Blue Dart wins innovation award
India’s #Blue Dart won the DHL Asia Pacific Innovation Day award for its payment solution which enables couriers to collect cash-on-delivery (COD) payments through mobile Point of Sale devices and 15 different secure digital wallet options instead of physical cash.
The system, which rolled out just as the Indian government took Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 notes out of circulation, enabled delivery staff to not only continue but significantly increase collection of COD payments, saving them more than 29 man-months between October 2016 and February 2017.
“The digital payment solution enables Blue Dart and DHL to continue providing Indian consumers and merchants with the COD options that they prefer, in a way that minimizes many of the security and handling risks associated with cash handling,” said Daniel Matthews, General Manager, Systems, Blue Dart, a subsidiary of DHL’s e-Commerce.
“Given the significant impact of the demonetization on COD throughout India, the system’s success highlights how merchants can maintain sales and differentiate themselves by bringing traditional delivery processes into the digital era,” he said.
Among others, supply chain optimization platforms and robotics and unmanned aerial solutions were amongst the inventions which took center stage at the DHL Asia Pacific Innovation Center in Singapore on 16 March 2017.
Focused on driving the future, DHL Asia Pacific Innovation Day showcased some of the latest trends and technologies shaping the logistics industry, awarding projects that have already applied these ideas to real-world challenges.
One such project, which received the Most Innovative Customer Award, involved DHL collaborating with #Schindler Lifts to develop a bespoke web-based tracking and optimization platform for their operations in Australia.
Based on two years’ worth of past shipment data, the platform allows the elevator manufacturer to shave more than AU$500,000 from their annual running costs.
The platform gives Schindler Lifts full visibility over the warehousing, shipping, and last-mile delivery of its elevator shipments, allowing the business to optimize end-to-end supply chain movements based on their required delivery dates.
“The platform has enabled visibility at every stage of the process from collection to final delivery at the specified site address. Should any unexpected changes occur, both DHL and Schindler have the ability to instantly adjust with the amended delivery dates,” said George Lekkas, Strategic Procurement Manager, Schindler Lifts Australia.
“Many logistics players are touting the potential of real-time tracking and data analytics to transform supply chains, but DHL has put those ideas into practice in a way that not only overcomes our unique shipment handling challenges, but can easily scale to meet ongoing growth in the Australian construction industry.” fii-news.com
