Alicemarie Geoffrion is president of packaging for DHL Supply Chain in North America, where she leads a team that helps customers increase the return on their packaging investment through a holistic, integrated approach. Previously, Geoffrion worked in DHL’s strategy group and was also the head of global solutions for DHL’s former Williams Lea Tag division. Prior to joining DHL Supply Chain, she worked at Capemini Consulting and was vice president of eCommerce/Business Solution for IMS, an Omnicom Group company. Geoffrion holds both a bachelor’s degree in management science and an MBA from Case Western Reserve University.
Q: What is the current state of our supply chains?
A: Supply chains are facing immense pressure to enhance their agility, flexibility, and cost efficiency. To meet these demands, companies are increasingly turning to digital technologies and automation to shape the future of supply chain management.
Specifically, packaging supply chains face a distinct challenge when it comes to flexibility. The ability to quickly create new product configurations and SKUs through late-stage customization and postponement solutions is essential for companies to remain competitive in the market. Because of this, packaging supply chains must be able to quickly and accurately adapt and reconfigure to accommodate changing demands, new configurations, and ever-evolving promotion-based SKUs.
While automation is crucial, manual processes still hold significance in packaging supply chains. Human intervention is often required for tasks that demand creativity, problem-solving, and decision-making. Manual processes also allow for a higher degree of adaptability, as human operators can quickly adjust to unforeseen circumstances and make informed decisions on the spot. Achieving the right balance between automation and manual processes is essential to optimize efficiency and flexibility.
Q: How does DHL Supply Chain fit into the DHL network, and does being part of a large supply chain and transportation company provide benefits and synergies for your clients?
A: DHL Supply Chain is a critical component of the larger DHL Group, providing comprehensive logistics solutions that include warehousing, distribution, and integrated logistics services as well as value-added services such as packaging.
This division significantly benefits from the extensive transportation and logistics capabilities of the DHL network. Being part of this larger network provides several advantages for clients. Firstly, DHL’s global reach allows it to provide services in various parts of the world, offering clients the ability to scale their operations as needed. Secondly, the integrated services offered by the DHL Group mean clients can access multiple services from a single source. This simplifies logistics and transportation needs, as a client might use DHL Supply Chain for warehousing and distribution, and then utilize DHL Express for final delivery. Finally, DHL’s experience across many sectors means DHL Supply Chain can effectively cater to specific industry needs, providing expert solutions tailored to each client’s unique requirements. These synergies ensure clients receive a comprehensive, reliable, and efficient service that addresses all aspects of their supply chain needs.
From a packaging standpoint, DHL Supply Chain places great emphasis on collaboration with our Global Packaging Team to ensure the consistent implementation of solutions, integrated technology, and automation across regions. This approach proves particularly advantageous considering that a significant number of our packaging customers operate on a global scale.
Furthermore, our global Packaging Community fosters a culture of knowledge-sharing and continuous improvement. Through this community, best practices are exchanged and collective efforts are made to drive automation and innovation initiatives. This collaborative approach allows us to stay at the forefront of industry advancements and deliver the most effective and efficient packaging solutions to our customers worldwide.
Q: What is the advantage for companies to work with a third-party logistics service provider (3PL), such as DHL Supply Chain?
A: DHL’s specialization in warehousing, fulfillment, and core products like packaging provides a distinct advantage for companies working with 3PLs like us. While customers may not prioritize supply chain solutions as their core business, 3PLs can focus on these activities, offering expertise and resources that they may not have. For example, our end-to-end packaging supply chain solution benefits from a robust materials supplier network, enabling us to leverage our project management, sourcing, and purchasing capabilities. By aggregating spend across our customer base, we can negotiate better pricing, which customers with limited supply networks and spend would struggle to achieve. Moreover, we invest in technologies, automation, and innovation specifically tailored to supply chain packaging operations, an area that customers often consider secondary to their own businesses. As a 3PL, we have the ability to monitor industry trends, respond quickly to market changes, and make strategic investments. This is particularly valuable for customers who lack the time, resources, or funding to address their own supply chain challenges.
Q: As president of packaging operations, you support the “in-DC” packaging model. Can you describe what that is and how it benefits operations?
A: In-DC packaging solutions offer customers the flexibility to create new sellable SKUs at a later stage in the process. Traditionally, if a customer wanted to repack items, configure new displays for promotions, or create custom product mixes, they would need to remove inventory from the distribution center, transport it to a separate copacker facility, have the copacker perform the required tasks, and then ship the newly formed SKUs back to the DC for distribution. This process was time-consuming, incurred additional transportation costs, resulted in higher carbon emissions, and required additional handling of all products.
