How Blasius Schuster manages material flows with Optocycle

Anyone who moves hundreds of tonnes of secondary raw materials every day needs more than just a good eye. Blasius Schuster GmbH & Co. KG from Frankfurt am Main understood early on that transparency in the material stream is not a nice-to-have – but the foundation for economically and ecologically viable recycling. Today, two Truck Imagers and one Train Imager run in the yard, delivering what previously had to be laboriously recorded manually: objective, gap-free, and usable data on every delivery. Four more systems – including the new Self-Service Truck Imager – are already being planned. A partnership that has convinced from day one.

The customer: Blasius Schuster GmbH & Co. KG, Frankfurt am Main

Blasius Schuster is one of the established companies in the field of mineral construction waste recycling in the Rhine-Main area. The company moves millions of tonnes of secondary raw materials annually –  by truck,  train, or ship - across multiple locations with  various receiving stations and in a wide variety of material types.

But Blasius Schuster is more than a recycling business. Under the leadership of Managing Director and Shareholder Daniel Imhäuser, the company has undergone a remarkable transformation in recent years: it has become the initiator and driver of the Circle - the place for circular construction in Offenbach am Main – a nationwide unique network and innovation hub for the circular economy, where today over 90 companies from construction, waste management, engineering firms, and environmental law come together to systematically transition the construction industry into the circular economy.

It is precisely this mindset – circular economy not as an obligation, but as an entrepreneurial opportunity – that has also shaped the collaboration with Optocycle from the very beginning.

The context: When vision meets technology

The Circle is much more than an office complex in Offenbach harbour. It is a place where companies wanting to shape the future of the construction and recycling industry exchange ideas and build new partnerships. For Optocycle, the Circle was exactly that: a door-opener and network through which trust was built before the first camera was ever installed.

"The Circle is a place where professionals from different areas of the circular economy meet, exchange ideas, and jointly develop new solutions. Technologies like those from Optocycle are exactly what we are talking about here – they make the circular economy measurable and therefore truly implementable."

Daniel Imhäuser

Managing Director & Shareholder, Blasius Schuster GmbH & Co. KG, Initiator Circle Hub Urban Mining

For Max-Frederick Gerken, Co-Founder and CEO of Optocycle, Blasius Schuster was a special customer from the start:

"Blasius Schuster is not just a reference customer – they are a partner who understood from day one what transparency in the material stream is really about. Daniel Imhäuser and Ralph Lang bring exactly the combination we hope for from our partners: entrepreneurial vision and the courage to consistently digitalise processes. This partnership has shaped us as a company."

Max-Frederick Gerken

Co-Founder & CEO, Optocycle GmbH

The challenge: Material intake without blind spots

A recycling business thrives on the quality of its assessments. What material is arriving? In what composition? Does the load match what is on the delivery note – or does it deviate? And if damage occurs to a railway wagon: exactly when did it happen, and who bears the responsibility?

Without systematic recording, these remain questions that can only be partially answered. Manual checks are time-consuming, error-prone, and hardly feasible across the board during ongoing operations. For a company like Blasius Schuster, which handles truck deliveries as well as ship and rail freight transport, this challenge multiplies: many stations, many wagons, a lot of movement.

For Managing Director Ralph Lang, one of the decisive arguments was the question of operational integration:

"We use Optocycle because it allows us to precisely analyse the material composition of the delivered substances. This enables us to select the appropriate treatment solution on our yard for each material and achieve optimal results. Ultimately, I was particularly impressed by the uncomplicated integration into our ongoing operations."

Ralph Lang

Managing Director, Blasius Schuster GmbH & Co. KG

The solution: Three Truck Imagers and one Train Imager – and three more systems in planning

The answer to this challenge is Optocycle. And Blasius Schuster has implemented it consistently and comprehensively: three Truck Imagers and one Train Imager are currently in use at various stations in the yard – making Blasius Schuster one of the most comprehensively equipped operations with Optocycle technology in Germany. And this is just the beginning: three further systems are already being planned.

The systems perform two different tasks in the process:

1. Optical sensor systems at the truck weighbridge

At the entrance, right by the truck weighbridge, Optocycle cameras automatically record the contents of every arriving vehicle. The AI-supported image analysis determines the material composition in real-time – without manual assessment, without delay, directly synchronised with the weighing process.

The result in practice: fewer discussions about material quality, clearer bases for invoicing, and a complete, objective proof of every entry. What used to be decided by rule of thumb is now documented and reproducible.

2. Train Imager in rail freight transport

Where raw materials are transported on-site by freight train rather than truck, a specially adapted Train Imager is used – a product development from Optocycle designed for this specific use case, finding its most demanding practical application yet at Blasius Schuster.

The system automatically documents both the content of the wagons and the condition of the wagons – from both sides, completely and without manual intervention. Damage, contamination, or material deviations are detected early and clearly attributed to a delivery.

The result: higher transparency, reliable quality control, and significantly simplified tracking along the entire logistics chain. Liability issues can be resolved before they become a problem.

What four systems really mean

Four systems at different stations are not an end in themselves – they are the logical expression of a realization: transparency in the material stream does not occur at a single point, but throughout. From the initial intake to processing.

For Blasius Schuster, this concretely means:

• Efficiency gains at material intake: Every delivery is automatically classified. The correct processing line is selected more quickly and safely.

• Seamless documentation: Whether truck or wagon – every delivery is documented based on images and is traceable.

• Quality control without extra effort: Deviations from the target are automatically detected before the material goes into processing.

• Strength in complaint situations: Being able to prove what arrived when and in what condition provides a factual basis for discussions with suppliers and hauliers.

• Scalability: Four systems today, three more in planning – including the Self-Service Truck Imager, which makes the recording process even more independent and efficient.

Conclusion: A partnership that was on equal footing from the start

The collaboration between Optocycle and Blasius Schuster is not a classic supplier-customer relationship. It is a partnership that has grown through a shared understanding of what the circular economy really needs: namely data, transparency, and the courage to digitalise.

The fact that Blasius Schuster, with its numerous systems, is today among the most comprehensively equipped Optocycle customers is no coincidence. It is the result of an entrepreneurial attitude consistently championed by Ralph Lang and Daniel Imhäuser: If you don't know what is arriving in the yard, you cannot decide how it can bring the best added value.

With Optocycle, they now know.

Would you like to find out how Optocycle can make your business more transparent and efficient too? Arrange a non-binding consultation now via this link.