DHL is joining forces with Siemens to develop new distribution and logistics solutions forthe so-called ‘mega-cities’ currently emerging in South America and Asia.
Both companies have already independently developed their own initial concepts to tackle thefuture logistics scenarios for these fast-growing conurbations, but the partnership aims to jointlyarrive at new solutions for city logistics.
“The objective of the cooperation is to optimise the structures of the transport systems, toreduce transport volumes and, as a result, also reduce CO2 emissions,” the two companies said.
DHL would deliver the logistics expertise and Siemens would provide the technical know-how.
The move is part of a wider partnership, in which Siemens will become a global partner in DHL’s‘Innovation Initiative’.
In addition to the freshly launched ‘Megacities Programme’, the two identified the developmentof integrated transport solutions as the other initial area of cooperation.
Siemens and DHL want to further improve the performance of the SmartTruck, the intelligentdelivery vehicle that is already run by DHL in Berlin, by using intelligent traffic managementsystems as part of a dynamic route planning process.
The two partners are currently testing the integration of the Traffic Management Centres managedby Siemens, which the technology group uses to collect and analyse traffic data and information, inorder to achieve this aim.
The two will also work on mobile Optical Character Recognition (OCR) scanning components, tohelp speed up sorting processes and thus make routing preparation easier.
As a Global Technology Innovation Partner, Siemens joins companies such as IBM, Intel, Motorola,Oracle, SAP and T-Systems.
