The Georgia Institute of Technology’s Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering’s supply chain program has named DHL (Plantation, Fla.) the winner of its 2007 Great Package Race; DHL was the only transportation provider to successfully deliver all five of the packages shipped to destinations that included Tikrit, Iraq; Apia, Samoa; and Yangon, Myanmar.
Under the direction of Professor John Bartholdi, students in Georgia Tech’s supply chain program shipped similar packages to five remote locations around the world and assessed how each of the top three express carriers performed. None of the transportation providers were aware of the test. The race began with phone calls to all three carriers to find out if they saw difficulties shipping to any of their destinations. Packages were shipped with each of the three carriers to all five locations, including: Apia, Samoa; Florianopolis, an island off the coast of southern Brazil; Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe; Tikrit, Iraq; and Yangon, the former capital of Myanmar.
Of each of the three major carriers, DHL, FedEx, and UPS, DHL was the only participating carrier that confirmed its ability to ship to all five locations.
According to the Georgia Tech race report, “Each year we explore the boundaries of parcel delivery by sending packages to challenging locations. DHL, which nearly won last year, was the clear winner this year. In addition, our office staff said DHL’s phone staff was particularly helpful. DHL was also the only carrier able to tell us the final costs upon delivery.”
For more information about the Great Package Race go to www.tli.gatech.edu and visit the press room’s section.
Source: DHL
