DHL Supply Chain

Automation Improves Efficiency by 20 Percent

Application

DHL Supply Chain, part of Deutsche Post DHL Group, is a leader in contract logistics and known for its innovation in leveraging new warehouse technologies to achieve better results. As a part of its companywide digitalization strategy, it is implementing automation technology – including autonomous guided vehicles (AGVs) – to optimize operations across the supply chain.

Challenge

DHL Supply Chain warehouse facilities see millions of pallet movements per day and their forklifts travel an estimated 25 million miles per year. High-reach, double-deep pallet positioning with a manual forklift is a challenging maneuver that requires substantial operator training and demands a significant workforce capacity – workers that could be focused on other higher-value tasks – especially in today’s competitive job market. DHL Supply Chain decided its pallet warehouse environment was an ideal candidate to benefit from automation and turned to Crown to find a solution in Crown’s DualMode R 1000 Series reach trucks.

Solution

In automated mode, Crown’s R 1000 Series reach trucks checked all the boxes for DHL Supply Chain. They operate with increased efficiency, accuracy, reliability and safety for high-reach, double-deep pallet putaway and retrieval without requiring any significant changes in warehouse infrastructure. Crown’s AGVs operate at the speed and precision needed to get the job done, safely maneuvering alongside warehouse employees while handling full pallet putaway and retrieval up to six levels high. Skilled employees are reassigned to manage multiple automated reach trucks rather than operating one on their own.

Crown’s DualMode automated system helps ensure resiliency in the supply chain with reach trucks available to operate 24/7/365 with high reliability. This degree of flexibility is key to meeting customer needs while managing the demands of an ever-changing supply chain environment and workforce.