Application for theses
Interested in one of our topics? Read about the application procedure!
Current Theses (partially in German)
Development and benchmarking of heuristic solution methods for the picker routing problem in e-commerce warehouses
2026/03/04
Master thesis
Reducing unproductive travel times is an important optimization goal when picking orders in e-commerce warehouses. While many exact and heuristic solution procedures exist, only few are applicable to a general problem setting, i.e., with an arbitrary warehouse layout and varying demand. The objective of this thesis is to develop a heuristic solution for the general picker routing problem in e-commerce warehouses, to implement it and to test it against existing methods.
Basic implementation skills in an object-oriented programming language are required for working on this topic.
Interested in this topic? Please read about the application procedure on our website!
Supervisor: Constantin Wildt, M.Sc.
Benchmarking warehouse layouts for picker routing in e-commerce warehouses
2026/03/04
Master thesis
Reducing unproductive travel times is an important optimization goal when picking orders in e-commerce warehouses. While many optimization approaches exist in literature, only few examine the influence of different aisle and shelf configuration on the picking performance. The objective of this thesis is to identify promising warehouse layouts from literature and benchmark them with respect to picking tour lengths using the procedure of Wildt et al. (2025).
Basic implementation skills in an object-oriented programming language are required for working on this topic.
Interested in this topic? Please read about the application procedure on our website!
Literature:
Wildt, C., Weidinger, F. & Boysen, N. Picker routing in scattered storage warehouses: an evaluation of solution methods based on TSP transformations. OR Spectrum 47, 35–66 (2025).Supervisor: Constantin Wildt, M.Sc.
Cutting and hemming optimization in printing
2026/03/04
Master thesis
Large print service providers have to print large sheets of paper with different print media, which are then cut and hemmed. Cutting and hemming can only be done in a straight line and across the entire (remaining) sheet. The aim of this work is to develop an optimization model that minimizes cutting and hemming activities by arranging print media on the sheet in an optimized way.
Interested in this topic? Please read about the application procedure on our website!
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Felix Weidinger
Identifying superior selection rules for the game "Take it easy!"
2026/03/04
Master thesis
The board game “Take it easy!” (Ravensburger) is based on graph theory. This mathematical modelling approach can be used to make good decisions during the game. The aim of the thesis is to identify superior selection mechanisms that can be applied by human players easily, i.e., having limited complexity.
Interested in this topic? Please read about the application procedure on our website!
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Felix Weidinger
Positioning plants using a multi-period optimization approach
2026/03/04
Master thesis
The space available for planting is limited. Different plants have different requirements, e.g., in terms of sun or shade, and interact with each other, e.g., by casting shadows on each other. The aim of this work is to develop an abstract optimization model that creates a planting plan for different plants, taking their growth cycles into account.
Interested in this topic? Please read about the application procedure on our website!
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Felix Weidinger
Metaheuristics for large-scale TSP instances
2025/11/26
Bachelor thesis
This thesis focuses on the implementation and evaluation of metaheuristic algorithms to solve large instances of the Travelling Salesperson Problem (TSP). The objective is to identify or combine heuristics that achieve high-quality solutions within reasonable computation times, using benchmarks like TSPLIB or custom-generated test cases.
Basic implementation skills in an object-oriented programming language are required for working on this topic.
Interested in this topic? Please read about the application procedure on our website!
Supervisor: Constantin Wildt, M.Sc.
Implementation and benchmarking of shortest path algorithms in graphs
2025/11/26
Bachelor thesis
Shortest path algorithms are fundamental in many applications such as logistics, network optimization, transportation, and robotics. While numerous algorithms exist, their efficiency depends strongly on the graph structure, edge weights, and size. The aim of this thesis is to implement several key shortest path algorithms, benchmark them on different types of graphs, and analyze their performance in terms of runtime and scalability. Additionally, practical recommendations for algorithm selection depending on the problem instance will be derived.
Basic implementation skills in an object-oriented programming language are required for working on this topic.
Interested in this topic? Please read about the application procedure on our website!
Supervisor: Constantin Wildt, M.Sc.
A systematic literature review on the algorithm of Ratliff and Rosenthal (1983) and its extensions
2025/11/26
Bachelor thesis
Reducing unproductive travel times is an important optimization goal when picking orders in warehouses. A fundamental solution procedure for the so-called picker routing problem was developed by Ratliff and Rosenthal (1983). Although this algorithm is very efficient, in its original form it only works under very narrow constraints. Therefore, the solution method has been modified repeatedly over time and adapted to variations of the picker routing problem. The aim of this thesis is to identify and classify extensions of the algorithm by Ratliff and Rosenthal (1983) by means of a systematic literature review and to compare the modifications with the original algorithm.
Interested in this topic? Please read about the application procedure on our website!
Supervisor: Constantin Wildt, M.Sc.
An overview on procedures to dedect cars on satellite image data
2025/11/26
Bachelor thesis
Modern machine learning techniques, above all, convolutional networks, can recognize objects on image data with high precision. The topic of the thesis is on researching software tools that are capable of identifing cars in satelite image data and explaining the technique used to do so.
Interested in this topic? Please read about the application procedure on our website!
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Felix Weidinger
A literature review on drone operations optimization
2025/11/26
Bachelor thesis
Autonomous drones will become increasingly relevant in the future of logistics. The aim of the topic is to idenify operations research literature that optimizes operations of autonomous drones. The literature need to be summarized and categorized in a newly developed scheme.
Interested in this topic? Please read about the application procedure on our website!
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Felix Weidinger
A systematic literature review on variants of the Traveling Salesperson Problem and their model formulations
2025/07/21
Bachelor thesis
The Traveling Salesperson Problem (TSP) is a widely known problem in OR and serves as a base for many routing applications. Over the years, a vast number of problem variations have been developed. The objective of this thesis is to give a systematic overview of the problem variants, their applications, and to analyze their model formulations in comparison to the classical TSP.
Interested in this topic? Please read about the application procedure on our website!
Supervisor: Constantin Wildt, M.Sc.
Cuts in vehicle routing problems
2025/07/17
Master thesis
The topic is on identifying, understanding, and classifying cuts in vehicle routing literature. Please be aware that modeling skills are needed to work on the topic.
Interested in this topic? Please read about the application procedure on our website!
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Felix Weidinger
Modelling approaches for picker routing in warehouses
2025/07/17
Bachelor thesis
The topic is on different mixed integer linear modeling approaches for the picker routing problem in warehouses. Formulations must be identified in the literature, understood, explained, and compared.
Interested in this topic? Please read about the application procedure on our website!
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Felix Weidinger
Graph Neural Networks: Concepts and Applications
2025/07/17
Bachelor thesis
The topic tackles fundamentals of Graph Neural Networks (GNN). The technique needs to be introduced and explained in your own words. Further, about three areas of application need to be discussed. Hereby, the setups solved by GNNs need to be explained as well as how the GNNs are technically implemented in the given setups.
Interested in this topic? Please read about the application procedure on our website!
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Felix Weidinger