History

With the development of the technical universities and the engineering profession, conveyor technology quickly became the field of work of science. In 1907, the then Technical University of Munich founded an independent "Chair for Lifting and Conveying Equipment", which was occupied by Professor Rudolf Krell. In 1935 Professor Erich took over the chair from the end, but the chaos of war soon affected the teaching and research activities. In 1950, after several years of vacancy, Professor Fritz Dreher made it possible to rebuild the still destroyed university buildings.
In 1974 Professor Siegfried Böttcher was appointed to Munich and with the renaming to "Chair and Institute for Materials Handling" the field of activity expanded from the calculation and construction of materials handling equipment to their industrial application and integration. From the wide range of materials handling technology, large crane construction equipment, bulk material handling equipment and ropeway technology developed into research focal points.  

When Professor Willibald A. Günthner took over the chair in 1994, a strong expansion of teaching and research activities in the fields of material flow technology and logistics began, which was also reflected in the renewed renaming of the chair to "Lehrstuhl für Fördertechnik Materialfluss Logistik" (fml). This will cover all major areas of technical logistics: In addition to the design and calculation of subsidies, the control and optimisation of logistics processes using innovative identification technologies (RFID), logistics planning on the basis of digital tools and the role of people in logistics are key research areas. The Logistics Innovation Centre (liz) was founded in 2006 to ensure the successful transfer of knowledge to the business world. It deals primarily with current problems faced by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In this way, the SMEs are provided with a research platform adapted to their needs, which enables them to increase their competitiveness sustainably.

In 2007, the fml chair celebrated its centenary at a festive event to which numerous guests from science and practice were invited. With the appointment of Prof. Johannes Fottner as professor, a one-year transition phase began in 2016, until Prof. Günthner retired during a festive colloquium.

Today, the fml chair sees itself as an open research institution that aims to contribute both to scientific progress in the field of technical logistics and to the transfer of knowledge to industry.