DHL Supply Chain is to invest £550m to open a health logistics facility in Derby and accelerate the rollout of automation across its customer operations in UK and Ireland, the company announced today (9 July).
The new investment aims to support growing demand in the e-commerce and life sciences health care sectors and builds on the £860,000 (€1bn) already spent on automation by DHL Supply Chain over the past three years, with more than 3,200 digitalisation projects deployed across the UK & Ireland and EMEA.
Until 2030, DHL’s contract logistics business plans to significantly increase its scale in UK&I as well as globally, with automation, robotics and digitalisation being a key enabler of this growth.
Saul Resnick, DHL Supply Chain UK & Ireland chief executive (pictured right), said: “Our investment reflects the growing opportunities across the UK market.
“Customers are increasingly recognising the benefits of digitalisation and, to date this year, we’ve already surpassed the number of deployments achieved last year.
“What’s more, the integration of robotics and automation in customer operations is becoming more sophisticated, so customers are seeing greater benefits and faster ROI.
“This momentum is only possible with the right infrastructure and expertise in place, tailored to support high-growth industries like e-commerce and healthcare. That’s why we’re investing for long-term impact, ensuring we are the go-to supply chain provider.
“The UK’s new Trade Strategy reinforces this direction by supporting fast-growing sectors and enhancing access to global markets - priorities that closely align with our investment focus and customer needs.”
Through strategic partnerships with technology companies, DHL said it is is “intensifying its commitment to go beyond classical vendor relationships to emphasise co-developing, testing, and scaling robotics solutions with leading innovators.”
It added that this strategy has already resulted in more than 2,000 robots working collaboratively alongside workers in the UK, Ireland and EMEA region.
More than 750 Assisted Picking Robots from DHL’s strategic partners Locus Robotics and 6 River Systems are live across 18 sites in the region and DHL recently deployed the first Boston Dynamics Stretch Robot for container unloading in the UK.
The Stretch robots have the ability to unload up to 700 boxes per hour, which DHL said “significantly” reduces physical strain on warehouse colleagues and enhances productivity.
DHL will also open a new DHL Health Logistics facility in Derby. The facility has been designed to support growth in the life sciences and healthcare sector, which is projected to experience double digit growth in the UK over the next five years, driving demand for specialist logistics capabilities.
Each site will feature cold chain and cleanroom facilities and will play a pivotal role in the wider DHL Health Logistics network, globally.
DHL said the investment plan reflects the UK’s status as one of DHL Supply Chain’s largest and most strategically significant regions.
It added: “With long-standing trade and supply chain expertise, the UK has proven to be a resilient and adaptable logistics hub and plays a key role in global commerce as trade patterns continue to shift.”
Tim Tetzlaff, DHL Supply Chain global head of digital transformation (pictured left), said: “At DHL, we’re driving the next wave of automation, not as a one-size-fits-all approach but as a set of intelligent, adaptive technologies tailored to the specific needs of individual sectors.
“For e-commerce, for example, where the market is evolving and demand is growing, we’re expanding our fulfilment capabilities to support that shift with automated solutions that significantly simplify high-volume operations.
“Meanwhile, in the growing life sciences sector, we’re leveraging automation to respond faster to demand and manage complexity at scale with end-to-end visibility, amid a larger focus on patient-centric approaches and differentiated routes to market.”
