DHL Supply Chain Signs Expanded Agreement with Locus Robotics to Boost Warehouse Automation

Recommendation: Deploying targeted, autonomous picking workflows in five centers to lift throughput without increasing strain on people.

Il article describes a deal that focuses on deploying sensor-driven picking flows to accelerate shipping operations while maintaining accuracy. According to the источник, the initial test runs occur in five centers; some throughput gains are observed during peak load tests; the plan is providing additional capabilities in coming quarters.

Leaders expect workflows optimization to reduce strain on people at peak demand, enabling recruiting of talent for rapid setup and recommended approaches to training. The initiative aims to lower cycle times and deployed solutions across multiple centers, while additional modules going live next quarter.

Initial testing targets five centers, achieving a peak capacity uplift in the low double digits; some parts of the program include additional deployments where throughput remains lower risk, while email alerts keep stakeholders informed about progress. The article suggests tracking test outcomes to calibrate investments and to ensure a shorter time-to-value.

From a leadership perspective, this approach treats the centers as a cohesive network, enabling a tested workflows library to be replicated quickly. Some teams are already going through recruiting drives to staff the new roles; the plan includes conducting blind tests to validate results before a broader rollout.

In practice, a clear channel for email updates helps ensure an authoritative source of data, avoiding silos during transition. The article closes with practical takeaways for readers seeking to replicate improvements in centers facing strain during peak shipping periods.

DHL Supply Chain and Locus Robotics Expand Partnership: 5,000 Robots, 2 New Warehouses, Global Deployment

Recommendation: deploy 5,000 amrs across two new warehouses to maximize efficiency and flexibility, providing additional capacity ahead of peak periods, and to extend a proven logistics approach already delivering significant gains for customers across centers globally; locuss-based manifest and display capabilities will support mobile operators and provide real-time visibility.

• Footprint and scale: 5,000 amrs will be distributed between two new warehouses, creating north-centered coverage and allowing a global deployment across some centers; this would be ready for replication in other markets, leveraging the locuss platform for a streamlined rollout.
• Operational optimization: optimizing picking, replenishment, and transport flows to raise throughput; the manifest data exchange will support drop and cross-dock activities, reducing handling time.
• Technology and visibility: display dashboards and mobile interfaces will give leaders and operators near real-time status; the amrs will operate with proven navigation and obstacle avoidance.
• People and partnerships: recruiting efforts will focus on building a skilled operations team; the companys leadership will oversee continuing improvement, with miller leading regional integration in initial centers.
• Expected impact: significant gains in efficiency and service levels are anticipated; customers will see faster order fulfillment; peak demand management will become more resilient across the network.

Operational milestones, workforce strategy, and data-driven improvements

Recommendation: start a phased rollout across ohio centers, with two pilot sites in month 1, expanding to six centers by month 4, and a fleet of 120 autonomous robots deployed by month 6 to lift throughput and delivery speed for retailers and healthcare customers. This deal aims to deliver measurable value and will please customers by reducing strain on drivers and improving fulfillment at warehouses. That will be tracked by monthly KPIs. Please align resources accordingly.

Workforce strategy centers on upskilling, cross-training, and on-site supervision for the autonomous fleet. The plan adds training for 200 operators across north ohio centers, plus supervisors in the loop. Rick said during a conference last month that listening to frontline feedback is essential; the program covers robot supervision, safety, diagnostics, and hands-on maintenance, with a robust certification track, providing ongoing support to keep workers well-prepared and ready for peak loads. Voss emphasized that this effort is important to align with retailer and healthcare customer needs.

Data-driven improvements rely on real-time telemetry from robots and trucks to measure throughput, uptime, path efficiency, and order accuracy. Reading dashboards daily, the central team will implement a continuous improvement loop that yields measurable results, with added tests in ohio and north centers to validate gains and de-risk deployment at scale. The goal is efficient operations that support the customer base, with expected gains in cycle time and service levels across healthcare centers and retailer networks.

Global Deployment Scope: 5,000 Locus robots across DHL warehouses worldwide

Recommendation: implement a phased rollout of five thousand autonomous units across sixty sites within twelve months to meet demand and peak volumes. In month one, target 400 units; In month four, 1,600; In month eight, 3,200; In month twelve, 5,000. A number of metrics will be tracked to validate progress. This plan yields significant efficiency gains and reduces workload on their workers across warehouses.

