DHL Supply Chain Helps to Bolster Operations at Manheim Logistics

A DHL control tower. The one located in Detroit will be utilized as part of the Manheim collaboration. (DHL)

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DHL Supply Chain detailed Oct. 13 how it plans to use its technology and resources to help bolster operations at Manheim Logistics, which facilitates approximately 10 million moves a year primarily in transporting vehicles.

The exclusive collaboration, announced Oct. 8, will also support order management, vehicle verification and advanced routing capabilities. It aims to help carriers optimize loads.

“An important aspect of this partnership is that Manheim will continue to own the end-to-end shipper and customer experience,” said Daniel McGrath, spokesman for the Americas Team at DHL. “At the same time, DHL technology is going to play an instrumental role in enabling that, helping them to improve the experience and also providing them with a platform for further growth.”

McGrath

DHL also will support those end-to-end operations by integrating its transportation management system and in-house applications.

“It is essentially a service platform,” McGrath said. “DHL will apply its technologies, resources and relationships to help Manheim Logistics to optimize and improve its transport services.”

DHL will also provide insights on performance such as tender acceptance as well as pricing stability. It will include procurement capabilities and relationships with carriers to find additional capacity, improve responsiveness and show opportunities to consolidate and optimize loads.

“It essentially relates to a system that oversees all aspects of the end-to-end supply chain, from order generation through to final delivery and invoicing,” McGrath said. “It brings together all the pieces of Manheim’s supply chain and allows them to be managed in sync, within one system. This is important because it can reveal opportunities to optimize capacity.”

A Manheim auto hauler. Manheim will continue to own the end-to-end shipper and customer experience in the DHL partnership. (Manheim Logistics)

Manheim Logistics laid out a strategy for the future based on client feedback. This collaboration is designed to support that initiative by providing those clients with the technology and support they have been requesting.

“We will still own the entire end-to-end shipping process for our shippers,” Joe Kichler, vice president at Manheim Logistics, told Transport Topics. “We’re the ones accountable. What we’re really looking to DHL for is portions of the back-office operations as it related to dispatch. We’re looking to leverage their technology and their billions of dollars in investments that they made to make our business that much better.”

DHL will also provide an integrated user experience portal for shippers and operations personnel.

Kichler

“Our primary goal at Manheim Logistics, our mission is, how do we continue to simplify logistics?” Kichler said. “If I take a shipper’s point of view, the things that simplifies it for them is how do I get better visibility, how do I get better tracking information, how do I know where my car is, and what is the latest stats at any given time? We believe the DHL transportation management system will provide us the best-in-class experience for the kind of car hauler space that we’re in.”

The DHL Global Control Tower in Detroit will also be utilized as part of this collaboration along with its embedded logistics support teams. This is to provide greater visibility on inventory flows and optimize vehicle moves. McGrath said the tower and team will provide more control and a higher level of responsiveness when it comes to exceptions and delays.

“Our Detroit Control Tower is the flagship for the North American market, offering 24/7 coverage and housing our engineering, optimization and continuous improvement teams,” McGrath said. “It will be supporting Manheim with the day-to-day tactical work of tracking, exception management, visibility, breakdowns, early warnings, etc. so that they or their carriers can take action.”

DHL is a multinational package delivery and supply chain management company with several divisions. DHL Supply Chain, a division of the company, ranks No. 3 on the Transport Topics Top 50 list of the largest logistics companies in North America.

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