EuroCharity visits DHL Express (Hellas) S.A. during the Hellenic Management Association’s ‘Quality Week’

“At DHL, we believe that it is as important to be a citizen as much as we are a corporation”

Following its latest European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) “Recognised for Excellence in Europe” award, DHL Express (Hellas) S.A., welcomed on Tuesday, November 14, 2006, a group of interested executives (among whom was one EuroCharity senior executive), clients and local authorities to its gateway building (hub) at the Athens International Airport – “Eleftherios Venizelos”, giving a presentation and hosting a discussion on the company’s mission to quality management and its commitment to business excellence.

DHL was founded in Greece in 1978 dominating the air express delivery market. DHL Hellas handles more than 10,000 international shipments daily and is recognized by its clients as one of the most reliable services in Europe. DHL itself last year gave its Greek subsidiary the award for most improved country for service performance to its customers. The Greek team organized itself to bring this result, and this is recognized by clients and improves growth rates.

DHL Hellas is ISO 9001:2000 certified and its Customer Service Department is operating 24/7.

Among new services introduced by DHL is its next day express delivery service to provide timed delivery across all major cities in the European Union. This service is expanded in the rest of Europe, in the United States of America, in Middle East, Asia, Africa . The two choices of timed delivery are StartDay Express (offering guaranteed pre-9am delivery) and MidDay Express (offering pre-noon delivery). Thus, a customer sending a parcel from Greece at 5 p.m. by StartDay Express is guaranteed his client or partner in Paris will find it on his desk at the first minute of the next working day.

With an investment in excess of EUR 8 million, DHL Hellas is the only courier company to own its own building at the Athens International Airport – “Eleftherios Venizelos”. The 6,000-square-metre building includes a logistics center, a dedicated customs clearance department and a warehouse. DHL aims to further minimize transit time for inbound and outbound shipments, enhancing trade and offering competitive advantage to industries located in Northern Greece.

DHL Hellas as a global logistics provider is to network the world. DHL Hellas aim is to provide excellent service quality to customers at attractive prices, in the most environment-friendly way possible, embracing social responsibilities. Increasingly, the challenges that global companies must address to be profitable longer-term are intertwined with the challenges that broader society must address to improve quality of life.

DHL Hellas believes commitment to good corporate citizenship is a fundamental part of achieving sustained value creation for both society and the company, and thus to ensuring the future of the business.

DHL takes its definition of Corporate Citizenship from the World Economic Forum — it says: ‘Corporate citizenship is about the contribution a company makes to society through its core business activities, its social investment and philanthropy programmes, and its engagement in public policy. The manner in which a company manages its economic, social and environmental relationships, and the way it engages with its stakeholders (such as shareholders, employees, customers, business partners, governments and communities), has an impact on the company’s long-term success.’

The vision for DHL as a good corporate citizen is founded on the multinational’s awareness of what the company is, and what has made it successful.

DHL operates almost everywhere in the world — in over 220 countries and territories world-wide. The company responds quickly to customers’ needs, working in partnership with them to provide solutions to their commercial needs. It was therefore natural for DHL to adopt this same approach for corporate citizenship.

To date, DHL Hellas’ milestone to quality is its latest achievement towards business excellence: EFQM’s four-star “Recognised for Excellence in Europe“

EuroCharity wishes to thank the Hellenic Management Association (HMA/EEDE) and DHL Hellas executives:

• Mrs. Ioanna Katsirou, Quality Manager
• Μrs. Sevi Zacharia, Communications Manager
• Mr. Stefanos Agiopoulos, Gateway Manager
• Mr. Nikos Katsoulis, Loss Prevention Manager

for their kind invitation and hospitality and sincerely hopes that more Greek companies will follow in DHL Hellas’ footsteps in their strive towards quality management, business excellence and CSR.

Finally, it is worth noting that two senior executives at DHL Hellas — one of them being Mrs. Ioanna Katsirou — are now EFQM assessors, while they and their colleagues at DHL Hellas are committed to and pro-actively involved in the company’s CSR values, mission and vision.