As you may have noticed: more and more electric vehicles (EVs) are hitting the streets. Demand is accelerating globally. Obviously, EV batteries are at the heart of this transition to decarbonization. The reasons for this demand are varied and include rising prices for fossil fuels, government regulations, and simply the desire of people to be environmentally friendlier with low-emission travel (1). As a result, the global market share is expected to grow from under 10% in the start of 2022 to 33% by 2028 and an amazing 54% by 2035. However positive this growth is, it comes with challenges. T ..read more

In this edition of our series on the frontline workforce, we will take a closer look at how you can successfully recruit the people who make the difference in order to meet the high market demands of today. Given the challenges in the labor landscape, companies need to rethink how they engage with their frontline workers across the entire employee life cycle. With the best practices we’ll be laying out here, you can successfully navigate the current environment. Thinking of Tomorrow – Today First, we have to take an honest look at the tough labor landscape and gain an overview of the market ..read more

In this edition of our series on the frontline workforce, we are focusing on the onboarding process and how you can effectively get new hires set for success in your company. The helpful tips and best practices we provide aim to help you rethink how you engage with your frontline workers within today’s changing labor landscape. As discussed in the previous edition on successfully recruiting people, the shortage of frontline workers is expected to continue – and even further increase – in the years to come. This makes it more imperative than ever to provide a welcoming onboarding process as a ..read more

Organizations have long understood that in the fight against climate change, it’s crucial for them to reduce or eliminate their CO2 emissions. Now, however, an increasing number of environmentally conscious companies realize they must widen their focus and take steps to reduce the waste they create as well. As a result, companies are extremely aware of the packaging their products are transported, wrapped, or boxed in, and they want their packaging to be as sustainable as possible as products move through their supply chain. DHL Consulting recently completed a research project on sustainable ..read more

The Rise and Rise of Voice Assistants Voice Assistant (VA) technology is known by a variety of different names: Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant and Cortana, for example. But, whatever you (literally) call yours, it has one important, defining characteristic. VA tech is becoming increasingly popular with consumers. According to Microsoft, three-quarters of all U.S. households are expected to own a voice-enabled smart speaker in 2022. This can be asked to carry out functions such as turning on the lights and the heating, playing music and performing internet searches. Indeed, a survey from ComScor ..read more

Recent headlines like “No fuel in UK because of driver shortage” or “blue-collar crisis threatens our way of life” make it very clear that the people at the frontline are a strategic necessity for your business and that we have an urgent issue to solve. In supply chains, the use of technology and process optimization are important, but we can’t forget about the most important element: labor. After all, frontline workers make up 80 percent of the global workforce, and in labor-intensive industries like logistics, this figure is even higher. The standards for workers’ skill sets are growing ..read more

Just how green is your supply chain? A U.S.-based organization had been asking itself that troublesome question for some time and — knowing the importance of carbon efficiency — didn’t like the answer it was getting. So it approached DHL Supply Chain to help it find ways to make its operations more environmentally friendly. It’s easy to understand why it felt compelled to act. Statistics from the World Resources Institute reveal that the transportation industry is responsible for a staggering 24% of global carbon emissions. Equally worrying is that the U.S. is a major contributor to this vast ..read more

1. Adapting to a disruptive new normal with digitalization Part of the solution may lie in how companies approach and utilize digitalization. The pandemic has shown how rapidly behaviors can change in response to disruptions – and the agile response required from companies to manage this dynamism. Alongside the direct impact of the pandemic, lifestyle changes have allowed e-commerce to grow at a tremendous rate. This switch in consumption behaviors from brick-and-mortar stores to online is likely to have a long-lasting impact as new habits are forged. These new consumption habits, coupled with ..read more

In today’s rapidly changing world, many companies not only have to face their usual peak season but also unforeseen peak times. This is in addition to the boom in e-commerce overall caused by the corona pandemic—it is here to stay, and consumer expectations are higher than ever when it comes to service. Regardless of when your company experiences a surge in business, being prepared and organized for your most testing time is the name of the game. Managing peak seasons is more challenging than ever before, but with the right planning in advance, you can truly benefit from the opportunities pre ..read more

Thanks to analytics methods, historical data can be leveraged to reduce the delivery window and improve estimates about when a package is going to arrive at its destination. For example, end consumers receive a message in the morning telling them when they can expect to receive their package, and then another message 15 minutes before it arrives, based on continuously updated estimates. So how does this work? And what are the benefits for companies, logistics providers and, ultimately, consumers? We spoke with Matthias Vollmert, Managing Director and Partner at DHL Consulting, and three of hi ..read more