Maximilian Jung wins Young Professionals' Award Logistics 2025, with Laurids Nittka third
In a fine showing by KLU alumni at the prestigious Young Professionals' Award Logistics (YPAL) 2025, Master in Global Logistics and Supply Chain Management graduate Maximilian Jung and Bachelor of Business Administration graduate Laurids Nittka took home first and third places, respectively. The two finalists – along with Leonard Thiel from the University of Hamburg – had seven minutes each to pitch their theses and field questions from the jury and members of the audience, who then cast their votes.
Ultimately, Jung impressed the most, winning the top prize and a cash endowment of €1,500 for his thesis, “Optimizing Mobile Rail Track Maintenance with Data-Driven Solutions”.
“My master’s is very practical,” explained Jung when asked why he thought he had won YPAL, part of the “Logistics Meets Science” event recently held at KLU by the Hamburg Logistics Initiative. “I wrote it with Vossloh Rail Services, processing rail networks all over Germany, and I could digitalize the whole process from planning to documenting all the different shift information up to the analysis at the end. I was able to include all the stakeholders into the system, thereby optimizing the whole process of planning by 20%.”
SMART LOGISTICS OPTIMIZATION
More specifically, Jung developed a digital twin - the “Service Execution System” (SES) - which automates data collection and improves real-time decision making and communication along the entire service supply chain. The SES has been implemented at Vossloh, where measurable improvements have been achieved, including reducing, on average, the number of emails written per shift by 22. Additionally, 29 documents no longer need to be processed manually, resulting in a time saving of 60 minutes per shift.
“Max has been awarded the YPAL Award for his outstanding master's thesis on digital twins and data-driven optimization in rail track maintenance, highlighting both the high relevance of his innovative approach in modern infrastructure management and his exceptional research excellence,” explained his supervisor, KLU Professor of Computer Science in Logistics, André Ludwig. “Beyond the conceptual groundwork, he has also developed a software application that demonstrates his approach in practice.”
OPTIMIZING FOOD COLLECTION ROUTES
Third-placed Nittka, meanwhile, worked with the charity Hamburger Tafel on his bachelor’s thesis, “Optimization of Food Bank Collection Tours", running a genetic algorithm to solve an optimization problem in the context of route planning of Hamburger Tafel, a food bank in Hamburg. “For Hamburger Tafel, it was most important to realize the need for data, because, as of now, they don’t really track data of the products they collect,” he explained. “And since they struggle with the optimizing of routes, incorporating the aspect of maximizing value for people based on the food they collect from supermarkets and bakeries through their collection tools is a quite different approach to route planning in theory, and this is an interesting take for them to think about.”
Associate Professor of Freight Transportation - Modelling and Policy, Hanno Friedrich, who supervised Laurids’ thesis, remarked: “Laurids’ work with Hamburger Tafel is a great example of an applied bachelor's thesis - he helped solve a problem in practice and at the same time challenged himself methodically. I think Laurids and I have learnt a lot during this time.”
YOUNG PROFESSIONALS’ AWARD LOGISTICS
Through YPAL, the Hamburg Logistics Initiative - a public-private partnership boasting more than 550 member companies and institutions - recognizes outstanding scientific contributions by young experts in the field of logistics every year. A total of €2,500 in prize money was shared among the award’s three finalists, with second place going to Thiel from the University of Hamburg for his thesis, “Route Optimization for an Electric Vehicle Fleet in a Two Tier Logistics Network”.