How DHL discovers tomorrow’s trends

11 NOVEMBER 14 DHL

Global logistics company DHL is big. Really big. The company claims to be "the world's most international company" and can move almost anything from Canada to Kuwait, or Taiwan to Turkey.

In doing so, DHL employs more than 315,000 people across hundreds of countries. So how does such a leviathan continue to innovate? That's the job of Markus Kückelhaus, director of research and development at DHL and lead of its trend research team, based in the Innovation Centre in Troisdorf, Germany.

His job is looking to the future -- but not for developments expected within the next 18 months.  Kückelhaus looks at what's likely to impact DHL in some five to ten years.

"We ask what can we expect as a logistics company and what do we need to be prepared for?" says Kückelhaus. "We really try to look at the things that our business divisions can't do because they have too much focus on the operations of day to day business." 

The trend research team explore a wide range of subjects, creating in-depth reports that draw on hands-on demonstrations, pilot schemes and prototypes of untested ideas. 

"3D printing is one topic we've been looking at for more than two or three years," says Kückelhaus. "First of all, what is the impact of this technology on the logistics industry? Will people actually have a 3D printer at home to print all their stuff? Because that really would be disruptive for a global supply chain."

As it turns out, the high costs of production associated with additive layering are prohibitive to people switching to the method over mass production. In addition, the materials and finish aren't yet up to scratch. 

But the trends research team wanted to discover if 3D printing would create opportunities for DHL. For example, would people order a product that DHL could print, rather than relying on mass production and warehouses? And how much would they pay for such products? You can read about the outcome of the study on the DHL website.

The trend research team has also developed and trialled a drone (UAV) delivery service. A delivery of medical supplies was flown from Norden, Northern Germany, to the nearby island of Juist. The 1.3-kilogram drone, lands on the island -- which has a population of around 2,000 people -- and collected by a local courier who delivers the packages to local residents. 

However, both regulation and technology are stumbling blocks. Europe and the US are tightening the laws surrounding flying UAVs, weather can hinder flights and payloads are still limited. Nevertheless, it's one area DHL will watch closely. 

Another trend that's exploded in the recent years is crowdsourcing. Seeing potential for areas with low populations, DHL has trialled a public delivery project in Sweden calledMyWays. 

"We've had some really interesting experiences," says Kückelhaus. "People would deliver the parcels and then stay and have a coffee together and it's more like a social network that all of a sudden started."  

It worked well in Sweden because people there are often required to pick up deliveries from postal outlets, but MyWays may also be applicable in cities, with their pre-existing transport networks and large volumes of people moving around. It's possible to imagine a scenario in which members of the public become ultra-short term freelance couriers, delivering things as they travel to work or to meet friends.

Successes in crowd funding and sourcing have stemmed from people's internet-enabled connectivity. But it'sthingsconnected to the internet that offer another realm of potential.

"The internet of things is definitely one topic we need to be aware of," says Kückelhaus. "If you look at the underlying technology of the internet of things we've been working on these pathways for a number of years. Look at barcodes, or RFID or semi-active RFID sensors to real-time tracking and networks, we have solutions for many of these made in the past."

"Of course the next step is connecting everything across industries."

Making things smarter doesn't stop with inanimate objects, either. There are projects around the world to turn vehicles from engines on wheels to laptops on wheels -- cleaner, smarter and always connected. 

"We're about to publish a trend report on driverless vehicles in logistics," says Kückelhaus. "We see this as a great industry to start driverless vehicles because a lot of place we have are in controlled areas, like warehouses. These are great places to start exploring driverless vehicles." 

But what starts in depots and warehouses may one day find its way onto the open roads -- for long-distance haulage or for last-mile delivery. And that goes for the rest of these technologies.