DHL Germany Gains Transparency and Efficiency with 250,000 Roll-cage Trackers Connected to the Global 0G Network

Thinxtra

Problem Summary

DHL needed an IoT-enabled solution to integrate fast location monitoring and data-based supply chain analytics to its existing business processes to ensure fast, reliable delivery and seamless customer service.

Solution Highlights

DHL teamed with ALPS Electric Europe GmBH and Sigfox to build a cost-effective asset tracking solution delivering seamless delivery across 35 parcel centres ensuring:

Deutsche Post DHL Group (DHL), is a German-based international logistics company operating a comprehensive range of express, freight transportation, e-commerce and supply chain management services in more than 220 countries and territories.

Within Germany, DHL delivers around five million shipments each working day. DHL uses roll cages, loaded with mail items for transport, to reliably manage those shipments. Roll cages need to be readily available in sufficient quantities at customer warehouses, 35 different DHL parcel centres across Germany and in other countries to enable DHL’s seamless delivery service.

DHL’s outstanding reputation for fast, reliable delivery depends on efficient operational business processes and precise asset utilisation across the logistics supply chain.

To ensure the right availability of roll cages in each centre, DHL needed an IoT-enabled solution to integrate fast location monitoring and data-based supply chain analytics to its existing business processes.

DHL teamed with Sigfox, the world’s leading 0G technology innovator, their local operator Sigfox Germany and electromechanical device manufacturer, ALPS Electric Europe GmBH, to attach smart trackers to 250,000 roll cages. The smart trackers provide information about the roll cages enabling digitalised administration and location management. The initial deployment is in Europe with a plan to scale worldwide.

The transparency we gain through the use of the new devices will contribute to further improvements in service quality for our customers and to lower operational costs through better equipment management.

Thomas Schneider
Chief Production Officer Post & Parcel Germany at Deutsche Post DHL Group

Precise location insights mean DHL can use each roll cage more fully by ensuring the right availability in each location and understanding lack of availability or bottlenecks at a glance. Insights to roll cage utilisation lets DHL reduce the number of roll cages needed to support its delivery network, thereby improving return on capital. And the scale of the operational efficiencies enabled by the smart trackers sharing location information promise to give DHL a distinct competitive advantage.

Ludovic Le Moan, CEO and co-founder of Sigfox, is excited about what the partnership with DHL means for the future of industrial IoT, “Our collaboration with ALPS Electric Europe GmbH to meet DHL expectations was an amazing experience to pave the way for future industrial IoT. Mass production requires long processes of design and tests. This project is a strong milestone toward billions of connected devices on the 0G network. That’s why we see enormous potential in this partnership.”

Loic Barancourt, CEO of Thinxtra Ltd, says “The DHL story is an inspiring example of how industrial IoT can transform logistics. In our region, Thinxtra are working with many customers using IoT to improve supply chain resilience with fit-for-purpose, scalable solutions offering near real time visibility to control assets and make them work harder.”

Visit the Deutsche Post DHL Group website to explore the company’s extensive portfolio of logistics services and its commitment to sustainable business practices, society and the environment.

For more information about how the global Sigfox 0G network can connect physical and digital worlds to solve business problems, visit the company website.