DHL invests US$61 million in Asia Pacific technical services

THE next time you call the IT helpdesk for your laptop, the engineer on the other end of the line could be a DHL employee. Purchased a new mobile phone? DHL staff may have configured the software.

With counterfeit goods on the rise, a fraudster or unsuspecting consumer trying to claim warranty on an illegal product from the legitimate brand owner may have plans thwarted by a DHL technician counterchecking warranty claims and product specifications.

This comes as DHL's Supply Chain division announced plans to invest EUR50 million (US$61.46 million) over the next five years to grow its Technical Services offering in Asia Pacific, which is part of its overall Service Logistics2 solution; and mapped out expansion plans for China, India, Japan and Singapore.

DHL has also appointed an IT industry veteran to head this sector and officiated its first technical services competency centre in Asia. Co-located at its 18,580 square feet Penang Logistics Hub in Malaysia, DHL's first Technical Services competency centre in Asia that provides technical solutions for customers.

"The market is growing 25 per cent per annum. Of that, Service Logistics services, especially Technical Services and repairs account for up to 60 per cent of the overall spend," said Paul Graham, CEO, DHL Supply Chain, Asia Pacific.

Spanning the breadth of its Express, Global Forwarding and Supply Chain locations, DHL has the ability to custom build end-to-end Service Logistics solutions, including Technical Services. DHL's Service Logistics system builds on a network of over 16 distribution centres and over 490 field stocking locations in Asia Pacific.

For geographically expansive markets like China and India, the focus is on growing DHL's Service Logistics presence. "DHL operates from 400 sites in China and 470 locations in India. Of these, 15 per cent of our sites in China and 40 per cent of our facilities in India support Service Logistics. We expect to double the number and increase our Service Logistics footprint in China and India within the next three to five years," said Mr Graham.

Choo Yew Kwong has been named vice president, Technical Services, DHL Supply Chain Asia Pacific. Mr Kwong joins DHL from Hewlett Packard and Compaq Computer Asia where his roles included managing end-to-end parts supply chain model covering procurement, logistics, inventory management and outsourced repair operations.
(Source:www.schednet.com)