DHL Supply Chain has signed a three-year contract with BMW UK to increase dealership deliveries in Scotland and Northern England. DHL will provide warehouse services at its shared-user Bellshill location in Scotland, including receipt, put-away, picking and dispatching of automotive components and fast moving spare parts for the Scottish aftermarket.
The model for the BMW solution is part of a concept that DHL is already carrying out for Volvo in Sweden and which the company believes will have global applications, including in emerging markets.
Under the system, DHL takes control of more aftermarket inventory whilst consolidating traditional distribution centres as well as dealer parts warehouses. At a regional level, DHL operates a central dealer city distribution centre that delivers to a mega-local-dealer-city-distribution centre (which replaces traditional distribution centres); from the mega-local centres, parts are distributed to micro-local dealer centres (replacing dealer-parts warehouses). Finally, the micro-local dealer centres deliver in high frequency, same-day deliveries and night replenishment.
For BMW, according to DHL, the smaller centres–referred to here as Dealer Metro Distribution Centres (DMDCs)–enable dealerships to order and receive multiple deliveries in urban locations with parts shipped within two to three hours of ordering, improving convenience to both the customer and BMW.
Previously dealerships only received once-nightly deliveries, and as a consequence the customer would need to revisit the dealership if the parts were not available. The new concept reduces dealership inventory levels and increases the number of BMWs that can be repaired with just a single visit.
Paul Dyer, managing director for DHL Supply Chain Automotive said: "DHL's proven strengths in the automotive sector and ability to implement flexible, efficient solutions continue to be attributes, which our customers value us for. We're delighted to have been chosen as a partner to BMW and we look forward to helping enhance its customer service strategy."
As a result of the deal, 18 BMW dealerships in Scotland and Northern England will receive regular deliveries up to three times a day besides their through-the-night service. DHL is also assisting BMW in managing the DMDC concept in other territories, including Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, and the USA.
The Swedish model in place for Volvo includes a main distribution centre in Gothenburg, two mega-local centres in Stockholm and in Malmö and six micro-local centres throughout the country.
DHL introduces carbon dashboard
In other DHL news, DHL Global Forwarding Freight has launched a new service for carbon emissions tracking, the GOGREEN Carbon Dashboard. Customers can choose from a variety of certified reports to better understand the main drivers of carbon emissions from the various transport modes involved; including pickup and delivery emissions in their supply chain. It helps account for and manage carbon emissions, including third party emissions, with detailed and reliable CO2 mapping from a web-based hub.
"Up to 50% of the carbon footprint of a product comes from the supply chain. In the future, carbon will become a global currency and DHL makes it easy for companies to integrate it in their balance sheet. The new Carbon Dashboard helps our customer identify their impact in detail, so that together we can find 'greener' solutions wherever possible," says Kathrin Brost, vice president, DHL Global Forwarding, Freight Green Strategy.
