Digitization & Innovation - Research leads to progress
Innovation is the key to sustainable success. They help to improve process quality, reduce costs and meet new challenges presented both by the market and customers. At the same time, they create new demands and open the pathway to new commercial opportunities, customer segments and services. All research and development activities in these forward-looking fields are centrally combined by DACHSER and tested for their market viability.
Digitization of logistical processes in focus
Not least thanks to numerous improvements in the execution and optimization of logistical processes in the digital field, DACHSER is considered a driver and trailblazer in the logistics industry. DACHSER continuously observes and evaluates all important trends and technologies in order to promote ideas and innovations are relevant for DACHSER and its customers.
Every successful innovation should have economic advantages or lead to gains in other areas of value. DACHSER already achieves this with its impressive concepts that are unique in the industry, such as the universal introduction of NVE and barcodes in 1995 or EDI and web-based services ten years later. In 2015, DACHSER was highly successful in, among other things, integrating the B2C shipments via targo on-site for the omni-channel trade.
Competitive advantages through innovative solutions
In developing innovations, DACHSER is primarily focused on being a sustainable provider in the marketplace in order to create a tangible, long-term competitive advantage for its customers. In the fast-paced world of global trade, research into new solutions and technologies is essential. In developing new innovations, DACHSER relies on its trusted network of partners. This includes selected customers and providers, but also external consultants such as logistics experts from universities, colleges, research institutions and the consulting industry.
The DACHSER Enterprise Lab at the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow
Since October 2017, DACHSER has maintained the DACHSER Enterprise Lab at the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow (IML) in Dortmund. The goal is to research new technologies and applications in digitization with a positive influence on logistical processes and make them market viable. To this end, futuristic technologies are developed with the aim of applying them in practice. With that, the DACHSER Enterprise Lab acts to supplement the existing partnerships with universities and adds important skills to the company’s internal research and development capabilities.
Currently, DACHSER is intensively involved in the following priority projects: Digitization, LLP and city distribution.
Qualitatively valuable data make the logistics industry efficient and prepare it for the future. The field of “Digital Supply Chain” therefore focuses both on the further digitization of operational and administrative processes in every business division, as well as access to internal and external data sources.
DACHSER stresses the development of “Connectivity Platforms” which will be capable of raising the visibility of the entire supply chain to a new level.
This allows DACHSER as a Lead Logistics Provider (LLP) to offer its customers the coordination of cross-company processes.
As part of the project “City Distribution,” innovative, sustainable business models for supplying inner cities, as well as the necessary modules, are being developed. They are suitable for use in many of Europe's metropolitan areas and they combine the requirements both of product availability and environmental protection.
DACHSER is researching the use of alternative delivery vehicles. This includes electrically-supported cargo bikes and electric and CNG trucks in combination with inner city Smart Hubs.