DHL opens its 3rd Innovation Centre in the US

DHL, on Friday, opened its third innovation centre in Illinois, United States as it celebrates its 50^th anniversary this year. The new 28,000 square foot facility will provide a collaborative space for DHL to work with its customers, its technology partners, and academics as well as tap the innovative power of its employees. The Americas Innovation Centre will exhibit technologies that DHL is already implementing across the region as well as investigate future solutions that can provide significant productivity and efficiency gains. 

Kenn Allen, CEO of DHL eCommerce Solutions said, “Now with three Innovation Centres around the world, DHL can leverage the power of innovation to serve customers and play an active role in shaping the future of logistics. DHL is an organization that prioritizes thinking differently to deliver excellence, and I’m proud that we now have this platform in the Americas to extend these capabilities to partners in their own backyard.”

“The Innovation Centres are the nucleus of our customer-centric innovation approach. They provide a platform for understanding emerging trends and discovering insights with the potential to drive real-world business impacts. DHL was the first player to utilise picking robots, for example, in North American warehouses. Self-driving robots to support order picking can increase picking rates up to 200% which is significant in a fast-moving, globalised e-commerce environment,” said Matthias Heutger, Global Head of Innovation and Commercial Development at DHL.

DHL is already working on a variety of advanced technologies to boost productivity, lower costs and serve better evolving customer needs.

According to reports, the company will add more automation at its regional hubs, gateways and service centres, introduce robotics to help with shipment loading/unloading, expand the use of AI and machine learning for better route optimisation, apply repetitive process automation for billing tasks as well as continue the addition of chatbots and voice recognition tools for bookings, order tracking and improved customer service.