Cross Point Business Park in Coventry, UK, is home to a new multi-user DC featuring a high degree of automation equipment. David Priestman took a look.

Teenage girls go mad for the beauty and make-up retailer Sephora – I have first-hand knowledge of that! With 34000 products the company requires a fast-moving third-party logistics omnichannel operation that manages both ecommerce plus deliveries to the seven UK stores every other day. 30% of UK consumer purchases are now made online.

DHL Supply Chain provides this nationwide service from Coventry over three mezzanine floors of storage, picking, packing and despatch. With an average of 7000 consumer orders a day the ecommerce operation is busy all afternoon and evening. From the inbound area all products are checked, scanned-in and put away. The warehouse control and inventory management process is data intensive. DHL manage that as well as constant analysis of the warehouse layout, looking at fast-moving items and juggling the varying demand for beauty products, subject to swings in trends and loyalties. This enables products to be stored in high or low priority areas.

Pick of the Bots

The picking operation makes good use of ‘Chuck’ ‘follow me’ robots (pictured, top). 45 of them are leased from Ocado (OIA). The Chucks are used for building the customers’ orders, using software developed by OIA. The software tells pickers what cardboard boxes should be used for each order. The bot then drives along the pre-determined route and knows where to go, leaving the (human) picker to simply take each item, scan and place in the right box. Each Chuck is named after a famous singer, with my favourite being ‘Bowie’, which was taking a well-earned rest when I visited.

DHL has cleverly built its own automated packaging machines here that close, glue and label each completed box lid, handling 60% of the ecommerce packages here that are taken by conveyor to outbound. Before the consumer changes her mind, no doubt.

Hot SKUs

DHL Supply Chain (just one part of the global behemoth) has 180,000 employees, 1600 DCs in 50 countries and a 3PL market share of 6%. In the UK it operates 5000 lorries and vans, 450 DCs with 36,000 staff. “Global trade is still growing and is the life blood of our expansion,” UK & Ireland CEO Saul Resnick states. “Retail is in a state of flux. They need us to be fast and innovative. We offer them enterprise diversity without the logistics footprint.”

The company is committed to automating its warehouse processes as much as possible. Tim Tetzlaff is its head of Digitalization and Automation. “Innovation is only real when it is scaled,” he says. Warehouse space is at a premium, as is labour, and customer expectations continue to rise. Tetzlaff’s role is to oversee the selection of technology and then scale it – picking bots, goods-to-person systems, AMRs, AI and more. Ideas lead to research then proof-of-concept, productization, commercialization and finally the modular standardization of all automation for rolling out globally.

Reaching Out

Boston Dynamics new ‘Stretch’ bot (pictured, below) unloads pallets, lifting boxes on to conveyors. It constantly photographs packages and processes these to understand what is next and the trajectory of each manoeuvre. With a weight limit of 23kg it is being tested by DHL for use cases. With 10 currently deployed, the goal is to operate 1000 of them by 2030. Faster than a human at 600 cases per hour, it will replace ‘back-breaking’ work in (often) cold environments.

“We have a vision on where we allocate our labour; approximately 25% on putaway and replenish, 35% picking, 10% packing,” Tetzlaff explains. “It’s not about replacing people but changing their roles from strenuous, repetitive physical tasks, to managing robots. Managers and planners oversee both people and bots, using data for insights on-site. We want to be the best integrator of people, bots, IT and analytics for flexible stability, seamlessly integrating tech and data to continually and dynamically optimise operational service delivery.” Now that would be modern beauty.

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Final Word: What You Use Should Match Where You Operate

Coupa is an AI-powered spend management platform with big customer numbers – and even bigger ambitions. As the company targets Europe for further growth, Paul Hamblin meets its new international head.

The name? It started with a caffe latte – or maybe an espresso.

The story begins in 2006 at Coupa, a Palo Alto cafe where two former Oracle execs sat down to formulate a transformational software for e-procurement. Nineteen years later, the cloud-based platform they created has evolved into a spend management platform used by over 3,200 customers worldwide, including some of the largest and best-known multinationals, plus a community network of over 10 million participants. In 2023, the company was acquired by private equity software specialist Thoma Bravo for a reported $8 billion.

That’s quite a journey from a couple of coffees and croissants. And the name has stuck.

What exactly is ‘Spend management’? It can mean several things to Coupa customers both large and small, including some or all of procurement, invoicing, compliance (with contracts and regulatory matters) and payments to suppliers. Automation and optimisation of processes accompanied by analytics of cost and performance are the most obvious benefits.

The real win is that the software connects an enormous network of buyers and suppliers. As the world knows, networks mean data; and data means AI can start to work its magic.

Perfect Combination for Data

Coupa’s pitch to customers and prospects is that it combines AI with the world’s best direct and indirect total spend management platform. This enables, in the company’s own words, the ‘world’s largest supply and demand data reservoir’.

It goes without saying that the best data makes the best AI. ‘We are all smarter together,’ and ‘We make every dollar matter’ are two neat messages that Coupa deploys to drive home this advantage. Put it all together and the result is a ‘margin multiplier’.

