The CEO of Deutsche Post DHL Group told CNBC Tuesday that digitalization would change the industry. Frank Appel’s comments came as the business unveiled its new group strategy for the years ahead.
With around 550,000 employees globally, Deutsche Post is a logistics and mail powerhouse. Speaking to CNBC’s Annette Weisbach, Appel said the Bonn headquartered group’s portfolio was “pretty broad and therefore very robust against volatility.”
“We want to focus on our logistics core, we want to focus on execution excellence – which made us strong – and we want to digitalize our company,” he added.
In an announcement Tuesday the group said it would, among other things, be “comprehensively modernizing” IT systems and integrating new technologies, while there will also be a focus on warehouse automation, robotics programs and data analytics. It also wants operating profit to rise to “at least” 5.3 billion euros ($5.78 billion) in 2022.
“Digitalization will change our industry, it will change our company,” Appel told CNBC. “We want to invest 2 billion (euros) in the next couple of years and we expect significant benefits from that, more than 1.5 billion (euros). We believe that will make our company significantly stronger,” he added.
A number of firms are turning to robotics and automated technologies to streamline operations. Amazon Robotics, for example, was set up in 2003. A wholly-owned subsidiary of tech giant Amazon, it automates the business’ fulfilment centers using a range of technology such as machine learning, depth sensing and autonomous mobile robots.