Operational impact: significant efficiency gains come from smarter routing, real-time dashboards, and mobile interfaces. The approach reduces truck idle times, speeds picking, and increases throughput across warehouses, enabling associates to concentrate on exceptions; the initiative supports growth across e-commerce channels, being productive even during peak periods, and would accelerate the cadence of releases as demand climbs. Teams already worked hard, and the system would sustain momentum going forward while simplifying daily tasks.

Rick said the rollout would deliver measurable value to customers. Sally noted that associates would benefit from clearer tasks and mobile support. Listen to feedback from associates on the floor; release scheduling will be adjusted accordingly, ensuring rollout readiness for peak demand windows and avoiding disruptions for critical shipments.

ohio facilities will pilot, then scale across e-commerce hubs globally. Financial modeling shows payback within 18-24 month; maintenance costs stay under five percent of baseline. Reading data from sensors and dashboards guides continuous improvement. The outcome keeps customer commitments intact, supports employees, and drives growth across the network.

New Site Rollout: two additional warehouses, capacity, and system integrations

Recommendation: initiate a two-site rollout in ohio and the north by sept, tied to phased testing that minimizes disruption to ongoing e-commerce and healthcare operations as we are going live across both locations. Standardize processes across both locations to enable rapid scale and consistent support for seasonal demand, where spikes occur, while maintaining cross-site visibility for executives overseeing the transition.

Capacity plan adds approximately 420,000 sq ft across the two sites, about 40 dock doors per facility, and 60,000 pallet positions. This additional footprint supports an expected throughput of 1.8 million units per month once deployed, including dedicated zones for high-velocity e-commerce and healthcare orders.

System integrations include ERP and WMS connections, OMS orchestration, and API feeds to major e-commerce platforms. This interface enables real-time display of inventory, order status, and capacity planning, letting teams listen to alerts and adjust staffing and routing through weekly conference reviews.

People plan centers on recruiting and training associates for ohio and north sites, added onboarding to align with healthcare and seasonal demand. Recruiting plans address onboarding and retention. Training covers safety, quality, and cross-training across receiving, put-away, picking, and replenishment, providing clear paths for career growth through the season.

Logistics support includes trucks, dock scheduling, and cross-docking capabilities, supported by a dedicated operations leader kate and a logistics supervisor rick to drive adoption and help respond to issues. The plan includes sept hires and ongoing outreach to recruiters and local partners across the region to ensure capacity scales as needed.

Productivity and Accuracy Gains: expected uplift from robotic picking and diagnostics

Recommendation: deploying autonomous picking robots in the highest-velocity zones can deliver a significant uplift in throughput by 25-34% while reducing mis-picks to under 0.5% and shortening cycle times by 10-18%.

rick, this approach is supported by digitalization that already enables autonomous workflows across their network. In the north region, 12 mobile fleets were added, expanding flexibility and cutting peak-overtime by roughly 30%, while recruitment intensity stayed at baseline levels, according to the article and источник miller.

Accuracy gains are clear: baseline pick accuracy around 99.2% rises to 99.8-99.95% in lanes run by robots; the improvement translates to a reduction in the number of mis-picks by 0.6-0.75 percentage points at scale, reducing returns and rework.

Diagnostics and maintenance are another lever: predictive diagnostics monitor gripper wear, sensor drift, and path drift; downtime declines 12-22% and maintenance intervals extend 25-40%, while dashboards deliver real-time visibility that speeds remediation, allowing teams to act before issues affect throughput.

Implementation plans include recruiting a lean field-tech team, expanding to two additional sites, and deploying 20 more mobile units by Q3. This addition yields a scalable path that can be repeated across their network, making the approach the recommended path for expansion, according to miller and источник miller.

Workforce Strategy: 12,000 new hires ahead of peak season and upskilling plans

Recommendation: Hire 12,000 seasonal employees by sept and roll out targeted upskilling across fulfillment centers to reach peak capacity within two weeks of onboarding. Establish a fast-track screening and offer-letters cycle, targeting 24-hour responses to minimize delays and sustain a strong delivery rhythm during the ramp. What matters is reducing time-to-productivity and providing a clear path for employees to advance.

Recruitment will occur across north markets, urban and rural sites, and partner networks, ensuring nationwide reach in sept. Campus programs, temporary staffing, and referral channels will secure a broad applicant pool, aiming to approve offers for at least 90% of screened candidates within 48 hours to preserve momentum. They will operate without disruption to core operations.