With an in-DC solution, the DC can efficiently customize, repack, bag, and perform other necessary tasks on the product without the need for external transportation. The product can then be returned to inventory for final distribution quickly—via a forklift alone. This approach leverages a single inventory management system, eliminates the need for loading/unloading the products, reduces transportation requirements, and significantly shortens timelines.
Q: In-DC packaging allows for more customization. Can you describe a few of the strategies you’re using to enhance flexibility in both packaging and distribution?
A: The ability to quickly modularize and set up packaging lines is crucial in the contract packaging industry. Flexibility is essential to meeting the demands of customers who must quickly respond to market changes and customize their packaging to gain the loyalty of end-consumers. Achieving this requires finding the right balance between automation and manual solutions. At DHL, we have implemented a combination of simple and standardized automation across most of our sites. This allows us to automate repetitive and standardized tasks while maintaining a flexible workforce capable of adapting to the ever-changing packaging requirements within our operations.
Furthermore, our integrated systems play a vital role in enabling flexible packaging operations. By having access to all relevant information in real time, we can efficiently manage the entire packaging supply chain, from materials management to final distribution. This access to end-to-end data empowers us to make informed decisions and manage solutions in the most flexible and effective way possible.
Q: How do you help your clients reduce their dependence on labor in their packaging operations?
A: First and foremost, our packaging operations are driven by our proprietary integrated technology platform. This platform grants us real-time access to crucial data, including inventory, production-line information, and production rates. This enables us to efficiently plan projects and allocate labor resources.
Secondly, we have implemented automation for standard tasks within our packaging operations to eliminate labor constraints. By automating repetitive and labor-intensive activities, such as waste removal at the end of production lines, we can minimize the need for manual labor and reduce our customers’ reliance on it. In certain operations, we have deployed robotic arms to systematically fill and package products, further reducing labor dependency.
As previously mentioned, striking the right balance between labor and automation is key. This approach not only safeguards our customers but also provides them with the most agile and flexible packaging solutions available.
Q: What steps has DHL taken to make its packaging operations more sustainable?
A: Being as sustainable as possible starts at the beginning of the packaging supply chain with demand planning. By employing integrated technology that manages packaging operations and seamlessly integrates with the warehouse, accurate planning becomes achievable. Improved planning leads to the procurement of appropriate packaging materials in the right quantities, thereby minimizing waste, particularly from obsolete packaging materials.
Throughout the packaging operation, the utilization of systems to monitor every aspect of the production line further reduces scrap and contributes to more sustainable practices for our customers. Leveraging solutions such as carton optimization and box-on-demand technology ensures that packaging materials are used efficiently, avoiding unnecessary waste and void spaces. By producing appropriately sized boxes on demand, the need for obsolete inventory is eliminated.
Within our packaging operations, each site implements a sustainability action plan, encompassing various aspects ranging from efficient lighting to the implementation of proper recycling processes. Lastly, the in-DC packaging solution promotes sustainability by eliminating the transportation previously required to send products to third-party copackers for packaging before returning them to the DC for distribution. To achieve a comprehensive and sustainable solution, it is essential to assess multiple activities across the entire packaging supply chain. By adopting sustainable practices at each stage, we can drive overall sustainability and minimize our environmental impact.
Q: Are there other benefits to a good packaging strategy that you can share?
A: A crucial aspect of ensuring a successful packaging supply chain lies in taking a holistic view of the entire supply chain and understanding the total cost of ownership associated with it. This encompasses the planning, sourcing, and procurement of all packaging materials, as well as the actual packaging, bagging, display filling, and other related activities.
It is important to recognize that even small changes in material specifications can have a significant impact on downstream productivity during the packaging process. Therefore, examining the end-to-end supply chain and effectively managing the total cost of ownership, even when different departments within a customer’s organization handle different segments of the supply chain, is vital for achieving the most optimal packaging supply chain.
By considering the entire lifecycle of the packaging process and understanding the interdependencies between various stages, organizations can identify opportunities for improvement and cost optimization. This holistic approach ensures that decisions made in one part of the supply chain are aligned with the overall objectives and efficiency of the packaging process. Ultimately, managing the total cost of ownership leads to an optimized and successful packaging supply chain.
