n NEWS THE LOGISITCS GIANT DHL Supply Chain is investing £550m to deploy more than 1,000 new robots and to accelerate the rollout of automation across its operations in UK and Ireland. The investment will support a growing demand for its services in the e-commerce and life sciences / healthcare sectors. The new investment builds on the €1bn that DHL has already spent on more than 3,200 automation and digitalisation projects across the UK, Ireland and EMEA region over the past three years. DHL’s contract logistics business plans to increase its operations “significantly” in UK&I, as well as globally, over the next five years, with automation, robotics and digitalisation being key enablers of this growth. DHL is co-developing, testing and scaling robotics technologies through strategic partnerships with technology suppliers. This has already resulted in more than 2,000 robots in the UK, Ireland and EMEA, including more than 750 picking robots from Locus Robotics and 6 River Systems. DHL recently deployed the first Boston Dynamics Stretch robot for container unloading in the UK. These robots can unload up to 700 boxes per hour, significantly reducing physical strain on warehouse staff and enhancing productivity. “At DHL, we’re driving the next wave of automation, not as a one-size-fits-all approach but as a set of intelligent, adaptive technologies tailored to the specific needs of individual sectors,”says the company’s global head of digital transformation, Tim Tetzlaff. “In ecommerce, for example, where the market is evolving and demand is growing, we’re expanding our fulfilment capabilities to support that shift with automated solutions that significantly simplify high-volume operations. “Meanwhile, in the growing life sciences sector, we’re leveraging automation to respond faster to demand and manage complexity at scale with end-to-end visibility, amid a larger focus on patient-centric approaches and differentiated routes to market.” As part of its expansion, DHL is opening a health logistics facility in Derby, designed to support growth in the life sciences and healthcare sector, which it expects to experience double-digit expansion in the UK over the next five years. “Our investment reflects the growing opportunities across the UK market,” explains Saul Resnick, CEO of DHL Supply Chain in the UK and Ireland. “Customers are increasingly recognising the benefits of digitalisation and, to date this year, we’ve already surpassed the number of deployments achieved last year.” More News reports on our Web site We post many more news reports on our Web site than we have space for in the magazine. Often our Web site also carries longer, more detailed versions of reports in the magazine. Here are some of the stories that we have posted since the last issue of Drives & Controls appeared. n World’s first industrial AI cloud plant will boost European manufacturing https://drivesncontrols.news/0crsduwk n Lightweight motor uses carbon nanotubes instead of metal windings https://drivesncontrols.news/pa80s6hd n Single-Pair Ethernet groups bury the hatchet to promote the technology jointly https://drivesncontrols.news/06ogym04 n ABB unveils three robot families including a faster, lighter IRB 1200 https://drivesncontrols.news/1dldnecf n Scottish group aims to revolutionise farming with robots and 5G networks https://drivesncontrols.news/yb7airby n Remote I/O system frees engineers from constraints of central controls https://drivesncontrols.news/3hg3jk7r n Firm offering capex-free energy-saving for motors attracts £20m to drive expansion https://drivesncontrols.news/fqb7pqph n Robotic start-up with $8.5m of backing, cuts deployment to ‘weeks’ https://drivesncontrols.news/1f00n8q7 n Edge gateway ‘revolutionises’ data processing, saving time and costs https://drivesncontrols.news/boeztyyk YBDU DBC "SFZPV GB F MF MFOHUIT BDJOH DIBMMFOH C HFT XIFO EFUUFSNJOJOH 1MVH 1 &1-"/ *OUSPEVD MBZ $BCMF 1MBO /$BCMFQ DJOH OOJOH QSP% DHL invests £550m to deploy 1,000plus robots in UK and Ireland Tim Tetzlaff, DHL’s global head of digital transformation and Saul Resnick, CEO of DHL Supply Chain in the UK and Ireland, with a Boston Dynamics Stretch robot.
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