Siemens joins DHL Innovation Initiative
Siemens has become a global partner of the DHL Innovation Initiative and from now on will support DHL with comprehensive know-how and state-of-the-art technologies. The driving force of this initiative is the DHL Solutions & Innovations (DSI) unit, which 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.
“With Siemens, we have found a partner who shares our vision of future-oriented concepts and ideas and whose competence will further strengthen our initiative. Since both companies operate on a global scale, the partnership will open up many opportunities for synergies in the various markets,” said Petra Kiwitt, head of DHL Solutions & Innovations.
Siemens and DHL want to further improve the performance of the SmartTruck, the intelligent delivery vehicle that is already run by DHL in Berlin, by using intelligent traffic management systems as part of a dynamic route planning. To help achieve this, the two partners currently test in practice the integration of the Traffic Management Centers managed by Siemens, which the technology group uses to collect and analyse traffic data and information.
This data could help to further improve the route planning of the DHL SmartTruck. Moreover, a concept for the integration of mobile Optical Character Recognition (OCR) scanning components is being developed to help speed up sorting processes and thus make routing preparation easier.
“We are connected with Deutsche Post DHL through a very successful partnership of many years. Current proof of this partnership is the distribution of the latest generation of sorting machines for standard mail and larger mail items. We look forward to helping Deutsche Post DHL make their vision a reality by leveraging our technological innovations,” said Dr. Stefan Keh, head of Infrastructure Logistics of Siemens Mobility.
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 most of all in South America and Asia and already today call for the development of new transport and logistics concepts.
