SCMv2.0

DHL not serving Canada well ?

Andy brings some me an interesting tidbit of info !!

He cribs "If you type in "DHL toronto pickup" in Google.ca (Toronto IP), you would be able to see even Google can't find anything from DHL canada. Nothing from DHL is in sight, not even any Adwords ads."

Thats pretty pathetic epxerince for the conusmer /  customer

Supply Chain Companies are not wising up to the wisdom of crowds and Customer Experience Strategies.

oh .. during recently conversation of a leading company-- I dropped the question.. "whats your customer experience strategy".. and the answer was "oh we have a call center" -dah  !!

Round Up on the vertical !!

Aplogies to my readers for not posting more freqently. So this post is just a quick brief with a lot of pointers.

FEDEX

• Will increase average shipping rates by 3.5 percent at the beginning of the year.
• FEDEX to buy Prakash Air Freight for $30 million
• Fedex Lost Package
• FedEx Ground will now accept legal wine shipments to consumers within Vermont.

UPS

• Probs with UPS - "UPS Ground has screwed up in my case "
• Open Question: Does UPS ship to APO addresses? - Yes to the best of my knowledge !!
• UPS  plans to build on their ADS-B  foundation in 2007
• Has anyone done anything with UPS XML API?

DHL

• Bahrain Trade Unions sorting out their DHL woes
• Jozzua gets his first ADsense Check via DHL  !!
• DHL is Horrible
• Police intercept high-grade heroin worth R1m sent by courier [DHL courier company]
• Plaintiff filed a class action against Airborne Express (now DHL)

Supply Chain

• China may spin off postal system
• Managing the Financial Supply Chain - Part 3
• Project to mesh with supply chain
• Streamlining the Modern Supply Chain

DHL moving into Heavy Airlines Cargo !!

I wrote here once  "DHL( OTC + RFD + DP World Terminal) = Marco Polo of the new age !!"

"The move is part of a strategic partnership between DHL and Polar Air Cargo which will allow DH to increase the capacity of its trans-Pacific air routes" - Forbes

DHL have moving freight into the North America on the old Airborne Grid. Now, they moving the same onto the EU grid by using this strategic partnership. Thus the leverage of weight for the Transatlantic may pay off.

DHL does have some  interesting manevours in the making. As a sidebar, they have just opened a new facilicty too.

"DHL Global Forwarding has inaugurated a new facility at the Waigaoqiao Bonded Logistics Zone (WBLZ ) in Shanghai. The new warehouse is part of DHL’s total $315 million investment in China in the past few years and aims to improve the company’s market position in China.

The Long Tail effect in Supply Chain !

Yes, the big three are finally getting it- the long tail effects

Some 98 percent of the 23 million businesses in the United States are small enterprises, and the big logistics firms see small ventures as the fastest growing segment of the economy.In Latin America, the new buzzword is also small -- as in small initiatives and community projects serving as the building blocks of change.

Crtical Supply Chain

"Same-day fulfillment and extended order times will be provided, thus eliminating, at least partially, the use of regional warehouses. In addition, customers will be given real-time, next-flight-out and courier visibility, event notification, monitoring, recovery and proof of delivery" [via]

FedEx Corp. announced Tuesday the launch of a new supply chain service called FedEx Critical Inventory Logistics.  This is interesting, but at what price will this be leveraged into the market. High Tech folios know what what the productions lines consuption is very early in the Process an Production planning cycles. High Tech industries cant afford their Siemens Backoff and Screen machines to go dry for lack of components. So i am failing to see extactly what value is being brought here. If its see critical, then these high tech's will just ship it with a Person a "hand carry". Same day fulliflment is difficult, unless you know stock levels at the down stream providers.

Anyhow, this is the talk of in the markets and I wanted to rant my thoughts too :)-

DHL and Cyberjaya

DHL is now reaching critical threshold in infrastrcuture investments for the Far East Asia and Asia Markets strategy.   DHL's additional investment of RM50mil in the IT (information technology) Services Centre Cyberjaya (ITSC Cyberjaya) reflects its commitment and confidence in Malaysia and the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC).

Cyberjaya represents a key part of the global IT infrastructure that drives DHL's global express and logistics business. It is one of four global data centres that make up DHL's IT services group, with the responsibility for the design, development, implementation and the service delivery management of its IT solutions worldwide. The IT services group, which includes three other global data centres located in the US, Czech Republic and Germany, also provides centralised technical and application support functions.

The Stategic advantage of Real Estate -Chinese Style !

We all know that China is a strategic trade partner globally. But how about Expannsion the chinese style ??

Forbes brings me this little infonugget about a little know company called as Prologis (nyse: PLD - news - people ), a major international real estate player in warehousing and distribution centers (DCs), is erecting 3 million square feet of new distribution parks at these sites. (It already has 4.1 million square feet in China).

More and more companies are deciding to lease rather than build their own facilities, since it allows them to avoid contending with the diversity of Chinese building requirements and the costs of constructing and maintaining their own buildings.

UPS recently described itself as a technology company that has trucks. Similarly, Prologis could be described as a supply chain company that has real estate (in the form of distribution centers). Both are part of a new world within the logistics industry that calls for new measures and new strategies.

Express Delivery- Satisfaction index

Heres some interesting stats on Customer Satisification index (CSI's). Index is produced by the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business

• Fedex : 84 a year ago to 86
• UPS climbed to 83 from 82 a year ago
• USPS express delivery services rose from 74 to 75 points

DHL and EBIT Filing

DHL files their Q1/06 Results -a climb of 4.2%. They are slowing gaining traction.

Deutsche Post AG said its first-quarter EBIT rose 4.2 pct to 917 mln eur from 880 mln a year earlier as solid performances at its Mail and Logistics units outweighed weakness at its Express Americas operations [ via Forbes]

SideBare :as at 10.26 AM : Deutsche Post shares were up 0.04 eur or 0.19 pct to 21.35. Overall, the DAX-30 was off 28.85 points or 0.49 pct to 5,828.18

Buffett and UPS

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRKa.N: Quote, Profile, Research) held 1.4 million shares of United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS.N: Quote, Profile, Research), a quarterly filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission showed. [via :STockMarketWatch]

As a UPS'er  its nice to know this this factoid. Buffett always invests in companies that do well.  :)-   See, no SEC filing  with FEDEX or DHL on it !!  Ok that was a minoe poke at the other companies