DHL to invest €50m in Thai supply chain network

DHL is investing EUR 50m in its supply chain business within Thailand. The company said over the next two and a half years, it will build new facilities, expand its fleet of vehicles, invest in new technology and intensify staff training and development in the South-East Asian country.

DHL Supply Chain also intends to create an additional 2,000 jobs in Thailand by 2015.

Over the next few years, the company said it will expand its fleet with investment in its own vehicles and a boost to subcontractor partnerships.

The programme will include more training for drivers through the DHL Supply Chain Thailand Transport Driver Training School in Bang Yai.

DHL Supply Chain has been operating in Thailand since 1995, and claims a market-leading position in the retail and consumer sectors, as well as rapid growth in the life sciences, automotive and technology sectors.

The company said Thailand was one of its fastest-growing markets at present, with its footprint growing by 30% in the last year. DHL Supply Chain currently employs about 9,500 people in Thailand at present, and operates more than 1,000 vehicles.

New facilities

One of the first new facilities under the investment programme will be a new warehouse at Bangna, opening next year to support the company’s operations in the retail, fashion and consumer sectors.

The Bangna warehouse will be retrofitted with energy-efficient specifications to meet the goals of DHL’s GoGreen environmental initiative.

Kevin Burrell, DHL Supply Chain’s new managing director for Thailand, said the country’s retail industry was expected to grow by 12% this year, the highest growth for three years.

“We are also expecting healthy retail growth,” he said. “The new facility will help us innovate and develop better and more efficient supply chain processes.”

DHL said it also plans on opening its second Automotive campus in 2013, on Thailand’s eastern seaboard, to add to its facilities in Rayong and provide further support for the Thai vehicle manufacturing, assembly and parts industry.

“Thailand is now in the world’s top ten in terms of auto production as a result of a full recovery of the industry from last year’s floods and the production increases by both assemblers and parts makers,” said Burrell.

Beyond the new infrastructure and recruits, DHL said it was also investing to expand its range of value-added supply chain services, specifically into the area of crisis management.

Experience gained from the floods in Thailand, and the Japanese and New Zealand earthquakes, has helped inform the company’s business continuity management and disaster response programme at its Thailand School of Excellence.