Joao Paulo da Silva, a Portuguese national now based in Madrid, was appointed in summer 2024 to lead the team’s international expansion everywhere outside the Americas. I met him at Coupa Inspire in London, the latest stop on a world tour of conferences attended by customers, partners and consultants. A veteran of SAP, major consultancies and private equity organisations, he is clear about the road ahead for Coupa.

“We have a strong agenda for growth. We are currently about $1.1 billion ARR, we plan to double in size in the next 3-4 years to $2 billion, and in 8-10 years we are targeting $10 billion ARR.”

These are undeniably bold targets. How will the company achieve them?

“Growth will come from the expansion of our business both in the Americas and internationally, and by enhancing and augmenting our portfolio. First, we will widen our geographical footprint. Southern Europe including Italy and Spain, South-East Asia and Japan are all strong growth territories for us.”

Portfolio enhancements will come as Coupa widens its overall offering to customers. “Coupa is always very strong in indirect procurement, but in some of the more complex industries, such as manufacturing, we are now increasingly able to offer more in direct procurement,” he reveals.

Another expansion area is category management support to help customers strategize more specifically category by category (examples might include IT, or transport logistics). The acquisition in May 2025 of Croatia-based Cirtuo, a proven specialist in category management software, provides evidence of this portfolio broadening.

Alongside portfolio growth, the partnership network will also increase. “We are making a big global investment in this area to make sure we have a large network of partners capable of supporting mid-market businesses that are very eager to capture and use the same solutions as the big organisations,” he explains.

Supply Chain Design Support

It brings us to the core question. What can Coupa offer that its competitors cannot?

“Today we have the largest dataset in the industry with a capability beyond what anyone else has,” he argues. “We aggregate the data from 3500 customers – from Amazon to much smaller businesses – and this provides insights to our community. We are a unique company because no other vendor has the capability to provide what we can. Yes, a rival solution might give the customer the capacity to transact, to perform a procurement task, but no other company gives the ability to operate that task in the context of such useful information and insights. Our community is very strong, our customers come together to share experiences and information in a way that few software companies can achieve.”

He brings us back to that powerful ‘margin multiplier’ image. “We are the only platform that can manage the total spend of a company, from supply chain to payment, and make it transparent in one single view. That’s why we say it’s a margin multiplier, because if you multiply the small efficiencies made possible in each component of the platform, it becomes EBITDA-relevant for the company.”

He says Coupa is taking the Procure-to-Pay model a stage beyond; an updated description might be ‘Design-to-Pay’ partner. It’s a description facilitated by the company’s acquisition of established supply chain software specialist Llamasoft back in 2020, furthered by the Cirtuo addition.

“We are now helping you as the customer design your supply chain. You as the customer know your strategy and what you want to achieve with your objectives: they might be to cut costs, improve sustainability or resilience. Whatever you strategize, the important thing is that it links to the execution, the backbone of the platform where you obtain objective feedback on that strategy. Was it the right strategy? Constant feedback from the platform is crucial to your understanding. Once you are satisfied with your strategic objectives, the tool will provide three AI-based models to enable you to execute optimally on that strategy.”

AI Opportunities – Not Threats

AI is clearly a game-changer in supply chain design and execution, but do the much-discussed fears about the technology have any justification, in Mr da Silva’s view?

“The beauty of Coupa is that we have been cloud-native since the beginning and many of our solutions already incorporate AI functions. It’s something we’re very comfortable with. But look at all the innovations in history; all created more jobs than before, and I believe that is what will happen again this time.”

That’s another bold assertion. He enlarges: “This is the first time in history you have a technology that every single department in the company wants to use. Think of blockchain, say, which directly only affects certain teams. As we mature all these models and improve and develop the things that we will be able to do, workers are going to be more specialised because they will be able to process so much more information as part of their role. There will be many more insights to leverage, delivered with more precision. The AI journey is a fascinating one.”

Mr da Silva (pictured, below) advocates the view that AI and automation are about enabling people, not replacing them. He cites an example from that day’s earlier keynote at Coupa Inspire, in which a major bank explained how touchless procurement had enabled it to shift staff from cost control teams to revenue-generating functions.

“Digital also allows to react much faster,” he adds, citing another example described at Coupa Inspire. “You are alerted to a potential issue somewhere in the world straightaway. That means you can anticipate difficulties and act to mitigate them. Our client described how, very soon after an earthquake, the platform started picking up signals showing problems in supply logistics in the region, immediately generating an automated RFP to alternative suppliers so that schedules are disrupted as minimally as possible.”

The current volatility and uncertainty in world trade is a perfect example of what causes companies to enter, in the pithy phrase of Coupa CEO Leagh Turner, “a margin erosion zone”.

Joao Paulo da Silva agrees. “We are all about cost-saving, so during global slowdowns we are here to help, and in a very dynamic way. In the past, a company might take a whole month to redesign its supply chain when reacting to unexpected events; now we can do it in a few hours. The system helps customers to simulate different scenarios and thus give them greater confidence in their decision making. What do I do if the tariff landscape changes? How does it impact me? How do I redeploy logistics centres? Or production? The platform will offer options and solutions.”

