DHL Supply Chain

DHL Supply Chain, one of the world's largest third-party logistics (3PL) operators, manages warehouse fulfillment for enterprise clients across a global network of managed sites. Warehouse picking — locating and retrieving individual items for orders — is labor-intensive, repetitive, and difficult to scale during demand surges. High associate turnover in the warehousing industry compounds the problem: each new hire requires weeks of training before reaching productive throughput. For a 3PL operating at DHL's scale, these inefficiencies translate directly into throughput constraints, elevated labor costs, and reduced service reliability for clients across dozens of geographically dispersed facilities.

In 2017, DHL Supply Chain partnered with Locus Robotics to deploy autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) across its managed warehouse network. Rather than replacing human pickers, the LocusBots operate in a collaborative model alongside associates: robots navigate warehouse aisles autonomously using Locus Robotics' LocusONE fleet management platform, guiding workers to precise pick locations and handling inter-zone transport. This human-robot collaboration reduces the physical distance associates travel per shift and dramatically shortens the warehouse-knowledge ramp-up for new hires. From initial deployments in 2017, the rollout has grown to thousands of AMRs operating across more than 40 DHL-managed facilities worldwide, with the entire fleet coordinated centrally through LocusONE.

The partnership reached a landmark when a Locus Robotics AMR completed the one billionth pick within DHL's network — the item: a pink beanie. Across the deployment, productivity improved by 30–180% in picks per hour, with the range reflecting differences in site layout, SKU density, and workflow configuration. New associate onboarding time fell by 80%, directly addressing the labor-flexibility bottleneck during peak periods. DHL and Locus Robotics have announced plans to scale the fleet to 5,000 AMRs across the global network.

• 1 billion total picks completed by AMRs
• 30–180% improvement in picks per hour across sites
• 80% reduction in associate onboarding time
• Expansion target: 5,000 AMRs across the DHL network

• Long-term vendor partnerships (since 2017 here) allow enterprises to iterate deployment configurations and build internal AMR expertise before committing to full-network scale.
• Human-robot collaboration models — robots handle navigation and transport, associates focus on picking — can compress onboarding time significantly by reducing the warehouse layout knowledge new hires must develop independently.
• Expect wide productivity variance across sites (30–180%); site layout, SKU mix, and workflow design all materially affect AMR throughput gains.
• Standardizing on a single fleet management platform (LocusONE) across all sites simplifies operations and enables centralized performance monitoring at enterprise scale.