DHL Supply Chain CEO Oscar de Bok on CRYOPDP Acquisition, AI & the Future of Healthcare Logistics

Yeah, happy to. So Oscar De bok. I'm CEO of DHL Supply Chain and part of the board of DHL Group, but also very importantly, I'm within the board driving our health logistics product and brand and our overall growth in the healthcare sector.

Yeah, I'll pick some points. One of the main points is that agility, speed, and use of data is really important, but at the same time you need to have the right infrastructure to respond to that. The investments we're making as DHL — €2 billion in the coming period — to have the infrastructure for both the healthcare sector of today and tomorrow is crucial. That comes back to having end-to-end multi-temperature certified supply chains under control on land, air, and ocean, specifically airport-based terminals. Another point is the acquisition of Cryo PDP, because that addresses customer feedback to have control over those end-to-end complicated supply chains for cell and gene therapy and clinical trials, which are important elements of the healthcare sector of tomorrow.

Yeah, exactly. Because one of the things that is really important is that the healthcare sector is a sector in transition. Therefore, we have this customer advisory board where we sit down with our healthcare customers and discuss what they need, and on that basis we set our investment strategy. That is really based on that interaction. I've been doing that now for two and a half years, and you can really see that some of the investments we're making now are coming out of those discussions from a couple of years ago.

Oh, you mean about AI? Yes. So I gave examples that when we talk about data and AI and generative AI, we sit on a lot of information. Use aggregate data to take decisions, not just data from one company. We can help with that perspective. Then we spoke about generative AI and robotic solutions. A simple example is making appointment calls for delivery. We're running successful pilots with robotized calls. The benefit isn't just replacing people; it's that within one hour you can make all the appointments that would have taken a whole week, allowing faster optimization of processes. That has a far bigger impact than just the robot doing calls. It's a simple example of the impact AI will have on supply chain optimization in the coming years.

I think one is to be agile, but that's obvious. Also prioritize and stay focused, be able to read data. There's so much data; you can get lost. Stay focused on what's important and use data to make fast decisions when needed. Do scenario planning because you need to be prepared for the unexpected. Over the past five years, every six months there was something unexpected. It always comes down to supply chains and how you optimize, change, react, respond, and have safety nets. That's the exciting part. So from a leadership perspective: use data, stay focused, be agile, and stay positive.

To the next generation? Well, it's super exciting. We've never had so much data, robotics, and fast innovation. When you innovate, innovate at scale. Don't get lost in some little interesting thing. Innovate at scale because supply chain is all about scale. If you can innovate at larger scale, you make a difference.

Yeah, absolutely. As I said, we have this customer advisory board that is independent on Logif, but it shows that interaction with our healthcare and pharma customers is really important, just as interaction between pharma customers drives innovation and open thinking. To take the right decisions, we need to use each other's experience, especially in a sector in transition like healthcare.

Yeah, it was a pleasure. Thank you very much. Thank you.