The Spanish capital has three airports-Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas, Cuatro Vientos, and Torrejón. Each of these airports plays a specific role: Barajas is the main airport and international gateway to Madrid, Cuatro Vientos is dedicated to general aviation and training, and Torrejón, finally, has a more institutional and military vocation. For private jet travelers, Barajas stands out for the breadth of services and the presence of a dedicated terminal, but the overall landscape reflects well the variety and complexity of air traffic in Madrid.

In this article we look in detail at Madrid Barajas Airport, dedicated private jet services and luxury connections to the city center.

Barajas Airport: the heart of business aviation in Madrid

Barajas is the largest airport in Madrid and Spain, and within it is the General Aviation Terminal (GAT), a landmark for private jet flights. Here, passengers access reserved spaces and separate procedures from the commercial terminals, with rapid screening and personalized services that guarantee maximum privacy and significantly reduced waiting times.

FBO and ground services

GAT hosts some of the leading international players:

• Universal Aviation Spain – comprehensive operations management, dedicated lounges and 24/7 support.
• Gestair – historic Spanish operator, with hangar and maintenance services directly at Barajas.
• General Aviation Service – operational support and reception for passengers and crew.

Madrid-Barajas Airport’s handling companies dedicated to private jets, offering comprehensive services: hangars, reserved lounges, meeting rooms, customized catering and technical support at every stage of the flight

Aena’s signature VIP services dedicated to private jets

In addition to the CAT facilities, Madrid Barajas Airport offers services operated directly by Aena that make the experience smoother:

• VIP Lounges: elegant spaces to relax or work while waiting for your flight.
• Fast Lane and Fast Track: priority access to security controls.
• Meet & Assist: dedicated staff accompanying the passenger from check-in to baggage claim.
• Premium Service: arrivals and departures via a separate route with a private car from the terminal to the aircraft.

For those flying by private jet, combining GAT services with Aena’s VIP services means having a travel experience consistent with the highest international standards.

Luxury connections between Barajas airport and downtown Madrid

One of the aspects that make Madrid Barajas Airport particularly convenient is its strategic location: the airport is about 12 km from the center. Transfer options are numerous and suitable for every need.

• Fixed-rate cab: €33 to any destination within the M-30, no surcharges.

• Private transfers with driver: bookable directly through FBOs or through Aena Premium Services, ideal for those who want to travel without waiting time.

Cuatro Vientos and Torrejon: Madrid’s other airports.

Cuatro Vientos (LECU): just 8 km from downtown, it is the oldest airport in Spain and today is used mainly for general aviation and flight schools. It does not offer the necessary infrastructure for medium- to long-range private jets.

Torrejón (LETO): military base with a civilian component intended for some executive flights. Access is more restricted and regulated than at Barajas.

For these reasons, those flying by private jet almost always choose Barajas as their only operational reference point.

Why choose Madrid Barajas Airport for your private flight to Spain’s capital city

• Exclusive private jet terminal with direct and quick access to the aircraft.
• World-class handlers and FBOs, capable of handling any operational needs.
• VIP and Premium services that ensure a smooth experience from arrival to downtown.
• Quick connections to Madrid’s business areas and central districts.

Contact PrivateJetFinder to land in Madrid in confort

If Madrid is your next private jet destination, Madrid Barajas Airport is the natural choice. The combination of modern infrastructure, exclusive services, and efficient connections to the city makes it one of Europe’s most comprehensive airports for business aviation flyers.

Want to plan your next flight to Madrid? With PrivateJetFinder you can choose the most suitable jet and arrange every detail of your trip, from the aircraft to the ground services.

Useful links:

1. Book a private jet from Barcelona to Madrid
2. Book a private jet from London to Madrid
3. Book a private jet from Milan to Madrid
4. Book a private jet from Paris to Madrid
5. Read the our article On luxury flights from Rome to Madrid

A last mile conference hosted by FarEye revealed a growing appetite for AI and a waning one for carbon reduction, reports Peter MacLeod.

I had the pleasure of attending the Last Mile Leaders European Conference in Amsterdam in May, an event hosted and expertly delivered by FarEye. Bringing together retailers, carriers and tech providers from across Europe, the conference provided a clear and, at times, candid view of where the last mile is headed and how sharply the road ahead is turning.

The headline takeaway came as no surprise, namely that cost is king. But closely following behind are customer expectations and a cautious but accelerating interest in AI. Somewhat surprisingly was the finding that whereas sustainability was once front of mind, it’s now viewed as more often a bonus than a baseline. As he unveiled the “Eye on the Last Mile” report during his opening keynote, Kushal Nahata, FarEye’s CEO and Co-Founder, said the European delivery ecosystem is at a decisive inflection point.

