Deutsche Post World Net proudly presents: the winners of the first DHL Innovation Award

DHL today presented the first DHL Innovation Award. In the presence of some 200 invited guests, pioneering ideas from customers, employees and research scientists were honored as DHL presented highly innovative logistics solutions that have been developed or implemented recently.

"The logistics industry needs efficient and intelligent solutions in order to master future challenges," said the host of today's event, John Allan, Group Chief Financial Officer and Management Board Member in charge of Global Business Services, which takes care of the Group's Technology and Innovation Management.

"Whether it's climate-neutral shipments of commercial mail or the seamless monitoring of temperature-controlled high-tech medicines, the solutions from the DHL Innovation Center open up new avenues to respond to tomorrow's customer requirements. With the DHL Innovation Award presented today, we honor creativity as well as far-sighted entrepreneurship that have enhanced the logistics industry."

Bringing innovation to the market

Customers receiving the award include Metro AG, which with its Future Store Initiative introduced the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) system across France.

Each year some 1.3 million pallets are given radio labeling, enabling contactless and automatic monitoring along the entire logistics chain.

With this system, Metro and DHL have started the biggest deployment ever of RFID in French commercial logistics. The second winner is insurance group Allianz. Since July 2008, the German company has sent all its mail and advertising letters climate-neutrally - that's more than 140 million letters per year.

This is an example of how innovative thinking can lead to competitive advantages at both the customer's and the logistics company's end. Deutsche Post World Net's Technology and Innovation Management began to explore ways to offset the carbon footprint of its shipments long before climate protection became a major topic of public debate all over the world. Thus Deutsche Post World Net has been able to offer climate-neutral shipping solutions earlier and in a more comprehensive way than its competitors.

The second category honors the most innovative employees of Deutsche Post World Net. As the manager of the Group's patent applications, the DHL Innovation Center collects ideas from employees and assesses whether they might be suitable for patenting.

Last year, the Group applied for around 100 patents in Germany, making it the country's most innovative service provider. For the first time, ideas came from all across the world: With their "eMailShip" innovation, Supriya Rao Patwardhan and Ashish Saxena from Singapore made it possible for customers to send their shipment orders electronically. Over 100,000 shipments have already been handled with this new service.

Hermann Franck's robot enables DHL employees in warehouses or parcel sorting factories to unload pallets faster. The German employee's robot takes layers from a pallet and puts each layer in serial on the conveyor belt for further processing. Jerry Hennessy and Erin Heuchlow in the U.S. developed a method of transmitting shipping information to a customer via an interactive voice response system.

Joining forces to think ahead

The DHL Innovation Center undertakes its projects in association with partners from industry and science. That is why the DHL Innovation Award honors seasoned research scientists and promising young talents.

One award goes to Prof. Dr. Peter Klaus, University of Erlangen Nuremberg, who has worked with Deutsche Post World Net for years to develop innovative supply chain solutions.

The other two awards cover both the academic and the practical aspects of logistic innovations: Dr. Sean Willems, Associate Professor of Operations and Technology Management at the Boston University School of Management, has developed mathematical models to capture and determine optimal inventory placement in supply chains. Stephan Wrage, CEO of SkySails GmbH, has developed an internationally patented wind propulsion system for ships based on large towing kites.

Interdisciplinary collaboration was also reflected in the jury: the award winners were chosen by Chris Caplice (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Prof. Dr. Eckard Minx (Daimler AG), Prof. Dr. Michael Schenk (Fraunhofer Institute), Ulrich Kasparick (Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs) and Dr. Keith Ulrich (DHL Innovation Center).