Siemens joins DHL Innovation Initiative

The DHL Solutions & Innovations (DSI) unit is responsible for all the group’s research projects and innovations in the global DHL network. The two partners identified the development of integrated transport solutions and the freshly launched Megacities Program as first areas of cooperation.

According to Petra Kiwitt, head of DHL Solutions & Innovations, since both DHL and Siemens operate on a global scale, the partnership will open up many opportunities for synergies in the various markets.

Siemens and DHL want to further improve the performance of the SmartTruck – the intelligent delivery vehicle already run by DHL in Berlin, by using intelligent traffic management systems as part of a dynamic route planning. The two partners currently test in practice the integration of the Traffic Management Centres managed by Siemens, which the technology group uses to collect and analyse traffic data and information, and this data could help to further improve the route planning of the DHL SmartTruck.

A concept for the integration of mobile Optical Character Recognition (OCR) scanning components is also being developed to help speed up sorting processes, and consequently make routing preparation easier.

The second focus area of the re-launched cooperation concerns the planning of future logistics scenarios for fast growing conurbations – the so-called mega cities.  These cities currently emerge mainly in South America and Asia, and already call for the development of new transport and logistics concepts.

Both DHL and Siemens have already developed first concepts in this area, independently of each other. The partnership now serves as a framework to jointly develop new solutions for city logistics, with DHL providing logistics expertise and Siemens the technical know-how.