Henkel has opened an expanded high-bay warehouse for consumer goods products at its headquarters in Düsseldorf. Following two years of planning and construction, the company has commissioned the new logistics centre. With an investment of 45 million euros, Henkel is consolidating central warehousing capacities for laundry, home care and beauty care products, thereby strengthening the efficiency of its European supply chains, according to the company.
The new high-bay warehouse is connected to the fully automated warehouse that opened in 2014. Together, they form a logistics centre with a capacity of more than 200,000 pallets covering an area of 24,000 square metres. According to the company, this is Henkel's largest consumer goods warehouse in Europe.
Five warehouse locations are being merged
With the expansion, Henkel is consolidating five previously distributed warehouse locations in Germany and the Benelux region in Düsseldorf. The background to this is the merging of consumer goods activities within the Henkel Consumer Brands business unit. This centralisation is intended to simplify supply chains, shorten transport routes and improve efficiency and sustainability.
„Düsseldorf is our global headquarters and, at the same time, our second-largest production and logistics site worldwide. We are continuously investing in this location – on average, around 100 million euros per year. The state-of-the-art new warehouse, into which we have invested 45 million euros, is an important step towards more efficient logistics structures in our consumer business. Furthermore, this investment – especially in our anniversary year – is a clear commitment to our home location of Düsseldorf.“
Henkel CEO Carsten Knobel
Rail connection to reduce CO₂ emissions
A key component of the new logistics centre is the direct rail connection. This will be used to transport goods by train from the Wassertrüdingen production site in Bavaria to Düsseldorf. Henkel produces hair care products there for the German market as well as for around half of Europe's demand.
„The new high-bay warehouse is a key enabler of our integration and creates the conditions for more efficient, consolidated, and sustainable customer deliveries,“ said Wolfgang König, board member for Henkel Consumer Brands. „In the future, our customers in Germany and Benelux will be able to receive products from the entire consumer goods portfolio with just one order, one delivery, and one invoice.“
Source: Handle
