DHL Supply Chain is implementing the first digital twin of a warehouse in the Asia-Pacific region for Tetra Pak. The main advantage: optimized, agile and cost-effective supply chains.
DHL Supply Chain, the market leader in contract logistics, has successfully implemented an integrated supply chain for Tetra Pak in Singapore. The warehouse there is one of the largest Tetra Pak warehouses in the world and also the first smart warehouse for DHL in the Asia-Pacific region that also exists as a digital twin. The digital doppelgänger of the Tetra Pak warehouse is continuously fed with real-time data from the physical warehouse in Singapore and maps changes in real time.
Jerome Gillet, CEO, DHL Supply Chain Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines
The joint implementation of such a digital solution to improve Tetra Pak's warehousing and transport activities is an excellent example of the smart warehouses of the future. This enables agile, cost-effective and scalable supply chain operations
Creating the perfectly controlled warehouse based on high tech
DHL Supply Chain uses the following technologies and processes, among others, to optimally manage the warehouse building and inventories:
- Physical objects such as industrial trucks are equipped with Internet-of-Things technology.
- DHL Supply Chain combines this and all other warehouse data in a virtual representation and evaluates it.
- A DHL Control Tower monitors incoming and outgoing goods so that goods are correctly stored within 30 minutes of receipt. Outgoing goods are ready for shipment in 95 minutes.
Highly efficient operation around the clock
In this way, Tetra Pak has created an intelligent storage solution that:
- monitors and simulates the physical condition and individual stock levels in real time.
- enables smooth non-stop coordination of operations,
- makes faults immediately visible and
- improves safety and productivity in the warehouse.
Outsourcing logistics, optimizing standards
DHL Supply Chain Singapore has extensive expertise in the region in meeting individual customer requirements. The company offers Third-Party Logistics (3PL) solutions in which customers can outsource their entire logistics management and operations. This includes, for example:
- warehouse management,
- domestic transports,
- spare parts logistics,
- packaging design and
- recycling.
"We expect the partnership with DHL Supply Chain to further increase our productivity and maintain high standards in our supply chains," says Devraj Kumar, Director, Integrated Logistics, South Asia, East Asia & Oceania, Tetra Pak .
How a digital twin works
A digital twin is a virtual representation of a physical object that can be used to monitor and simulate the state and behavior of an object in the real world. Applied to products, machines, and entire corporate ecosystems, such as a warehouse, digital twins can show data from the past, optimize the present, and even predict future developments.
For more information:
Trend Report: „Digital Twins in Logistics - A DHL perspective on the impact of digital twins on logistics“: free download!
Watch our video about DHL Supply Chain Asia's Smart Warehouse .