Shifting Priorities

Nahata (pictured, below) laid out the results of FarEye’s annual report, which surveyed logistics leaders across the continent. The data reveals that 98% of logistics leaders rank cost as their number one challenge heading into 2025 and that the top three concerns – rising costs, elevated customer expectations, and the race to invest in AI-enabled solutions – are reshaping strategies and budgets alike.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Switzerland leads in average last mile cost increases (38%), followed by France (21.5%) and the UK (17.8%). More stable cost environments such as the Netherlands and Greece offer valuable lessons in efficiency. But across the board, labour remains the primary cost driver, far outpacing technology or fuel.

Despite all the talk of innovation, many firms still rely on legacy systems and manual operations, particularly in Western Europe.

What’s clear is that cost is not just a financial concern but a strategic lens through which every delivery decision is now made. As Nahata put it: “We need to stop treating the last mile as the last thought.”

Smarter Strategies

The good news is that the industry isn’t standing still. According to the keynote, firms are turning to AI agents and advanced routing systems to claw back profitability and operational control. FarEye’s own data shows that AI-driven systems can reduce costs by up to 30% in dense urban areas, while hybrid fleet models and dynamic routing can offer savings of between 12 and 18%.

We’re also seeing a growing reliance on lockers and pickup points as businesses look to balance consumer convenience with cost-efficiency. This was also reflected in the levels of audience interaction about this topic. That said, the promise of lockers remains contingent on scale. As explored in the first of several panel sessions during the day, “Cracking the Profitability Code,” pilot programmes won’t justify infrastructure investment unless adoption accelerates quickly and broadly.

Another encouraging shift is the rise of premium delivery as a viable revenue stream. FarEye’s research shows 54% of customers are willing to pay extra for faster delivery, suggesting that not every consumer is cost averse as long as the value is clearly communicated.

Delivery Experience

The “From Checkout to Doorstep” panel showed that the delivery experience starts earlier than ever, often from the product page itself. High delivery fees remain the biggest cause of cart abandonment, and accurate ETAs, real-time pricing, and flexible slot selection have become hygiene factors rather than differentiators.

Consumer expectations are evolving rapidly. While 51% of customers still prefer standard three- to seven-day delivery, a significant 34% opt for next-day, and 8% choose same-day delivery. Out-of-home options, including lockers and parcel shops, are growing in popularity, reflecting a shift in urban consumer behaviour.

Cost is so much more of a priority in many of today’s boardrooms than carbon reduction, yet customers are becoming less forgiving of poor experiences, especially in the post-purchase phase. The roundtable on “Crafting Seamless Post-Purchase Journeys” highlighted that 65% of logistics leaders identify data gaps as a barrier to improving the post-purchase experience, with metrics like OTIF, NPS, and first-attempt delivery now mission-critical.

AI Escapes the Hype

Artificial Intelligence was perhaps the most talked-about and polarising topic of the day. From panel discussions to informal conversations, it was clear that AI is finally moving from hype to hands-on in the last mile.

The deep dive session “AI in the Last Mile: From Hype to Hands-On Impact”, hosted by me with experts from FarEye, Accenture and Microsoft, provided real-world examples of carriers using AI to automate over 70% of customer service interactions, with tools like Generative AI for comms, agentic AI for route re-planning, and digital twins for forecasting now part of serious pilot schemes.

FarEye’s study revealed that nearly half of all businesses are prioritising AI investments, and that 80% of delivery-related queries could now be handled by AI, leading to a potential 40% reduction in support costs. As one speaker put it: “AI won’t replace logistics professionals, but professionals using AI will replace those who don’t.”

Sustainability: Not Urgent

One of the more sobering findings of the day was that only 16.7% of businesses currently offer green delivery slots. That means that despite increasing consumer and regulatory pressure, a whopping 83.3% of firms still don’t offer a sustainable delivery option at checkout.

The deep-dive session on circular supply chains reminded us that sustainability needn’t be sidelined if it is integrated intelligently. Featuring examples from Philips and Danish delivery company DANX Carousel, the session highlighted how reverse logistics, repair flows, and re-use models can turn the last mile into a circular engine, rather than a linear liability.

In Western Europe, precision and sustainability are beginning to take precedence over speed, but cultural and operational differences mean Eastern Europe still favours rapid delivery over greener models.

Every Mile Is Now the Last Mile

The conference’s underlying thesis – and one of its most powerful insights – is that the last mile is no longer just the final leg of a journey, but the focal point of the entire logistics experience. From front-end checkout triggers to post-purchase sentiment, from AI-enhanced routing to circular supply loops, every part of the value chain is being pulled into the last mile orbit. And while cost pressures continue to dominate, the most forward-looking companies are leveraging this constraint as a catalyst for innovation.

Whether it’s through modular delivery networks, data-enabled decisioning, or customer-first design, I came away from this enlightening conference believing that the next era of the last mile will be defined by three key capabilities: flexibility, intelligence and integration. And thanks to platforms like FarEye’s, we not only have a clear view of what that road looks like, we also know the tools and strategies we need to deploy to successfully negotiate it.

