,
esp. Automotive Supply Chain Management and Digitalization
Prof. Dr. rer. pol. Joachim Schmidt
Graduate industrial engineer
Professor of Business Administration, in particular Logistics
Content & procedure
Your study program in detail
Our Master's degree program in Logistics has a modular structure and comprises the following curriculum content, structured into individual semesters.
Semester 1
Logistics research (MLO100)
At the beginning of your Master's degree, we prepare you specifically for scientific and hypothesis-driven work based on current, market-relevant issues. You will become familiar with key scientific theoretical approaches and gain an overview of relevant research designs, which you can then build on in the further course of your studies as part of your seminar papers. In addition, you will already be on the move globally in the first semester. In the International Logistics Markets lectures, you will deal with dynamic content 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, transportation logistics is unthinkable without technological support. From the transport management system (TMS) to the vehicle fleet. You will therefore deal with today's fields of application of modern technologies in transport logistics and supply chain visibility right from the start. In this module, you will also recognize the effects of the ecological footprint in the planning processes of international transport and supply chains. In addition, you will engage in a critical dialog with alternative drive technologies from the perspective of various modes of transport in international logistics through to city logistics.
Intralogistics (MLO120)
Industry 4.0 is closely linked to the smart factory and therefore also to upstream and downstream intralogistics processes. Automation, robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), additive manufacturing processes, sensor-based gloves, new identification technologies and exoskellets. These are just the first examples of the high degree of technological penetration in intralogistics and warehouse management, which you will be working on 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 on the Master's degree course, but also provides you with important impulses, tools and even 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 assess relevant issues and independently apply the relevant legal sources. You will be familiarized with transport insurance and liability issues as well as the contractual principles and legal relationships in freight, forwarding and warehousing law (e.g. CMR, CIM). You will also learn about relevant legal issues in individual and collective employment law and will be able to apply these independently on a case-by-case basis.
International Business Skills (MLO210)
Logistics is a cross-cultural and international field. In this module, you will therefore 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 collaboration models when meeting people from different cultural backgrounds. Against the background of the international context of logistics, you will deal with ethical issues in economic contexts from both a theoretical and application-oriented perspective and learn how to deal with them appropriately. In addition, you will learn about various negotiation strategies and will have a basic set of skills by the Degree.
Data Engineering (MLO220)
Today, modern IT solutions not only offer opportunities to collect and process data. Business intelligence (BI) or big data applications help you to make the flood of data in companies manageable and at the same time 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 machine learning approaches. Furthermore, important and current research approaches to the operationally relevant resource "knowledge" are taught. Prerequisites and obstacles for the successful implementation of a learning organization are discussed as well as an outlook on technical support options.
Network and Tender Management (MLO230)
At the Degree of your semester 2, this module enables you to independently apply logistics planning and optimization methods based on a case study, supported by software 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 design an international inbound supply chain from the perspective of an international logistics service provider for an automobile manufacturer on a strategic and operational level. You and your team will then defend your concept in an action-oriented role play about outsourcing and thus the purchasing of transport and contract logistics 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 and your ability to act in business practice.
Semester 3
Supply Chain Management and Sourcing (MLO300)
In your final semester, the focus is strongly on end-2-end related supply chain issues. And across functions and industries. In this module, you will therefore deepen your knowledge of strategic-operational procurement in the industrial, retail and service sectors. Questions about due diligence obligations in the international supply chain, sustainability criteria when selecting partners and current solutions for Purchasing 4.0 all play a major role here. In a project, you will also examine the requirements, developments and specific supply chain architectures of a wide range of industries in depth. From electronics, pharmaceuticals, aviation and defense, chemicals, food and FMCG to semiconductors and photovoltaics. You and your team then have to present your findings convincingly 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 will be drawn to this challenging sector during their studies. An industry that is characterized by transformation in the product, but also in the supply chain itself. Starting with the purchasing of Tier 1 suppliers, through process auditing and quality in ramp-up management, to supplier management, area forwarding and the latest concepts in the end-2-end supply chain for battery cells. In this module, you will develop into a proven expert in the automotive industry along the entire value chain and also conduct your own negotiations, including compliance issues in automotive supplier purchasing.
Top Management Consulting Pitch (MLO320)
In addition to your specialist development, we place great emphasis on sharpening your awareness of decision-maker issues at the top of the company. Industry 4.0 is strongly process-driven and continuously determined by waves of restructuring. With all the associated questions for the analysis and optimization of business management processes in the organizational and operational structure through to questions of shared service centers and management spans in multinational companies. The application-oriented nature of the course is reflected in this module in that you will apply all the knowledge you have acquired during your studies, including consulting techniques. In a holistic top management role play, you slip into the role of a strategy consultant and have to sell your pitch in English as part of a team. In this role play, managers from industry and logistics services authentically 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 business knowledge and acquired convincing presentation techniques at management level, including the design of management consulting documents. As a result, you will be optimally prepared for a career in consulting as a staff or line manager, as an in-house consultant or as a consultant in a management consultancy.
