Signing a Joint Business Development Plan, Unilever hopes to improve its global logistics by teaming up with DHL to reduce waste and cut carbon emissions. The success of the partnership will be judged based on whether it increases speed to market and cuts costs.

The agreement was reached under Unilever’s ‘Partner to Win’ programme. Launched last February, the ‘Partner to Win’ programme aims to develop closer relationships with Unilever’s 120 worldwide suppliers, with the long-term goal of creating sustainable and profitable growth.

Unilever and the express delivery service, DHL Supply Chain, hope that by combining they can extend their global reach, particularly in the emerging markets of Brazil, Russia, China and Mexico.

Pier Luigi Sigismondi, chief supply chain officer at Unilever, said: “For us it is essential that we work together with our strategic suppliers in order to reach our ambition to double the size of the company and halve our environmental impact. We look forward to working closer with DHL, and to harnessing the benefits of this global partnership.”

This new partnership allows for a global roll-out of Unilever’s ‘design once, deploy everywhere’ methodology, which focuses on achieving long term sustainable value by creating a universal global framework.

Bruce Edwards, chief executive officer at DHL Supply Chain agreed: “We are always keen to work strategically to design the best possible solutions and deliver unrivalled services to help Unilever achieve their growth, profit and environmental ambitions, and we are extremely excited about this new global aspect in our relationship.”