From compliance to competitive edge, how can supply chain pressure drive decarbonisation? Jack Goodson (pictured, below), Senior Business Development Manager of Equity Energies, answers a key question.

When it comes to decarbonisation, for many in transport and logistics the convergence of regulation and customer expectations can feel like yet another operational headache, with the conversation often framed in terms of cost and complexity. But there is another way to look at it: as a catalyst for innovation and long-term competitiveness.

In today’s market, delivering at greater speed but at lower cost is no longer enough. Clients and supply chain partners increasingly expect operators to deliver cleaner too. Sustainability has shifted from being a ‘nice-to-have’ to a non-negotiable when winning and retaining contracts. That shift, driven by both regulation and the demands of downstream customers, is already reshaping the competitive landscape, and for those ready to adapt, it’s also opening the door to new opportunities.

Regulation and customer demand are aligned

The demand to reduce supply chain emissions is coming from two directions: top-down through government regulation, and bottom-up through supply chain pressure. Large UK companies are now required to disclose relevant Scope 3 emissions, the indirect emissions that occur in their value chains. That means the carbon footprint of a transport service provider is increasingly visible in the environmental performance of its customers. In addition, regulation requires suppliers on large public contracts to commit to Net Zero by 2050, while also presenting credible carbon reduction plans.

In parallel, major private sector buyers, everyone from retailers to manufacturers, are building sustainability criteria into their tenders, and in some cases deselecting suppliers who don’t align with their own Net Zero commitments.

However, rather than viewing this as a compliance burden, operators should treat these pressures as market signals. The demand for decarbonisation is real and growing, and the companies that can demonstrate credible progress will be first in line for the next wave of contracts. Indeed, as previously reported, every element of the supply and logistics chain is ultimately up for inspection.

A strategic, systems-led approach

The key is to avoid scattergun initiatives and piecemeal action. Isolated initiatives, like switching to a few electric vehicles or installing LED lighting in one estate location, can help, but to gain real traction, organisations need a systems-led approach that addresses multiple points of carbon impact and builds towards long-term targets.

That starts with understanding the baseline. Accurate data on current energy use, fuel consumption, and emissions across fleet and facilities, makes it possible to prioritise effectively. Once the baseline is set, companies can identify and act on the ‘low-hanging fruit’ first; measures that deliver quick wins from both a cost and carbon perspective. This might include reducing energy consumption across warehouses and depots, procuring better energy contracts, and switching to renewable electricity through green tariffs.

DPD made significant progress on its own Net Zero pathway through its warehouse estate, rapidly opening 16 new depots in just six months at the height of the pandemic. Working together, we future-proofed its sites for electric fleet integration, secured competitive energy contracts, and identified over £1.2 million in potential savings through energy capacity analysis. This not only enabled DPD to meet a surge in demand but also laid the groundwork for long-term carbon reduction, proving that operational growth and decarbonisation can go hand in hand.

All these efforts can further cut emissions while freeing up funds. The savings generated can then be channelled into the more capital-intensive parts of the transition, such as fleet electrification or investment in hydrogen-ready HGVs. Supplementary measures, such as advanced lubricants designed to improve EV efficiency and reduce maintenance requirements, can help maximise the return on these larger investments.

Innovation in fleet and facilities

Fleet decarbonisation remains a headline issue for the sector. While electric and hydrogen trucks are still in the early stages of adoption in the UK, targeted trials can identify where they fit best into operations; for example, shorter regional routes that can be reliably serviced by current EV ranges. Interim solutions such as biomethane or hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) can cut lifecycle emissions by up to 90% compared to diesel, offering a credible bridge technology while zero-emission fleets scale (source: Zemo Partnership).

At the same time, greener facilities are becoming a competitive advantage. Energy-efficient lighting, improved HVAC controls, automation, and on-site renewable generation not only reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions but also lower operating costs. With customers increasingly looking for full supply chain visibility, being able to report improvements in facility emissions can strengthen your position in tenders.

In a market where environmental credentials are scrutinised as closely as delivery times, data is perhaps the most powerful differentiator. Tracking emissions per tonne-kilometre, fuel efficiency, and energy use, and being able to present that information clearly, allows operators to demonstrate progress, benchmark performance, and collaborate with customers on joint improvement plans.

Real-time monitoring can also identify inefficiencies, from under-utilised vehicles to energy waste in depots, enabling operators to make operational changes that deliver immediate savings. In competitive bids, the ability to provide accurate, verifiable environmental data can be the deciding factor.

Balancing cost and carbon

There’s no avoiding the fact that decarbonisation requires investment. The challenge is to integrate it into a sustainable commercial model. Grants such as the UK Plug-in Truck Grant can help offset upfront costs for zero-emission vehicles, and green finance options are expanding, offering preferential rates for low-carbon projects. In some cases, customers themselves may be willing to co-fund pilots or infrastructure if it helps them meet their own Scope 3 targets.

By sequencing investments; tackling efficiency and energy procurement first, then scaling into fleet transition, operators can spread costs over time while maintaining service competitiveness.

