DHL's Swiss Knife?

Supply chains are extremely complex constructions. That has implications for SCRM: Due to the multi-tier character of supply chains with many thousands transactions (material, information, and financial flows) the detection of risk developments in operations is difficult. Because a broad variety of operational databases and applications is used, transparency regarding the abovementioned flows is almost impossible.

Figure 1: Visualization of a company's supply chain, Source: http://www.dpdhl.com/content/dam/presse/img/2014/dhl-resilience360-world-map-600.jpg

DHL now promises to solve ‘mission impossible’ by the introduction of ‘Resilience360’. Resilience360 is said to allow for a holistic view and the real-time identification of possible risks. The application also suggests alternatives or counteractions for identified risk; thus, it seems to be a decision support system. This and more information can be found on www.dhl.com/Resilience. The site promises a lot. So far, many of the information are of relatively generic character. Also, the video shown on the DHL’s website is a nicely computer-animated movie, but contains little concrete information.

DHL also provides two case studies: The first focusing on the use of Resilience360 at ZF, one of the big automotive suppliers; the other talking about how Resilience360 has been used at DuPont. Again, many generic topics are mentioned in the case study, so the level of detail is (understandably) low. However, it is irritating that some identical pictures are used in both case studies.

Risk categories used for Resilience360, Source: http://www.dpdhl.com/content/dam/presse/img/2014/dhl-resilience360-risk-wheel-600.jpg

In the end, we only get a shallow first impression of this ‘all in one solution’ by DHL. Too much information is of generic character. The functionality seems to be impressive, but not much details were revealed (for example, no real screenshots were shown). Thus, an evaluation of the capabilities of Resilience360 is not possible. Another question that has not been addressed in the reports is how the data sources are included: If a global player like DuPont or ZF intends to gain more transparency, they must collect a huge amount of data and integrate not only direct suppliers, but partners on each level of the supply chain. It would be interesting to understand, if and how those difficulties are solved by Resilience360.

Sources:

• DHL International GmbH: DHL Resilience360 – Managing Risks in Your Supply Chains, http://www.dhl.com/resilience (2014).
• DHL: Holistic View of DuPont Supply Chain Improves Resilience and Avoid Costs, http://www.dhl.com/content/dam/downloads/g0/logistics/resilience360/dupont_case_study_en.pdf (2014).
• DHL: DHL and ZF Drive Down Supply Chain Risk with Resilience360, http://www.dhl.com/content/dam/downloads/g0/logistics/resilience360/zf_case_study_Apr2014.pdf (2014).
• Greenway, T.: How Safe is Your Supply Chain? In: Deutsche Post DHL Headquarters: Delivered, Issue 1/2014, p. 23-25.
• Deutsche Post AG: DHL Resilience360 - neues Instrument für Risikomanagement in der Logistik, http://www.dpdhl.com/de/presse/pressemitteilungen/2014/dhl_resilience360_risikomanagement.html (2014).