DHL appoints new Head of Asia Pacific Innovation Centre

DHL has announced Lau Tian Chen as the new head of its first dedicated centre for innovative logistics services in Asia Pacific.

Chen brings over two decades of business development expertise in DHL, where he has held roles in various business units of the company, including DHL Express, DHL Global Forwarding and DHL Customer Solutions & Innovation.

Most recently, he served as the Vice President, Head of Business Development at DHL’s Asia Pacific Innovation Centre (APIC).

In 2010, he was one of the Fast Growing Enterprise founding members, with his last held role as Vice President, Business Development, SEA.

Afterwards, Chen was appointed as head of Global Centre of Excellence in Iskandar, Malaysia.

“It is an exciting time to deep dive into emerging logistics trends and engage industry partners to advance innovation in the region,” said Lau Tian Chen, Vice President, Head of DHL Asia Pacific Innovation Centre, DHL Customer Solutions & Innovation.

“We aim to simply tech buzz words like IoT, digital twin, big data, and blockchain and utilise it to develop commercially viable solutions that can help businesses solve real problems and to impact the lives of their customers,” Chen said.

“What drives me at work every day is the talented team at APIC and the possibilities they bring to solve problems of today and the future with technology. I look forward to further deepening collaboration with my colleagues across the DHL family, and forming stronger bonds with innovation partners in the public and private sectors,” he said.

Located in Singapore, APIC is a collaborative platform for customers, partners and other innovation thinkers regarding emerging logistics-related technologies, showcasing the latest innovations to reinvent supply chains.

APIC is one of four DHL innovation centres globally, with the others located in Troisdorf, Germany; Chicago, USA; and Dubai, UAE.

“The world is moving at an unprecedented rate of digital transformation, with Asia Pacific at its forefront,” said Matthias Heutger, Global Head of Innovation and Commercial Development at DHL.

“By 2023, IDC predicts that one in three companies in Asia Pacific will generate more than 30% of their revenues from digital products and services,” Heutger said.

He continued that digitalisation is key to the future success of businesses.

“We strive to propagate new technological solutions through our innovation centres and collaborate with customers, partners and thought leaders to solve complex logistics challenges and create long-term value for businesses,” he said.

“I believe Tian Chen’s experience, commercial focus and his devotion to mentoring colleagues will be invaluable to the APIC team.”

APIC was established back in 2015 and is DHL’s only innovation centre in the Asia Pacific region.

The centre showcases a curation of exhibits on key technologies that shape the logistics industry in the future, alongside proof of concepts successfully implemented in DHL and its customers’ operations.

It also drives research initiatives focusing on emerging logistics trends and offers tours and workshops to ideate and share learnings for customers and partners.

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