INTERVIEW comments : “ You might ask why DHL , traditionally a ‘ trucks and sheds business ’, is going into ground handling services ? Well , it ’ s because our mindset is that we can improve any supply chain , and ultimately in an airport the flow of people and baggage through to a plane is a supply chain . We ’ ll be using around 850 people with a huge amount of knowledge . I think something like that is hugely exciting for us , and just shows that we ’ ve got the capability in our organisation to improve and almost do anything .”
In this vein , it was announced in November that KFC has appointed DHL and QSL to manage the supply and distribution of food products , packaging and consumables for over 850 restaurants throughout the UK . Key areas of focus for DHL will be reducing logistics-related emissions to net zero over the life of the contract , optimised delivery scheduling to provide a faster turnaround of orders , and greater integrity of food during transportation allowing for even fresher products upon arrival at KFC restaurants . By Dyer ’ s own admission , it ’ s a space where 3PLs have not traditionally played , instead dominated by wholesalers and distributors , but he maintains that “ with a different approach and a different partnership we think we can drive something really positive ”.
Dyer says the contracts are proof positive that while DHL has to deal with disruption , it can also act as the disruptor , bringing a fresh approach to new market segments .
“ We are very much focused on disrupting other industry sectors , but we are also looking at our established markets and looking at how we can do things differently , how we can do things more effectively . I ’ ve encouraged that by putting together 25 of our brightest people and tasking them with exploring how we can achieve this . They ’ re based in a startup environment with access to programmers and a lot of other resources .
“ There are not many companies who can take some of their brightest people , invest millions and say : ‘ You guys need to think about what ’ s going on in our industry ; where can you help our customers and our business ?’ So we are taking all these challenges really seriously .”
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