Deutsche Post AG is a mail and logistics services company. It provides easy-to-use standardized products as well as innovative and tailored solutions ranging from dialogue marketing to industrial supply chains. The company offers services include national and international mail and parcel services, dialog marketing services, outsourcing and system solutions for the mail business, international express, air freight, ocean freight, European road freight and contract logistics. The company is organized into four operating divisions: Mail, Express, Global Forwarding, Fright and Supply Chain. The Mail division provides domestic and international mail and parcels and are specialists in dialogue marketing, nationwide press distribution services and all the electronic services associated with mail delivery. The Express division offers courier and express services to business customers. The Global Forwarding, Freight division handles the carriage of goods by rail, road, air and sea. The Supply Chain division provides warehousing, managed transport and value-added services at every link in the supply chain for customers in a variety of industries. This also offers solutions for corporate information and communications management tailored precisely to the needs of customers. Deutsche Post was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Bonn, Germany.“

“Deutsche Post (Deutsche Post DHL) History

The Deutsche Bundespost was the federal German government postal service created in 1947 as a successor to the Reichspost. On 1 July 1989 as part of a post office reform, Deutsche Bundespost was split into three divisions (also called public enterprises), one being Deutsche Bundespost Postdienst.

In 1996, investments in logistics technology were made, aimed at faster delivery of letters and parcels nationally. Reorganization and modernization of production at 33 parcel centers significantly sped up the distribution process. Another investment program was aimed at modernizing the infrastructure of the mail centers. When investment was completed in 1998, the network consisted of 83 production centers. On 20 November 2000, Deutsche Post AG went public. It was the largest initial public offering of the year in Germany and the third-largest worldwide.

Acquisition of DHL

The partnership with DHL International, which began with the acquisition of a minority interest in 1998, expanded in 2000. Negotiations were then concluded allowing Deutsche Post to establish a majority interest from 1 January 2002. In July 2002, Deutsche Post acquired a 25-percent share in DHL from Lufthansa Cargo and increases its majority stake to 75 percent. On 1 April 2003, the Group began re-branding some 20,000 parcel delivery vans throughout Germany in the new DHL design. Deutsche Post increased its share in the international courier and express business to 100 percent in December 2002.

2010s

In April 2013, Deutsche Post announced that the German government’s refinancing agency KfW Bank had given up its blocking minority, cutting its stake to 24.89%. As of December 2013, KfW Bank holds 21.0% of the share capital. The free float is 79.0%, of which 11.2% are held by private investors. In late 2013 the company began equipping its employees with 55,000 Honeywell Dolphin 99EX mobile computers. The devices will enable approximately 60,000 employees to track and trace millions of DHL parcels delivered each day across Germany, including more than seven million parcels during the peak holiday season. The software makes an IT administrator’s job easier with the ability to manage all of the company’s mobile devices from a central system. Ensuring that each device has updated software and is properly configured reduces errors and prevents device downtime that can slow the driver.

On March 2014 Deutsche Post and Vanderlande Industries have signed a frame agreement for the supply of the sorting and logistics handling systems for its new network of automated delivery bases throughout Germany. Part of the systems supplied is a new bulk chute design developed as a joint project by Vanderlande Industries and Deutsche Post DHL. This chute improves productivity by its ability to buffer up to 200 parcels without any operator action. Parcels are directly processed at the delivery base which saves time and allows faster deliveries to the customer. Formerly parcels had to be loaded manually into roll containers and again manually unloaded of the roll containers into the delivery vans at the output of the system. This process is now automated by the chutes right up to loading of the vehicle ensuring less handling and improved ergonomics.“

*Information from Forbes.com and Wikipedia.org

**Video published on YouTube by “ Deutsche Post DHL Group“