Upskilling plan centers on six-week tracks for picking, packing, sorting, and returns handling; safety, quality, and customer interactions; modules delivered via mobile and audio-enabled learning; on-job coaching; cross-training across tasks; micro-credentials accelerate progression. These pathways enable employees to advance not only in role but across functions, providing tangible career steps. They also create multiple ways to grow skills and handle increasing complexity.

Technology-driven operations hinge on autonomous support tools, smart handheld devices, and industrial-grade solutions; mobile workflows enable real-time task routing across north centers, enabling efficiency and optimizing throughput while preserving customer experience. What they do here leverages proven solutions and cutting-edge technology to sustain performance during peak demand.

Officer Voss said the program is fully proven and scalable across seasonal demand. Source: источник internal analysis shows efficiency gains of 18-22% in the first wave; delivery accuracy reaches 98% across centers. The governance model tracks what matters: time-to-productivity, pick-and-ship cycle, and customer satisfaction across all north centers. Audio alerts support proactive issue resolution, and the number of hires is aligned with budget.

Smart Operations: scheduling, task automation, and real-time visibility

Adopt a centralized orchestration layer enabling scheduling, automatic task handling, and real-time visibility across distribution networks, carrier partners, and in-house teams. This approach reduces idle movement, improves delivery reliability, and scales operations to meet rising demand from e-commerce, healthcare sectors, and other industries where efficiencies have been demonstrated.

sept release added last-mile scheduling capabilities, deployed across their global networks, enabling added efficiency and more predictable delivery performance. Each piece of the workflow integrates with existing systems, from ERP to supplier portals, ensuring data integrity and faster decision cycles.

Real-time visibility dashboards pull data from devices, sensors, email, and supplier portals, providing a single source of truth. This enables going from planning to execution in milliseconds, supporting proactive issue resolution and fewer exceptions across the network. Real-time workflows stay aligned across functions where coverage has been clarified.

Digitalization supports scale across america and global markets, with added focus on healthcare and e-commerce flows. The number of daily deliveries processed rose after deployment, signaling resilient performance under peak demand. This deal includes deploy of additional modules in coming quarters, underpinned by expanded training and recruiting.

источник notes that voss deployed assets underpin the integration, delivering unrivalled reliability. They have plans to expand recruiting to scale their employees, with email-based alerts and around-the-clock support. they will scale staffing as plans mature.

Data and Analytics: KPIs, dashboards, ROI tracking, and continuous improvement

Recommendation: establish a unified KPI framework that tracks fulfillment throughput, cycle time, accuracy, and unit-cost; source data from a single repository to power reliable dashboards and timely interventions. This approach will drive better decisions across the network.

Key KPIs to monitor include:

• Throughput per hour and per shift
• Fulfillment cycle time from order received to shipped
• Picking and packing accuracy
• On-time delivery rate and carrier performance
• Labor cost per order
• Asset utilization for mobile devices, conveyors, and intelligent picking aids
• Peak capacity and surge readiness
• Inventory accuracy and slot utilization
• System reliability: uptime and MTBF

Dashboards and governance

• Operations officer view for real-time status, exceptions, and escalation
• Site-level dashboards tracking throughput, cycle times, and error rates
• Finance view for savings, cost breakdown, and ROI indicators
• IT/DevOps view for deployment health and data latency
• Mobile dashboards for floor teams and supervisors

ROI tracking and business case

• Calculate savings from reduced travel and handling, improved accuracy, and lower overtime
• Capex amortization for a tech-enabled fulfillment network
• Payback period around 18 months; IRR in the mid-teens; NPV positive under peak demand; ongoing support from platform teams ensures sustained gains
• Site-level pilots versus scale across other hubs

Case example

• ohio-based miller deployed configuration shows bigger gains: throughput up 12%, dwell time down 9% last quarter; mobile devices enabled faster picks
• In several other hubs, results varied by lane and SKU mix, guiding where to deploy next

Conference and going-forward plan

• Going forward, at a conference leadership will announce where changes are going and what metrics will guide that next phase
• This will include a clear path to scale across additional hubs and ongoing support from technology teams
• According to internal notes, scalability remains on track for two additional hubs

This article reinforces concrete steps to accelerate value through data-driven workflows. Fully integrated data pipelines, coupled with agile governance, will sustain significant improvements through the lifecycle of the relationship.

Flexibility and last-mile benefits

• Unrivalled visibility into end-to-end workflows supports lower dwell times and higher customer satisfaction
• Flexibility to adapt to seasonal peaks across ohio and other regions