OUR ROUTE TO BETTER SUPPLY CHAINS
Our 5-step innovation program – a unique opportunity to collaborate with one of the world’s leading logistics providers – is designed to guide innovators through a structured journey, offering insights, real-world testing, and the chance to make a measurable impact. Whether it’s working with our global teams or piloting your solution in live operations, we’re here to turn your vision into a transformative reality.
Read on to learn in more detail about the steps to become a Trailblazer!
STEP 1: APPLY
The first step of our program is completing our submission form. We encourage both existing suppliers and new prospective partners to provide as much detail as possible about their organization, technology, use case, and potential impact. This is your opportunity to put your best foot forward and demonstrate how your solution aligns with the challenges we’re addressing in logistics. The more we know, the better we can assess your innovation and move onward to the next step.
STEP 2: CONNECT
Once your application is submitted, our team reviews its fit within DHL’s operations. If there’s strong potential, we’ll schedule introductory calls where you’ll present your solution, showcase demos, and learn more about how we work. These conversations help us assess alignment while giving you insights into DHL’s operations and goals.
From there, we promote your solution internally to relevant DHL business units. When a team expresses interest, we’ll sign NDAs and formally introduce you to the stakeholders who will explore collaboration. Depending on your solution, you may engage with multiple DHL business units and teams, each offering unique expertise and opportunities.
STEP 3: TEST
As you get to know your DHL partners more in the Connect phase, you’ll soon learn more about the challenges we seek to address, including implementation constraints and opportunities. Together, we’ll collaborate to draw up the parameters of a proof of concept, ensuring alignment on the scope, objectives, and implementation plan. During this phase, we’ll also define clear metrics of success to measure the impact and effectiveness of your solution.
Once everything is set up, you’ll then implement your product in a live, real-world logistics environment. Whether it’s in aisles of our warehouses or in the bellies of our airplanes, this is where your solution is validated and refined. Testing ensures we stress test your innovation and identify areas of improvement early such that your solution can eventually integrate seamlessly in the DHL ecosystem and deliver measurable impact.
STEP 4: PRODUCTIZE
Once your solution meets our success metrics in the Test phase, we’ll guide you through DHL’s procurement process. Your product will be added to our internal catalog, making it easily accessible for business units across the organization. This step ensures your innovation is positioned as an operationally viable solution, prepared for deployment whenever a team decides to adopt it, as we facilitate further operational collaboration. Productization turns your concept into a trusted tool within DHL’s network.
STEP 5: SCALE
The final phase of the program is scaling your solution across DHL’s global operations. At this stage, we pass you off to the business units like DHL Express or DHL Supply Chain, with whom you’ve already established connections during the Test phase. These teams will determine how, where, and to what extent they want to integrate your technology into their operations. Whether it’s a regional rollout or a global expansion, this phase is about turning those initial tests into wide-reaching impact across our logistics network.