Compulsory elective module 1: ERP systems and processes (MLO330)
The Master's degree program in Logistics also gives you the opportunity to deepen your knowledge of a business management field. In the compulsory elective module ERP Systems and Processes, the focus is on the optimization of business processes and ERP and IT-related management consulting techniques in the supply chain management application context. In this context, you will learn about the performance characteristics and architecture concepts of selected business application systems in this module. On the basis of 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 through to questions of user acceptance, change request management and possible approaches in the context of development and implementation phases in a company.
Compulsory elective module 2: Human Resources (MLO340)
Instead of ERP systems and processes, would you like to go one better at the end of your studies when it comes to your business soft skills as a prospective specialist and manager? Then this compulsory elective module is just right for you. Together with experienced lecturers with broad international management and shopfloor experience, you will have the opportunity to coach and personally reflect on your budding leadership skills in workshop mode, including the moderation and resolution of tricky conflict and project situations in face-to-face and virtually organized teams.
Semester 4
Master's thesis
In the fourth semester, you will complete your Master's degree by writing your Master's thesis. In line with the orientation of our degree programs, we focus on application-oriented research work and thus on a practical reference point in the operational environment. This gives you the immediate opportunity to work on operationally relevant issues by drawing on your theoretical knowledge, to apply your soft skills and specialist skills directly in a company, to gain extended professional experience and, in this way, to expand your personal network of potential employers. We are also open to current issues that can be dealt with from a theoretical and conceptual point of view and within the framework of independent empirical research.
Application-oriented teaching in high-performance collaborations
Professional supply chain simulation software. Excursions 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 theses with practice partners from a wide range of industries, including dedicated lecturers from renowned companies.
Cooperation with our practice partners has different faces. We continuously develop our Master's degree program in dialogue with practitioners and in line with their needs. Due to the restrictive handling of company logos, you will find below an abbreviated excerpt of our partners who actively contribute to transfer and application-oriented teaching in our lectures and seminars.
Dear companies: Feel free to contact us if you, too, take maximum pleasure in developing people and decisively shaping their professional biographies in a high-performance cooperation.
Application & Admission
Do you find our Master's degree program in Logistics exciting and beneficial for your future career? Then we would be delighted to welcome you to our university in the metropolitan area Rhine-Neckar soon.
On the Master's degree program in Logistics, you will meet fellow students from the region, but also from all over Germany and even internationally, who come to us after completing their Bachelor's degree.
Our degree programs are free of charge for you within the framework of the legal requirements and are accredited by FIBAA, an international agency for quality assurance and quality development in academic education. We incorporate the latest industry requirements into our degree programs just as regularly as your teaching evaluations for our continuous improvement process (CIP).
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact our course assistant and therefore your contact person, Mr. Jacob Wolff. Jacob Wolff will be happy to help you with organizational and content-related aspects of the degree programs themselves, but also with questions such as the recognition of degrees and the course of study.
Our three-semester Master's degree program in Logistics plus Master's thesis is restricted by Numerus Clausus (NC) at our university. This means that only a limited number of study places are available for each semester of admission.
Therefore, in accordance with §2 of the Special Examination Regulations for the Master's degree program in Logistics, only applicants who meet the following requirements are admitted to the program:
- A degree with an average grade of 2.7 or better in Economics or a comparable subject in an accredited degree program at a university in the Federal Republic of Germany or such a degree at a foreign university, for which proof of at least 180 ECTS must generally be provided. In addition, the NC is generally determined by the final grade of the qualification for university entrance of the last applicant admitted. Consequently, the NC value of a degree program is not determined before the application phase. It is determined by the number of applicants and their prerequisites for studying, depending on the places available at our university. You can find a current NC table for all degree programs at our university here.
- In addition, you must prove your suitability for our Master's degree program. You can do this by having earned at least 15 credits in the field of logistics in your Bachelor's degree or by having completed at least 10% of the curricular courses in this field in a Diplom degree program.
Our Master's degree program in Logistics is predominantly taught in German. A qualified proportion of the courses are in English. Our degree programs are therefore also aimed at foreign students with comparable degrees and sufficient language skills (German and English). For all students, we recommend English language skills of at least level B2 of the Council of Europe's Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), although explicit proof is not required. Foreign students, on the other hand, must demonstrate sufficient knowledge of German in order to be able to join our Master's degree program and ultimately complete it successfully.
Once you have familiarized yourself with the Master's degree program - Logistics - and have decided to study at our university, your journey begins with the application.
If you still have questions about the application process, please contact the following people:
The team at the Student Service Center (SSC) looks forward to meeting you
The SSC staff responsible for application management advise prospective students on all aspects of the application process. They are the right people to contact for all questions relating to application and admission/access to studies at the Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society.
E-mail: ssc-bewerbung@ 8< SPAM protection, please remove >8 hwg-lu.de
Telephone: +49 621 5203-0
For subject-related questions, please get in touch with the relevant contact person for your desired degree program.
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