John Deere European Parts Distribution Centre continues to expand
With the addition of a new parts deconsolidation and packaging facility (DECON Centre), John Deere's European Parts Distribution Centre (EPDC) in Bruchsal, Germany continues to expand its operations. In response to the company's growing product range, the establishment of the DECON Centre aims to reduce transportation costs and environmental impact by avoiding unnecessary shipment detours.
"After the recent grand opening of our regional parts distribution centre in Domodedovo, south of Moscow, we are now embarking on two complementary projects which will help to further enhance our spare parts availability," says Fritz Rheindorf, director, parts operations for Europe, Africa and the Middle East. "These are the establishment of a regional parts distribution centre in Marsta, Sweden, which will serve the Scandinavian and Baltic markets, and the deconsolidation and packaging centre in Bruchsal."
The key role of the new DECON Centre will be to streamline and facilitate the flow of incoming parts from John Deere factories and outside suppliers. It will therefore serve two purposes:
• Instead of storing all incoming parts shipments at EPDC, the DECON Centre will allow these shipments to be split and some to be attached to outgoing parts orders before they are forwarded to dealers and regional part depots, worldwide.
• Instead of taking a re-packaging detour through a John Deere factory, outsourced parts will be delivered direct to the DECON centre before they are stored at EPDC or shipped to other regional parts depots.
The new 16,000m² DECON facility, an investment of approximately 23 million euros, will become fully operational in autumn 2011 and should create up to 80 new jobs by 2013. Due to reduced transportation costs and handling requirements, John Deere calculates that savings of around 22 million euros will be made within the first 10 years of operation.
"This decision not only emphasises our commitment to the European agricultural, turf, construction and forestry markets; it will also help to improve the product flow between our factories, suppliers and parts distribution facilities in Europe, and will further strengthen our market competitiveness," adds Rheindorf.