The direction of travel is clear: sustainability performance is becoming a prerequisite for participation in high-value supply chains. Taking action now will build a track record that not only meets regulatory requirements but also strengthens position as a preferred partner for environmentally conscious customers. Delaying progress risks being locked out of tenders, paying more for finance and insurance, and facing a steeper, more expensive transition later on.

By reframing decarbonisation as an opportunity rather than a burden, and by taking a strategic, data-driven approach, transport and logistics companies can use current market pressures as the push they need to innovate. The winners in this transition will be those who view supply chain demand for sustainability not as a box to tick, but as a catalyst for long-term resilience and competitive strength.

Peter MacLeod talks exclusively with Siemens’ supply chain guru Alexander Tschentscher about how to develop a logistics landscape with robustness at its core.

As supply chains evolve under pressure from global disruptions, regulatory complexity and technological change, Siemens is pioneering a strategic shift by transforming its culture to build not just resilience, but robustness into its supply chain operations. At the recent DELIVER Europe event in Amsterdam, Alexander Tschentscher, Vice President Supply Chain Excellence and Head of Strategy – Supply Chain & Logistics at Siemens, delivered a compelling keynote that urged logistics professionals to “think strategic.” I followed up with Alexander to explore how his team is shaping Siemens’ future-facing supply chain and how businesses across the sector, particularly those with a strong manufacturing element, can draw from their approach.

Tschentscher’s responsibility can best be described as shaping the supply chain of the future within Siemens’ Smart Infrastructure operational company. As Head of Supply Chain Excellence and Programme Lead for Supply Chain Strategy, he is both the architect and driver of strategic direction across supply chain and logistics. His background is as broad as it is deep: before stepping into his current role, he held responsibility for logistics and procurement within Siemens’ Distribution Systems unit, part of the same Smart Infrastructure business. Earlier appointments in management consulting, commodity management, project management and logistics have shaped a leadership style grounded in cultural transformation and innovation. Creating something new has been a defining theme of his professional journey.

At Siemens, he is now responsible for strategically guiding a community of 4,000 supply chain professionals who move over 400,000 tonnes annually across a network of 160 warehouses serving industries where downtime can mean blackouts… or worse.

Strategy Over Firefighting

“Most supply chain professionals are firefighters,” Tschentscher (pictured, below with Peter MacLeod) tells me over a coffee in the Sustainability Lounge at DELIVER Europe. “They’re excellent at reacting, at solving urgent problems, managing delays, tackling disruptions.”

But can organisations sustain that mode of operation for much longer in today’s geopolitical landscape? From COVID-19 and blocked canals to cyber threats and climate regulations, supply chains are no longer disrupted occasionally, but constantly. The traditional crisis-response playbook is obsolete. What Tschentscher advocates for instead is a shift in mindset: embedding strategic thinking deep into supply chain culture.

At Siemens, that shift is underpinned by a development framework rolled out across its supply chain organisation which is more than just about sending employees on a training course. It’s about recalibrating the organisational DNA. “We created a learning journey,” he explains. “We begin with self-assessment, followed by tailored learning tracks, expert deep-dives, and finally a strategy boot camp that instils a clear understanding of vision, mission, and operational alignment.” The result is that every professional in the chain is empowered to think ahead, not just act fast.

From Resilience to Robustness

The dominant language in supply chain management has shifted toward resilience, a topic that is brought up in almost every conversation I have with a supply chain expert. But Tschentscher challenges this, arguing that resilience, though necessary, is reactive by nature. He offers a more aspirational goal: robustness.

“Resilience is surviving the storm,” he says. “Robustness is building the structure so the storm doesn’t destroy you in the first place.”

This distinction is personal. Alexander, a cancer survivor, likens resilience to enduring chemotherapy: high cost, high sacrifice. Robustness, in contrast, is about preventing recurrence: designing systems that avoid the crisis altogether. Translated into supply chain terms, it means not just preparing for the next disruption, but developing systems that can absorb and adapt without burning out its people.
“We put people under pressure. First it’s urgent, then very urgent, then extremely urgent. Eventually, the pressure becomes unsustainable,” he warns.

Four Forces Shaping the Future

At the heart of Siemens’ strategy are four macro-level forces that are redefining supply chains across industries:

1. Artificial Intelligence (AI): No longer a distant concept, AI is already being applied to processes from forecasting and scheduling to supplier negotiation. But Tschentscher cautions that AI is not a magic wand. “Too often we see AI being used to cover poor data quality or patch up weak processes,” he says. “The real value comes when AI is intentionally embedded into specific value chain elements with clear roles for both humans and machines.”
2. Regulation and Administration: The shift from globalisation to regionalisation has created an era of regulatory complexity. Tschentscher notes that tariffs, for example, are fundamentally reshaping supply chain operations. Companies such as Siemens have had to rethink their global sourcing strategy, pivoting towards localisation in response to political and regulatory demands.
3. Workforce Evolution: Generations X, Y and Z bring new expectations such as flexibility, purpose, and digital fluency. But they’re also hesitant to enter the traditionally high-pressure world of logistics. It’s not just about offering jobs, Tschentscher believes, but redefining what supply chain careers look like and empowering people to work strategically and with purpose.
4. Cascading Sustainability: While ESG was once a top-down initiative, it’s now non-negotiable, often tied to compliance and investment criteria. Sustainability has become more than a mission, it’s a regulatory threshold. Siemens is integrating sustainability directly into its logistics processes, from circularity planning to emissions-reduction in transport and warehousing.

