HARTING commissions European distribution centre

A day of festivity marked the HARTING Technology Group’s official inauguration of its European Distribution Centre (EDC) in Espelkamp, Germany this week. Up to 20,000 order items will be processed here on a daily basis, with goods to be dispatched to customers on the day of their order. Costing an estimated $66 million (CND), the EDC logistics centre is the largest single investment in the 74-year history of HARTING.

HARTING has now commissioned its European Distribution Centre (EDC) in Espelkamp, Germany.

Roughly 10,000 packages can be shipped to customers and branches around the world on a daily basis. The 20-metre-high shelf warehouse can accommodate approx. 7,000 pallets and 120,000 containers. Installation work involved laying 100 kilometres of IT cabling, 40 kilometres of sprinkler piping and container conveyor technology with a total length of 1,000 metres. 2,000 containers can be taken in and out of the warehouse every hour. Technical highlights include the highly-automated picking system and the storage area, which is optimally managed and efficiently utilized according to the respective order load and capacity. HARTING technology can be seen as soon as you enter the premises, whereby approaching vehicles are recognized and the barrier lifted upon granting of access. RFID technology ensures that pallets are correctly placed and loaded.  A driverless transport system is responsible for transporting the goods between the halls and independently selects the optimum route. The highly flexible logistics of the EDC also enable a fast response to changed economic or political framework conditions such as trade barriers, for instance.

Great emphasis was also placed on generating a sustainable energy supply. The power for the European Distribution Centre is supplied by a photovoltaic system installed on the roof, while the energy requirements for cooling and heating are covered by internally produced biomethane and a geothermal plant – for which 36 holes needed to be drilled to a depth of 150m. The implemented energy concept minimizes the Co2 emissions. The cost of the entire centre came in 27 percent lower than the figure originally calculated by the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW). 140 employees work in the logistics centre in a two-shift system. Thanks to the ergonomic design of the workstations, where pallets can be lifted by almost a metre for picking, employees are relieved from having to bend over endlessly.

The offices and social spaces, reception, bistro with terrace and seating areas are all bright and friendly. With its white facade, the EDC is widely visible on its 8-hectare site on the L 770 in northwest Eselkamp.