Mateusz Madejski, Business Insider Polska: DPD Polska is just turning 35 years old. Do you have any early memories?
Rafał Nałóka, President of DPD Polska: Of course, although I would also like to point out that I have not been working here from the beginning. The company was established in 1991, I joined in 2000. I remember that at that time we served about 3.5 thousand people. parcels per day throughout the country.
And now?
Now it is up to 1.5 million parcels a day, although of course there are differences in volumes. There are slightly more packages, for example, on Tuesdays – when orders from the weekend accumulate, because that's when we most often buy online. So Tuesdays are always a big challenge for the industry. And why a challenge? Well, logistics likes repetition, and this is not always the case here. On Monday we have over a million parcels, on Tuesday even 1.8 million – and at the end of the week a little less again. This is the nature of the e-commerce sector and we simply have to deal with it.
Who sends parcels most often today?
You could say that our company was born during the e-commerce revolution. In the past, parcels were sent mainly between companies. And now? Yes, we still have B2B traffic (i.e. business-to-business, i.e. between companies – ed.), but there is also a lot of traffic from companies to consumers, as well as between consumers themselves. There are many varieties of deliveries. And this was probably the biggest revolution that has taken place in recent decades.
And what does it look like in statistics?
About 20-25 percent traffic are currently business packages, the rest are B2C or C2C. Of course, this is largely due to out-of-home machines.
Parcel machines there are growing faster than in Poland
Exactly. The development of parcel machines in Poland, it must be admitted, is spectacular. How much more can this market grow?
Good question. Such machines are growing even faster than in our country in the Baltic countries. This trend appeared there even earlier than in Poland. Perhaps this is because in these countries the network of traditional stores is poorly developed and there are simply few points (small shops or flower shops) where you can collect parcels. But despite the high saturation of these markets, the number of machines is constantly growing. However, it is difficult to say when similar saturation will occur in Poland. However, you will definitely have to think about what to do so as not to install too many slot machines. Over-investing is never a good idea. Not to mention the fact that acceptance of such machines also varies – sometimes machines can disturb the landscape or simply be a nuisance. And sometimes there are 6-10 large machines in one place.
So is there a ceiling here?
I think so. It is worth noting that due to the above challenges, our machines are smaller and more flexible – in the sense that in case of problems, we can easily move them or change their location. I can imagine that with larger machines such adjustments may be a problem. Another thing is that our machines are not connected to electricity, they operate on batteries.
How long do these batteries last?
Our oldest machine is four years old and the battery still works perfectly. I think it will work for another four.
Do you have no intentions of creating behemoth machines like your competitors?
Such behemoths are convenient for logistics, but they are not necessarily convenient for recipients. Therefore, we focus on small machines. We also do not place them in places that may be inconvenient. However, if we see such a need because there is a lot of traffic at a certain machine, we can simply enlarge it. Our machines are modular, so this can be done relatively easily. We just try to be close to our customers, we don't want to create logistical “monsters”.
How has the assortment sent by Poles changed?
He has changed noticeably. Products that were once very popular – music or game CDs – have almost disappeared. There are more and more typical consumer goods – clothing, car parts, bicycle parts, electronics, household appliances, etc. However, what has changed is primarily the scale. Initially, the processes were carried out manually, now parcel sorting is usually automatic.
Where else can new machines be created?
It's not like we look at the map of Poland and think where we are not yet. We deliver many millions of parcels every month, so we have a lot of data. We analyze these numbers and based on them we know where new machines should be placed. We observe how customers behave and where most parcels are ordered.
DPD machine
|
Mateusz Madejski / Business Insider Polska
Where are the most deliveries?
You can see the difference between, for example, housing estates that are 30 years old and housing estates that are 2-3 years old. The former offer much more home deliveries, while the latter are dominated by machines. We adjust the location of the machines to your needs. But of course it's not like we only reach cities. The development of machines has certainly been helped by the increased popularity of remote work – you can have access to various products without working in the city. It made doing business easier for many smaller entrepreneurs who gained easier access to many products and components.
“Dead end”
What might future delivery look like? Do you believe in drone deliveries?
Drones turned out to be a dead end, at least when it comes to cities. If the industry has to deliver 4-5 million parcels in one day in Warsaw, it would require at least several dozen to several hundred thousand drones over the city. This is hard to imagine, especially in these times of widespread anxiety. And such parcels could fall from drones. Drones, however, can be a great solution for hard-to-reach places and emergency situations. I mean islands or mountains – for things like medicines. However, this – in my opinion – will always be somewhere on the side of great logistics. The situation is different with autonomous vehicles, here the tests have gone much further. But are autonomous vehicles the future of logistics? This question remains open.
See also: We asked prof. Altman for advice for Poland. Here is his answer
Is it even possible to imagine an autonomous revolution in logistics?
It's difficult when it comes to the last mile, especially if we assume that people will pick up the parcels. It is not easy to make this process autonomous. At other stages, e.g. transporting parcels between hubs, autonomous vehicles may already be the future, because there are repeatable routes and processes. Such vehicles are already being tested. But double-trailer vehicles are also being tested – in this case, one vehicle, autonomous, drives behind the other, driven by a human. There is, of course, also the issue of electric cars, of which there are more and more. However, we see that they are much more efficient in summer than in winter – so we have another dilemma: should we keep more electric cars but not use them in winter? These are the questions we ask ourselves because, as I have already said, logistics is based on repeatability. However, there is a lot going on in warehouses when it comes to automation. I remember our first hub, near Stryków, which opened in 2012 – it was huge. Recently, we opened another hub – general cargo, in Swędów. Much smaller, much cheaper – and it handles many more parcels, which is made possible by modern sorting technologies.
Will people still be needed?
Absolutely yes. They are essential for unloading, for planning, and for driving up. Full automation is truly the future.
What development do you expect?
There was a time when we were growing by 30%. year to year. We still have double-digit increases, but they hover around 10%. So it's calmer, it's time to plan and think about where further innovations are needed.
See also: Couriers are boosting the Polish economy. We have the report
