Lixil has announced the opening of a new distribution centre for Grohe brand products in Porta Westfalica, Germany. The company says that the new facility is equipped with state-of-the-art warehousing technology to further improve the efficiency and throughput capacity for the distribution of Grohe sanitary systems. “We are delighted about the addition of the new distribution centre to our Porta Westfalica site. Complementing production with top-notch logistics operations we are now optimally equipped for the future,” said Jonas Brennwald, leader Lixil EMENA.
The new building is located next to the existing logistics centre that was built in 1994 but is almost four times larger with around 29,500sq m of floor space. The former distribution centre will be used as additional production space in the future.
“One of the main advantages of the new distribution centre is its proximity to the production plant. Our extremely high throughput volume meant that we had to use several external warehouses in the region. Now the new building is finished the transfer between sites is no longer necessary. At the same time, we can convert the old building into an additional production area,” explained Jörg Vogeley, plant manager at the Lixil Competence Centre for Grohe sanitary technology in Porta Westfalica.
The modern distribution centre has three hall sections and was specifically designed to handle Grohe products. It also has a gold certificate by the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB), drawing its power supply from a 500 kWp photovoltaic system and utilising a rainwater cistern. As part of the new site an ecological compensation area was created as well as an orchard and flower meadows. There are also charging points for company e-vehicles.
The new facility will create around 40 new full-time jobs.
