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DSV is investing in a string of 20 automated fulfilment factories across Europe, North America, and the Asia-Pacific
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These large-scale multi-user facilities enable clients of all shapes and sizes to benefit from sharing space, labor, and automation in handling e-commerce order fulfillment
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The 20 facilities will be placed close to regional logistics hubs on several continents and rolled out in phases over the next few years
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They are all connected on a “string,” where one company can have stock placed in multiple warehouses across regions or continents while having one stock overview
DSV announced it is investing in a string of 20 automated fulfilment factories across Europe, North America, and the Asia-Pacific during the next few years.
These large-scale multi-user facilities enable clients of all shapes and sizes to benefit from sharing space, labor, and automation in handling e-commerce order fulfillment activities.
The string of automated warehouse facilities can cater for the specific needs of companies across different markets and distribution channels, both B2C and B2B, while the goods are stored in regional hubs as close to the end user as possible, the transport and logistics service said in a release.
A company—especially a small or medium-sized one—will have direct access to information at its convenience and only needs to focus on its core business activities. DSV will take care of order fulfilment and scale up or down according to the demand.
“With DSV Fulfilment Factory companies do not need to be a multinational to get automated, competitive and efficient warehousing. We know there is a significant gap in the market for automated warehousing solutions for companies without enormous volumes because, usually, these solutions, such as AutoStore, are only accessible as a single-user solution for companies with a certain scale,” explained Ronald Poort, executive vice president, DSV.
“We are investing significantly in a string of 20 interconnected automated facilities across several continents, so our customers can get access to the much-needed automated capacity. By doing so, we are providing companies of all sizes with the opportunity to get access to DSV’s automated solutions matching their fluctuating needs in one market or across multiple. I believe that a large-scale multi-user automated facility combined with the logistics capabilities of a 3PL is a rare—if not a unique—offering in the market.”
The fulfilment factory concept targets both existing as well as new customers by offering more flexibility and lower warehousing costs. The factories will be an integral part of DSV’s larger campuses, creating an efficient, cost effective and flexible solution for the company.
The concept is based on AutoStore technology, delivered by Element Logic, with goods-to-person automated workstations in a plug and play format. This enables DSV to accommodate the surge in, for instance, e-commerce demand by allowing the skilled warehouse employees to work more effectively than before.
The 20 facilities will be placed close to regional logistics hubs on several continents. They are all connected on a “string,” which means that one company can have stock placed in multiple warehouses across regions or continents while having one stock overview.
The interconnectivity across facilities brings flexibility into the picking, packaging, and delivery processes, as the system will automatically choose the product at the warehouse closest to the delivery point for swift delivery.
The multi-million euro investment in the fulfilment factories will be rolled out in several phases. Already now, four of the 20 automated warehouses are in operation in Europe, while an additional six are underway in Europe and Canada. The rest will be built in North America and Asia-Pacific.
“The ambition is that all twenty DSV Fulfilment Factories are built during the next few years,” said the release.
A fulfilment center is the physical location from which a third-party logistics provider fulfills customer orders for e-commerce retailers. It exists to get online orders to customers in a timely fashion and relieve e-commerce companies of managing this crucial-yet-challenging process.
Photo from DSV website
