How far has the company progressed along its 2020 strategy as outlined in 2015?

Our Strategy 2020 remains our complete focus and has been since 2015. We have been working towards increasing our ability to react and respond, especially in healthcare logistics. Within life sciences we have nine key initiatives in support of Strategy 2020, of which the most important is to be number one in quality and compliance. Ultimately, our goal is to have a positive impact on patient health, which, at the end of the day, is what drives each and every DHL Supply Chain employee. DHL Supply Chain’s Life Sciences sector continues to be our fastest growing sector within DHL Supply Chain North America.

What are some of the key trends and developments in the logistics space? 

The recurring theme is simply change. The consolidation of customers is critical in the life sciences industry, with the high volume of M&A activity in both the pharmaceutical and medical device space. It is driving a lot of activity, with our customers trying to establish and align their new supply chains and striving to find synergies. There is also tremendous pressure to improve the reliability of drugs in the supply chain and to do so more efficiently and effectively to alleviate cost. Maintaining cold-chain integrity through storage and delivery is another area that has been a focus for our customers.

How does DHL Supply Chain address challenges related to delivery?

First of all, we are moving further and further away from the big blockbuster drugs that used to be handled through wholesalers into pharmacies where the customer would pick them up. With biosimilars and personalized medicines, it is increasingly challenging. Many drugs coming into the market now require a different level of attention, with requirements such as home delivery.

Last month, DHL Supply Chain announced that it will be using collaborative, autonomous robotics solutions within the life sciences area at its Tennessee facility. Could you comment on the growing role of automation and robotics in the industry and provide some further insight into LocusBots? 

Again, the main challenge in the life sciences space is the degree of change. Flexibility is greatly limited by a reliance on pick-to-light, carousel picking, and other “bolts-in-the-ground” automation. For instance, when one manufacturer buys another, or sells off a business unit, the work content changes and suddenly the automation becomes antiquated. We are focused on improving efficiency whilst not negatively impacting flexibility. The use of LocusBots at one of our Tennessee sites is therefore very exciting: these are automatically-guided picking aids that travel with the employee, allowing the individual to pick and place products into the right shipping container rather than cart it back to a shipping area. The robot itself can be released and automatically head to a shipping area, and a new one follows right behind. We think it has the potential of improving our picking efficiency by about 30% at some of our sites.

We are also excited about Augmented Reality. For some time, we have been testing vision picking, with the potential for picking aids to flash up on a pair of glasses, for example, and warn about certain parameters and offer safety advice. It can also direct our pickers to the next location and help them get there quickly.

What are the next steps and key objectives for DHL Supply Chain in fulfilling the 2020 strategy?

We will continue to fully execute our nine key life sciences initiatives in support of DHL Supply Chain’s Strategy 2020.  Our goal is to become a very trusted partner in helping to solve the healthcare challenge of providing phenomenal, world-class service as efficiently as possible.  The life sciences space is a very challenging, dynamic and rapidly changing space – and our customers need partners like DHL Supply Chain that can help them be successful.  In North America, or anywhere else worldwide – DHL Supply Chain is committed to improving patient health and doing so as flexibly and efficiently as possible.