DHL SUPPLY CHAIN JOINS THE WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM GLOBAL LIGHTHOUSE NETWORK

Company is the first contract logistics provider within the network

DHL Supply Chain, the Americas leader in contract logistics, today announced that the company’s warehouse facility in Memphis, TN has been named a Global Lighthouse by the World Economic Forum. The prestigious Global Lighthouse Network is a community of 153 world-leading manufacturing facilities and value chains using Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies to increase operational performance and environmental sustainability. This year only 21 facilities were given the designation and DHL Supply Chain is the first ever contract logistics company to have a warehouse awarded.

DHL Supply Chain has a network of 524 warehouses across North America, all of which uses digitalization solutions. The Memphis, TN facility stood out, earning the World Economic Forum End-to-End (E2E) Value Chain Lighthouse designation and was also the only US-based facility in this year’s cohort. The World Economic Forum notes that the main trends among the Lighthouses include an unprecedented level of digital maturity, the rapid proliferation of machine intelligence, and transformation programs that execute at-scale deployments from the outset. In fact, 82% of the Lighthouses cite “scale” as the most important design consideration for digital use cases and transformation programs.

"The Global Lighthouse Network exemplifies the power of digital transformation,” said Kiva Allgood, Head, Centre for Advanced Manufacturing and Supply Chains, World Economic Forum. "Lighthouses are pioneering a path to unprecedented global impact, strategically weaving innovation throughout their expansive network – sculpting both a sustainable future and an era of transformative and lasting change.” 

Facing a growing e-commerce market and driven by retail promotions and a consumer consumption switch from offline to online orders, in addition to heavy seasonality impacts DHL Supply Chain established a strategic Fourth Industrial Revolution site, equipped with a control tower for centralized planning and execution oversight to manage and control E2E operations. The site has seamlessly integrated robots, analytics and a flexible staffing solution, resulting in a 50% overtime reduction, a 57% shipment cycle time reduction and a 290% increase in capacity, leading to a 28% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) since 2019. Consequently, the site has emerged as one of DHL Supply Chain’s primary training hub for the global adoption of new technologies.

“DHL Supply Chain has been a leader in innovation in the logistics industry thanks to the power of our people, whose talent power our ability to develop right-sized solutions at scale,” said Michael McLellan, Vice President, Retail, DHL Supply Chain. “We are honored to receive this recognition from the World Economic Forum and to stand alongside fellow visionaries who are shaping the future of manufacturing for our workers, communities, and the environment."