DHL’s air, ocean and road freight unit, DHL Global Forwarding, has officially opened its new ultramodern warehouse in South Africa. The new facilit
DHL’s air, ocean and road freight unit, DHL Global Forwarding, has officially opened its new ultramodern warehouse in South Africa.
The new facility, Johannesburg-based transshipment hub and head office, is integrated with the latest technologies to ensure a seamless supply chain process. The primarily solar-powered complex is located in the Sky Park Industrial Estate, near OR Tambo International Airport.
The new facility includes offices and a 10 000 m² warehouse integrated with omni-channel logistics tools and platforms that cater to the sector’s specific supply chain challenges. These include radio frequency identification tracking technologies, predictive assets lifecycle management tools, streamlining warehouse lighting, temperature sensors and internet of things (IOT) technologies premised on a plug-and-play strategy. This involves creating a supply chain platform augmented by standardised plug-ins tailored to customer requirements.
Freight expertise
The facility which is twice the size of firm’s other warehouses will serve as a hub for transport, logistics and warehouse solutions, as well as international freight expertise for different industries, according to DHL. These include a strong focus on Africa’s life sciences and healthcare (LSH) sector, which is one of the booming industries in the country, with an expected annual growth rate of 6.3% and anticipated revenue of €7.1 billion by 2023, notes the company.
The cold chain facility consists of three large adjustable temperature-controlled refrigerators to enable the new hub to cater to the needs of Africa’s LSH sector, with some cargo weighing as much as 100-tons. Clement Blanc, CEO of DHL Global Forwarding for South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa, said the new facility expands global connections to Africa, ensuring sectors like LSH can access an efficient and reliable logistics network.
“A new facility in South Africa is a natural next step in our efforts to support economic growth and accelerate the pace of supply chain transformation, to aid the socio-economic growth of South Africa and the greater Sub-Saharan African region.
“We have a very big focus on digital transformation. In our logistics processes, one of the key things is information – so the backbone of our business is our digital ERP platform that keeps information for all our operations. We have dimensional scanners which scan and detect the measurement of the parcel, which is then automatically uploaded into the system.
“IOT is very important; we have RFID devices that we attach to the parcels that help us to track the goods at any moment to give customers real-time visibility. We also have temperature sensors attached to the parcels, which help to keep the cold chain constant during the transportation of pharmaceuticals – these devices automatically send the information to our system,” explains Blanc.
DHL Global Forwarding is looking at introducing additional technologies that are being trialled in other warehouses, such as robots to help employees with lifting heavy cargo, and wearable eye glasses, to help employees automatically scan the parcel barcodes by merely looking at them, he adds.
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