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“The Future is Yellow,” DHL’s
signature color, at the DHL Innovation Center where the
world’s leading logistics company demonstrates its
vision of the logistics of the future in a real-world
setting where new technical solutions come to life. The
Center, which opened in Troisdorf, Germany in March,
turns technology into something visitors can see and
feel with help from Medialon Manager show control.
The heart of the Center is the Showroom where visitors,
representing the world’s leading companies, can
experience all the elements of the logistics value chain
interactively. Within one hour the activities of a
logistics enterprise with 170,000 employees is presented
to them via an interactive multimedia tour whose subject
areas illustrate the entire process from ordering to the
warehouse to transport to the last mile.
Medialon is the central communications and control
device for the Center. “Medialon is the perfect
combination of complex functionality and ease of use,”
says Franziskus Scharpff of Berlin’s Ground Zero which
handled the system integration. “When I need advanced
programming Medialon gives me a lot of possibilities;
otherwise, I would have to use a very complex and
non-user friendly program. I can easily get beginning
technicians to operate Medialon with its object text
control.”
Visitors begin their tour of the Center by getting RFIDs
(radio-frequency ID) with their names on it. The
Showroom darkens then individual lights begin to flash
eventually producing a flood of light as the “Global
Flow,” or neural network of DHL, stirs and illuminates
the entire space. One by one, it brings each subject
area to life, completing the circuit and welcoming
visitors to explore the exhibits.
The first subject area shows how Networks enable the
distribution and exchange of objects and data whose
locations have to change. It features a circular
rotating and glowing table on which visitors can view,
as if it were an interactive globe, DHL’s expansive
networks from the express network and IT network to
special solutions.
The second subject area, Ordering, starts with a video
introduction. Then visitors set a logistics process in
motion themselves: three columns contain small
touchscreens that visitors can use to order packages. With
each order a pulse shoots through the “Global Flow” and
information starts its journey.
Production comes next with an exhibit that surprises
many visitors who don’t know that DHL is active in this
field. A movable monitor allows them to explore a
display case which shows that the interior door panels
of the Audi A6 are pre-assembled by DHL and delivered to
the automaker’s assembly line.
The Warehouse follows where visitors see logistics in
action and experience firsthand the benefits of RFID.
Robots sort items, labels are printed, conveyor belts
bring packages through the showroom and to the vans.
The Transport area features a Smart Box which takes
visitors into the future of logistics where an
intelligent container constantly links itself to the
“Global Flow” and worldwide control centers keep an eye
on things at all times.
The Last Mile finds packages reaching their destinations
and awaiting their recipients. Vans determine the
shortest route to the delivery site and, increasingly,
will use alternative power sources to get there.
Finally, Green Logistics presents 10 light boxes showing
DHL’s environmental protection projects as the company
moves to carbon-neutral logistics.
In the Showroom, every PC and conveyor belt is connected
through Medialon. “Two Medialon Pros act as central
servers and a Medialon Lite communicates with the
conveyor-belt technology because of a particular
protocol,” notes Scharpff. “Forty PCs run Adobe
Director applications for ‘Global Flow’ VersaTile
lighting or video player applications, the latter
directed by Medialon. Guidepads, a tool the Showroom
guides have in their hands to run the whole show from
start up to shut down.”
Medialon is also central command for two databases
employed. MySQL contains data for businesses, names,
addresses and packages plus data for some 200 cues,
which give guides information about the packages. An
Oracle database is featured in the Last Mile for
automatic navigation. |