Industrial Supply Chain Under Pressure

Whereas much of the DELIVER Europe event focused on consumer and retail logistics, Siemens’ industrial supply chain brings unique challenges. Its Smart Infrastructure division serves critical industries – power grids, building automation, and energy systems – with typically low- and medium-voltage products. They are typically long-lifecycle and high-stakes products such as switches and control panels for hospitals, factories and nuclear facilities.

This means Siemens can’t just pivot to new suppliers or platforms at will. “We operate in what I call a world of certification,” Tschentscher explains. “If a part is unavailable, we can’t just source another from Temu or Amazon! These components protect systems and lives. We need absolute certainty in quality and compliance.”

This constraint adds complexity, but also highlights the importance of long-term supplier partnerships, supply chain visibility, and robust risk management. AI cannot simply be plugged in. With the experience of Marks & Spencer front-of-mind at the time of the interview, Tschentscher tells me that Siemens uses a dedicated internal layer for generative AI to ensure cybersecurity and compliance, particularly sensitive in industrial applications. “We are careful, yes, but we’re not passive,” he stresses. “We are applying AI, but in a secure way.”

Enablement Culture

For Tschentscher, technology alone is not enough. “We can give people a Formula One car but we don’t always ask whether they have a driving licence,” he quips. Culture, in his view, is the differentiator between implementation and transformation.

This is where Siemens’ investment in education through its “Logiversity” learning tracks and widespread university partnerships pays off. Siemens trains for strategy and decision-making. For the supply chain professionals in this global powerhouse business, it’s not just about knowing the tools, it’s about knowing when and why to use them.

Cultural enablement also means acknowledging human limitations. When Tschentscher travelled to China, for instance, his team encountered regulatory blocks on Western digital tools – such as ChatGPT and Gamma – they’d relied on to deliver work efficiently. “That became a demotivation issue,” he notes. “Performance suffers when your digital toolbox disappears.” Preparing employees for adaptive thinking, not just operational execution, is therefore critical.

A Complex Future

So what does the future look like? For Siemens and for many others in the sector, it’s likely to be a hybrid of human intuition and machine intelligence, enabled by strategic clarity and cultural resilience. “For me, the main topic is to think about your supply chain, the elements you have, and which part of this do you want to integrate the AI long-term,” Tschentscher says. “And if you communicate it openly, I think this is exactly what the workforce must do.”

For other businesses with logistics functions at their heart, the message is clear: don’t wait for the next disruption to redesign your supply chain. Start now. Think strategically. Build a culture where strategic thinking is not the preserve of the boardroom, but a daily habit at every level of the organisation.
Because, as Tschentscher puts it: “If you don’t have a strategy, you’ll become part of someone else’s.”

When an employee at Columbia Records saw the potential offered by mailroom automation, a true success story was born. Fifty years on, OPEX Corporation has bold new ambitions for Europe.

You give your age away if you remember the days of excitedly sending off coins in envelopes to buy items that would arrive at your front door not less than a month later. Those were the days of mailrooms with multiple staff, individually processing and ‘fulfilling’ – as we have nowadays been trained to call it – each customer order.

In that context, imagine how busy the 1970s mailroom at Columbia Records in Indiana must have been. When employee Al Stevens was tasked with finding ways to automate the manual mail processing system as a way of speeding up operations, he discovered an innovative New Jersey-based company called OPEX, which was pioneering equipment to open mail automatically and feed it via conveyor belt to seated workers.

Early Adopter to Owner

A visionary early adopter of the technology, Al Stevens eventually became sales manager at OPEX. Fast forward a few years and he and his wife took a leap of faith on buying the company outright when the opportunity arose.

The rest is history. This year the company celebrates its 50th anniversary, remaining a family-owned and run enterprise and still manufacturing its own equipment within the United States.

With some important additions: OPEX Corporation is now a great deal more than a specialist in document and mail automation, having grown over the last 15 years into a major international provider of warehouse automation systems.

Further growth in the UK and Europe is now a key objective for OPEX Corporation, having appointed Manchester-based Mike Morgan as Business Development Manager EMEA in September last year to cover a broad territory including the UK, Western Europe, the Nordics and Middle East. A Mechanical Engineering graduate with a hinterland in logistics to bring to the table, Mike is excited about the road ahead.

“I like to say OPEX is the biggest brand you’ve never heard of,” he enthuses. The numbers back up his assertion about the company’s reach. It boasts over 1600 employees, and counts more than half of the Fortune 100 companies among its customers, with 345 issued patents to endorse its credentials as a bonafide innovator.

