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GSCW chat recap: Kuehne+Nagel, Delta Cargo discuss digital innovation partnership

Systematic bottlenecks eliminated from API connections

Delta Cargo's Rob Walpole (left) speaks to Kuehne+Nagel's Thomas Puglisi (right) about their technology partnership (Photo: FreightWaves)

This fireside chat recap is from Day 1 of FreightWaves Global Supply Chain Week. Day 1 focuses on military, aerospace and manufacturing.

FIRESIDE CHAT TOPIC: Customer-centric digital innovation in the airfreight industry — a look at Delta Cargo’s digital transformation from a customer perspective

DETAILS:  A look at how Delta Cargo’s innovative digital transformation is creating a more transparent and customer-centric experience across the globe.

SPEAKERS: Rob Walpole, vice president of Delta Cargo, and Thomas Puglisi, global head of operations, air logistics at Kuehne+Nagel.


BIOS: Walpole is vice president of Delta Cargo and leads a team of 1,500 employees across the globe. He is responsible for driving the division’s continuous improvement to ensure superior commercial, financial and operational performance. He also spent 11 years with the global logistics company DB Schenker, most recently as chief executive officer of its USA business.

Puglisi has been employed at Kuehne+Nagel for 27 years, where he has held various roles within the Airfreight business unit, and oversees Airfreight Operations and Processes, Airfreight Systems, Customer Onboarding, e-Touch, Training, and Operational Development. 

“There [are] fundamental reasons why we do it, not just for the sake of the technology itself, but rather because the technology like API makes good sense. … Our experience with working with Delta has been very, very positive.”

“I am a big believer that email as a business process is just not the way you want to work…the ability to interact systematically on a host-to-host basis eliminates all of the time spent just for sending emails.”

“There are several steps that a company typically has to go through in order to have a check issued. … These are some of the typical bottlenecks that you can actually eliminate when you go to that cashless process.”


Grace Sharkey

Grace Sharkey is a professional in the logistics and transportation industry with experience in journalism, digital content creation and decision-making roles in the third-party logistics space. Prior to joining FreightWaves, Grace led a startup brokerage to more than $80 million in revenue, holding roles of increasing responsibility, including director of sales, vice president of business development and chief strategy officer. She is currently a staff writer, podcast producer and SiriusXM radio host for FreightWaves, a leading provider of news, data and analytics for the logistics industry. She holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations from Michigan State University. You can contact her at gsharkey@freightwaves.com.