Olympus opens European Distribution Centre in Hamburg Billbrook

15-Oct-2003

With the opening of the European Distribution Centre (OEDC), Olympus has established the logistic base for its most ambitious objective: the doubling of European sales over the next few years. The building in the Bredowstrasse 20 in Hamburg selected for this mission not only has large-scale warehousing and dispatch capacities but also enough room for the integration of innovative value-added services. The new Distribution Centre allows decentrally organised services to be bundled at one location and optimised, resulting in greater synergy effects. For example, the Centre integrates a warehouse for finished goods and spare parts for various medical systems departments as well as the consumer area (Imaging Systems Europe), including their service departments. All logistic services necessary for European sales and distribution are integrated into the processes. Olympus has realised the increasing importance of logistics. Just in time for the 40th birthday of the European headquarters (founded in Hamburg in 1963), the complex was inaugurated in Hamburg Billbrook. It represents the logistical heart of the company, which has made headlines for years with its two-digit growth rates. The most modern logistics secure the highest customer satisfaction. The unique integration of a full range of services with external service providers under a single roof guarantees that the enormous movement of goods and materials can be handled efficiently. Consequently, the steadily growing expectations of customers can also be fulfilled quickly, dependably and cost effectively. Thanks to reliable automated processes, incoming goods can be fully assembled and transferred for dispatch according to the specific order at hand, just shortly after receipt. End-to-end controlling via radio data transmission - from goods or spare part receipt to transfer of the shipments and transport or courier services - makes the current handling status traceable at all times. In addition, the individual links of the logistics chain are connected to one another in the best possible way. Speed and precision are the results of the interaction between innovative goods turnaround and handling technology, as well as the most modern scanning and packing procedures. A job number is generated for every customer order and connected to the transport order at the start of the order process. Handling of the customer order is fully automatic and traceable at any time over all processing stations along the entire, nearly 1.5 km long goods handling chain. Not only a warehouse, but also value-added services The 60,000 m² site, of which 20,000 m² is presently being used for warehousing purposes, will unite the various goods and spare part warehouses under one roof. Until now, these have been scattered over various locations. The advantages of a pan-European Distribution Centre, equipped with innovative and extremely efficient warehousing, order picking, storage and retrieval technology, are numerous: faster shipping times as well as noticeably lower handling, transport and rental costs. At the same time, Olympus has also allocated areas to external service providers working at the location. These companies include SCL as operator of the warehouse, as well as the firm Kommpack, which assembles up to one million Olympus kits per year. XEROX will also operate a printing centre on the site. What is more, by the summer of 2004, Olympus will use the new space to house further functional areas for all consumer and various medical products as well as for quality control. This integrative concept assures that the jobs of approximately 100 employees from the various companies involved are secured.

https://www.chemeurope.com/en/news/29584/olympus-opens-european-distribution-centre-in-hamburg-billbrook.html