Need-for-speed synergies between document mail automation and warehouse operational needs made the development of technology in the latter a logical move for OPEX, he says.

Speed, Versatility and Flexibility

“All of our technology ultimately derives from the document mail sortation side, and that’s where our understanding of speed comes from,” he explains. “If you look at the throughputs we have achieved for mail opening, the capability numbers are almost scarily high, and that ethos has carried over into our warehouse technology. The original innovations have been adapted to be able to move parcels and bigger items, for ecommerce and similar scenarios. Speed is rooted in the technology.”

A strong example of OPEX postroom automation capability is provided by the Mail Matrix, which can sort a wide variety of envelopes intermixed as well as small parcels to over a thousand sort destinations. There is no need to presort by size, thickness, or any other criteria; items may be dropped on the feed conveyor or via the automated feeder. Highly efficient iBOTs – intelligent wireless robots – facilitate fast and efficient mail sorting, recharging as they go. Each acts independently of the others to ensure the system remains up even if one of the iBOTs needs to be removed for repair.

It is this flexibility and versatility which informs the warehouse automation portfolio, targeting the key areas of storage, retrieval, sorting and fulfilment and with products to optimise operations in all areas.

This year, Mike Morgan is particularly excited by the potential of Sure Sort with Xtract, which builds on the sortation capability of the company’s popular (over 1400 installed worldwide) Sure Sort and Sure Sort X products to compile a package enabling the sorting, retrieval and removal of completed orders.

OPEX Xtract is an optional feature for Sure Sort X that automates the order takeaway process. The Xtract iBOTs retrieve totes of up to 30lb (13.6kg) containing sorted orders before dispensing them into the proper container, including shipping boxes, for downstream processing.

“We’re very excited about this for two reasons,” he explains. “First, no technology out there can do what it can do, so we are the first to market with this kind of technology. We can sort, retrieve and pack orders automatically, taking out multiple steps and operations from the traditional process. Second, it can also be tacked onto any existing system. So if, for instance, you already have a goods to person system, or you deploy manual picking, or you don’t have the space capability or you simply aren’t ready, for whatever reason, to make the investment, Sure Shot with Xtract is a great option for you. In terms of versatility and bang for your buck, this piece of tech is very, very exciting.”

A further differential highlighted by Mike Morgan is that the company is vertically integrated within the US. “All of our manufacturing and shipping is done in-house, from ordering parts to installing on-site with our own OPEX truck,” he says. As part of the international expansion initiative, he does not rule out exploration of a similar supply base within Europe, perhaps allied to working with selected partners in certain territories to help grow the footprint.

His objectives are clear enough. “To have a site in every territory or to get a foothold within a territory. Existing deployment within a territory matters to new customers, it gives them that element of comfort, the confidence that we’re here to stay. We understand that – after all, they are making a massive investment in many cases.”

Values of Care and Integrity

He believes the true ‘magic sauce’ of OPEX is its integrity to its customers, suppliers and staff, which springs from the Christian values of the Stevens family.

“The values of care and integrity really do soak through,” he confirms. “It’s very refreshing to be a part of that.” How do these values manifest themselves for customers?

“In our support of sites, we give everything that we possibly can to help you as a customer be successful. Put it this way: we’d much rather over-support than under-support. We don’t walk away from projects, we’ve never end-of-lifed a machine, and if we want to stop supporting a product for whatever reason, we will be there to help guide you.”

He compares the process to buying a car, another object that you are buying to use every single day. “Yes, you can buy a very cheap car without extensive aftersales support, but it’s much more likely to be regularly out of use to you because it’s in the garage being repaired. The model with the strong aftersales backup will be a much smarter choice in the long run. With our warehouse automation technology, it’s important to remember that you only buy it once, but you are then using it every day for the purpose intended.

“Our customers’ success is our success. I say to them: ‘you’re not just buying equipment, you’re buying us.’”

“Until earlier this year, the UK had no national robotics strategy, which puts the country behind global peers like Germany, the USA, Japan and South Korea. Those countries have paired clear digital transformation roadmaps with SME funding, worker training, and tax incentives, and the results speak for themselves – faster automation adoption and higher productivity.

“SMEs are the backbone of the UK economy, yet between 20,000 and 27,000 SMEs still operate with virtually zero automation in their manufacturing environments. That should be a wake-up call.
 
“The challenge isn’t only financial; it’s cultural. Many SMEs lack exposure to the breadth of automation possibilities and the change management support needed to embrace them. Historically, automation meant huge upfront capital investment that only larger firms could justify. But with Robotics-as-a-Service models pioneered by companies like Locus Robotics, the barrier to entry is lower than ever. Businesses can treat automation like a mobile phone contract, scaling it up or down as their needs change, without being locked into rigid systems.
 
If the UK is serious about boosting productivity, it needs a dual approach: targeted government support for SMEs, and a strong focus on training and digital skills so employees can confidently work alongside robotics. That’s how the UK can make automation a driver of growth and put the UK industry back on the front foot globally.”