Day Out At DHL’s iHub

DHL Masan iHub is an inbound bonded warehouse that arranges inward movement of components from more than 200 suppliers around the world for Nokia TMC's manufacturing unit. The facility, we were told, has more than 2500 stock keeping units, that get inventory orders from Nokia every 2 hours, 24/7.

Inbound delivery - the process of receiving goods into a warehouse - is a critical part of the manufacturing process. DHL, as per the presentation made by the facility's Assistant Manager Mr Rick Lee, ensures that the receiving of materials is an efficient process that is "accurate, streamlined and rapid and that it produces an effective use of the warehouse space and resources."

The DHL supply chain, basically functioning as a 3PL service provider, situated in the Masan free trade zone, has been managing the warehouse for Nokia, after the mobile phone maker outsourced the warehousing operations to concentrate on its core manufacturing activity. Taking the 'buy' mode of outsourced logistics service, Nokia has entered into product purchase agreement with suppliers and logistics and warehouse services agreement with DHL.

The four warehouses of DHL in Masan cater to receiving and putting away stock, picking, delivery, inventory management, warehouse management, customer service, internal management of reporting, financial & HR and IT & maintenance.

As part of its customer satisfaction initiatives, the company performs regular surveys, develops productive relationships, creates performance measures, processes improvement and project management methodologies, besides rolling out quality assurance and people processes. 

The company, as Rick points out, has been creating flexibility to all the parties involved in the chain to mitigate risks, arising especially in safety, inventory management, costs, finance and service levels. "We perform stock taking program four times a year, that is every quarter. As for inventory management, our global target of part accuracy is 99.95 per cent," Rick informs.

It is also interesting to make a quick study of Masan, the port city in  south-eastern tip of the Korean Peninsula. Over the past 30 years, Masan, through its FTZ and Changwon Industrial Complex, has been driving incredible growth of Korean economy by facilitating problem-free manufacturing, logistics, distribution and trade activities. World-renowned enterprises like Sony and Nokia TMC have been contributing to the development of its economy. It is also home to big textile factories like Hanil Synthetic Fiber Company.

According to reports, 30,452 companies with 115,724 employees were registered in Masan as of December 2007. In 2006 alone, its total trade volume amounted to US$6.27 billion, with US$3.77 billion, in export and US$2.50 billion, in import. The latest figures could be more impressive.

Keeping the momentum going, Masan is developing into an advanced industrial city by promoting high-tech industrial base, constructing Masan Industrial Complex, and internationalising the Masan Port.