DHL's AI and Robotics

DHL Supply Chain, the logistics arm of Deutsche Post DHL Group, operates extensive fulfillment centers across Europe—handling complex order flows and rising e-commerce demands.

A modern workspace showcasing AI technology in action.

⚠️ Challenges

E-commerce growth brought huge fluctuations in order volume.

• Manual picking inefficiencies led to long travel distances, errors, and lower productivity.

• Maintaining speed and accuracy under peak demand was increasingly difficult.

  
  

🤖 AI-Powered Solution

Vision-Enabled Picking Robots & AMRs

• Partnered with Boston Dynamics (Stretch) and Locus Robotics.

• Deployed learning-based robots to unload, pick, and transport items in warehouses.

• AI Warehouse Orchestration Platform

  • Central intelligent system coordinating robots and humans in real-time.

  • Algorithms optimized tasks based on order urgency, SKU location, and worker availability.

• Predictive Analytics-Driven Scaling

  • AI forecasted demand spikes and dynamically increased robot deployment by up to 25% during peaks.

📈 Results & Impact

• Up to 50% reduction in travel distances for warehouse staff, enhancing speed and reducing fatigue.

• 30–50% productivity increase in order picking through task coordination and operator assistance.

• Seamless co-working between humans and robots, avoiding bottlenecks and enabling flexible workforce scalability.

🎯 Strategic Takeaways

• Combining autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) with AI orchestration can dramatically optimize warehouse workflows.

• Real-time coordination ensures better resource utilization and faster order fulfillment.

• Scalable solutions allow logistics companies to efficiently adapt to e-commerce surges without adding labor overhead.

Conclusion

DHL’s AI and robotics initiative illustrates how logistics providers can integrate intelligent automation and machine learning into daily operations—yielding genuine improvements in efficiency, accuracy, and responsiveness.