16 DC VELOCITY OCTOBER 2019 www.dcvelocity.com
newsworthy
Contract logistics service provider DHL Supply Chain has
opened an innovation center near Chicago, where the company
plans to work hand-in-glove with a range of startup firms to
apply emerging technologies to the challenges being faced by
its clients.
The Bonn, Germany-based company, which is an arm of logistics giant Deutsche Post DHL Group, said the 28,000-square-
foot facility in Rosemont, Illinois, would help it accelerate the
development of new solutions for logistics and supply chain
operations.
Through tight integrations
with the startup firms providing the technology, DHL
runs pilot tests and provides
feedback on the cutting-edge
equipment, helping guide
the development of future
models. That process can
help DHL Supply Chain’s
customers—which include
retailers, e-commerce companies, and online marketplaces—tackle challenges
such as warehouse labor
shortages, international parcel returns, and last-mile
urban delivery, Ken Allen,
CEO of DHL E-commerce
Solutions, said during a September press tour of the site.
The innovation center is DHL’s third such facility, following
sites in Bonn and Singapore, and is part of DHL’s investment of
$300 million in 2018 and 2019 to deploy emerging technologies
to 350 of its 430 North American facilities and transportation
control towers.
That investment is intended to help support the operations
of some of DHL Supply Chain’s best-known customers, such
as Amazon.com Inc., Etsy, Ebay, Rakuten, Alibaba.com, and
JD.com, as well as overseas e-commerce players that are less
familiar to U.S. consumers, such as Zalando, Jumia, Asos,
Lazada, Gittigidiyar, and Taobao.com.
During the tour, DHL technicians demonstrated products such as Google Glass smartglasses, Paccar Inc.’s artificial
intelligence (AI)-based pallet-dimensioning technology,
and Kinetic wearable devices for monitoring poor posture
by warehouse workers. Robotics platforms deployed in the
center include Locus Robotics’ mobile fulfillment bots, a robotic arm from Universal Robots that’s equipped with a gripper
from Covariant, a Vecna Robotics autonomous pallet jack,
and an Effidence autonomous cart with a 600-pound carrying
capacity.
DHL tests emerging tech in
Chicago innovation center
Family-owned global logistics company
Dachser has extended its partnership with
Dicsa, a Spanish manufacturer of hydraulic and pneumatic lines and stainless-steel
fittings, as Dicsa begins a strategic rollout
into the Americas with a presence in the
U.S. and Argentina. … JDA Software has
selected DMLogic, the developer of the
StepLogic Trace warehouse management
system, as its sole technology partner
for serialization and track-and-trace solutions. … Kion North America Corp. has
announced the addition of Quality Lift
Trucks to its dealer network. With locations in California and Mexico, Quality
Lift Trucks is a family-owned and -operat-ed dealership that offers new equipment,
parts, maintenance service, and short-and long-term rentals. … Cargo-handling
equipment maker Kalmar has supplied
port-service provider Ashdod Port Co. Ltd.
with a total of eight Kalmar G generation
medium forklifts and seven Kalmar Gloria
reach stackers. … Dry-van truckload carrier Texas Freight Services has selected
Orbcomm Inc.’s in-cab solution to provide
visibility and monitoring across its entire
fleet of trucks. … Footwear manufacturer Allbirds has chosen global supply
chain operator Geodis to process orders
received through its newly launched
e-commerce website, https://www.all-birds.eu, which caters to 12 European
markets. … Honeywell, a maker of industrial voice solutions, has teamed up with
two new resellers, Consultare America
LLC and Silver Touch Technologies, to
help bring its Guided Work Solutions
software to small and medium-sized distribution centers globally. … Health and
wellness brand GNC has selected ProShip
Inc.’s automated multicarrier shipping
software to boost the efficiency of its
shipping operations. The company says it
will initially install the software at three
of its U.S.-based distribution centers with
the goal of adding ship-from-store func-tionality to 400-plus GNC retail locations
in the future.
alliances
