Digital ingenuity triumphs over logistics challenges at DHL Asia Pacific Innovation Day

Supply chain optimization platforms, digital payment, and robotics and unmanned aerial solutions were amongst the inventions which took center stage at the DHL Asia Pacific Innovation Day yesterday, hosted at the DHL Asia Pacific Innovation Center in Singapore. Focused on driving the future, DHL Asia Pacific Innovation Day showcased some of the latest trends and technologies shaping the logistics industry, awarding projects that have already applied these ideas to real-world challenges.

One such project, which received the Most Innovative Customer Award, involved DHL collaborating with Schindler Lifts to develop a bespoke web-based tracking and optimization platform for their operations in Australia. Based on two years’ worth of past shipment data, the platform allows the elevator manufacturer to shave more than AU$500,000 from their annual running costs. The platform gives Schindler Lifts full visibility over the warehousing, shipping, and last-mile delivery of its elevator shipments, allowing the business to optimize end-to-end supply chain movements based on their required delivery dates.

“The platform has enabled visibility at every stage of the process from collection to final delivery at the specified site address. Should any unexpected changes occur, both DHL and Schindler have the ability to instantly adjust with the amended delivery dates,” said George Lekkas, Strategic Procurement Manager, Schindler Lifts Australia. “Many logistics players are touting the potential of real-time tracking and data analytics to transform supply chains, but DHL has put those ideas into practice in a way that not only overcomes our unique shipment handling challenges, but can easily scale to meet ongoing growth in the Australian construction industry.”

The Innovation Day also saw an award go to a digital payment solution developed by DHL eCommerce subsidiary Blue Dart, which enables couriers in India to collect cash-on-delivery (COD) payments through mobile Point of Sale devices and 15 different secure digital wallet options instead of physical cash. The system, which rolled out just as the Indian government took INR 500 and 1,000 notes out of circulation, enabled delivery staff to not only continue but significantly increase collection of COD payments, saving them more than 29 man-months between October 2016 and February 2017.