DHL Supply Chain makes $150 million investment in U.S. pharmaceutical and medical network expansion

DHL Supply Chain, a subsidiary of Deutsche Post DHL Group, said this week it is taking steps to expand its pharmaceutical and medical device distribution network by 40% in 2019, through a $150 million investment.

What’s more, DHL said that a key driver for this investment is to bring critical healthcare products closer to trade partners and patients and will add nine new sites by year-end. And it added that included in the $150 million investment are costs to invest in buildings and new technology along with the fit-out and start-up of new or expanded operations.

When the nine new sites, which are dedicated to compliant pharmaceutical and medical device distribution, are complete, DHL said that will bring the total number of sites to 30. The new sites will be in Indianapolis, Ind., and Raleigh, N.C.; multiple new facilities in key campus markets such as Memphis, Tenn., and South Central, Pa., and new sites in California and Virginia. 

In an interview, Scott Cubbler, president of Life Sciences & Healthcare at DHL Supply Chain, said the investment has been developed over the past two years as a larger part of DHL’s Strategy 2020 to focus on high-growth industries like Life Sciences.

“As it stands, our Life Science sector is the fastest-growing sector at DHL Supply Chain, currently accounting for 10% of business in North America, growing about 15% per year,” he said.

When asked what the biggest benefits of this expansion are for its pharmaceutical and medical device shipper customers, Cubbler explained that the addition of these strategically-located sites maximizes the value of customer supply chains by enabling greater predictability, flexibility, and speed, which is mission critical in the healthcare space.

“With closer sites, customers can provide a reduced travel time to consumers, maintain dedicated inventories, and leverage cutting-edge technology and process standardization that drives cost efficiency,” he said. The sites will offer fully-licensed, compliant, and temperature-controlled facilities for storage of product. In addition, customers have access to DHL’s complete range of fulfillment, packaging and transportation management services.”