DHL offers customized distribution service

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

PT Birotika Semesta/DHL Express, a courier company operating in Indonesia since 1973, offers purpose-designed facilities to provide inventory management, storage and urgent delivery services through its strategic parts center (SPC), a market manager says.

At each of DHL Express SPCs, the company offers inventory management, reporting, storage, packaging and labeling.

"Our SPCs are especially suited to businesses that have limited or no outlets to service their markets within the country. They will improve the visibility of their goods, reduce their costs and improve their access to remote areas," said DHL Express global and multinational customer manager Nick Singh on Friday.

Currently, DHL Express, with over 10,000 customers, holds a 50 percent share of the logistic distributions market in Indonesia, making it the market leader.

"We just opened four new SPCs customized to our customers' specific requirements last year," he said, adding that they already had 88 service centers that could also function as SPCs when needed.

DHL's strategic parts and express logistics centers are linked electronically through inventory control and order management systems that provide customers with access to accurate view of their product inventories 24-hour a day.

According to data from research company Montgomery Research, companies using professional couriers could save between 10 percent and 20 percent of their supply chain costs.

PT Birotika Semesta/DHL Express country marketing manager Edi Prayitno said the level of investment needed for SPCs varied from client to client depending on their requirements.

While Edi said the service was gaining in popularity, he could not put a figure on the contribution it made to total business as SPCs were only one part of the services provided, he said. (003)