Despite economic uncertainty, and the many shifting trends in the supply chain, Jim Monkmeyer, president of Transportation for DHL Supply Chain, is optimistic.
The ever-shifting sands of trade and tariffs create hesitancy in the market, says Monkmeyer, but he is still seeing a forward movement.
“Despite many businesses taking a wait and see philosophy, many projects are moving forward,” says Monkmeyer.
Just as business can’t really wait until all issues are settled, the transportation world is also moving forward in terms of adopting new technologies.
DHL is doing just that and recently made a big step in its digitization strategy. In September 2019, the company announced a partnership with Convoy, becoming the first third-party logistics company to partner with Convoy and have access to its digital freight network. Monkmeyer spoke with MH&L at the CSCMP Edge conference held that month in Anaheim.
“We have integrated Convoy’s network into our supply chain application," explains Monkmeyer. "This allows us to offer access to Convoy’s automated real-time pricing so we can help our customers secure capacity that is flexible with their needs.”
Another effort to pull in existing technology to the field is DHL’s new partnership with Turvo, a real-time collaborative logistics platform. The technology offers contextual visibility and collaboration across the end-to-end lifecycle of a shipment. This will allow all parties the ability to view and take action on the same information at the same time.
"Turvo is another critical complement to our digitization efforts," says Monkmeyer. "It enables easier collaboration and transparency for shippers and carriers. By improving the way we work together across the entire supply chain we can improve efficiency and customer service simultaneously."
And while the company is addressing the larger industry issues it is also bringing technology inside to make processes easier. It is integrating robotic process automation (RPA) into everyday operations. PA leverages software to automate repetitive tasks such as collecting documents for proof of delivery, scheduling loads, event tracking and others, reducing manual error and increasing speed. DHL Supply Chain in North America has offset over 5,000 hours of manual work with RPA, and globally there are over 30,000 hours saved per year during the pilots.
“Before RPA many basic, day-to-day tasks would need to wait to be completed until capacity allowed," says Monkmeyer. "Now they are done quickly and with a high level of accuracy, freeing our employees to spend less time doing busy work and more time doing the strategic value-added work they enjoy.”.
Adding value both internally and externally is key to addressing current trends in transportation. A recent DHL report found that companies are increasingly viewing transportation as more than a tactical commodity, with 71% now considering it to be a strategic component of their business. Three quarters (75%) of companies believe investing time and resources in transportation will directly help their company sales, and 63% believe big data and artificial intelligence, which power tools such as digital freight marketplaces, will enable smarter transportation operations.
Scott Sureddin, CEO, DHL Supply Chain, North America, believes that in 2020 these technologies will push forward, “As we go into 2020, we’ll see artificial intelligence getting more accessible, robots becoming more sophisticated, and predictive modeling becoming even more accurate. “This maturation will allow us to apply technologies in even more ways to drive efficiency and create value for our customers. The last decade introduced us to these technologies and the next decade will make them commonplace.”
Monkmeyer shares this positive view of the fourth industrial revolution, better known as IoT. “We aren’t going to wait and see what happens in this area, we are getting out in front and be viewed as an innovator.”
