The Jungheinrich Lift Truck Corp. (Richmond, Va.) has announced a move of its spare parts distribution department to a state-of-the-art new 17,000 sq.-ft. warehouse, in Richmond, Va., to ensure its ability to provide its U.S. customers with express delivery of parts. The company has invested $1 million in an inventory of 8,000 spare parts at the site. Jungheinrich says it will now be able to guarantee deliver overnight, anywhere in the U.S., all parts stocked at the new warehouse.
Notes Michael Hendriksz, Jungheinrich's Director of Aftersales, "We're already the technological leader in Europe, but to get a foothold in the U.S. market, we need to be better than the competition. By establishing a highly efficient ‘over-capacity’ warehouse, we can ensure that we stock 95% of all parts that go into the trucks we sell here. This move will put to rest any concerns potential customers might have about parts scarcity from a European-based company."
Adds Hendriksz, "It's also important to mention we've introduced an express delivery program for the relatively small quantity of parts shipped from Germany. We'll guarantee to deliver those anywhere in the U.S. within 48 hours." The key to this capability is Jungheinrich's special arrangement with FedEx that allows all shipped items to be pre-cleared with Customs the moment they leave the airport in Frankfurt. When the plane lands in Memphis or Newark, packages are delivered directly by FedEx to the dealer, or in some cases to the end user, bypassing Richmond.
The strategic development of Jungheinrich's new warehousing concept was undertaken in conjunction with its parent company in Germany, where a centrally controlled system of parts distribution has been efficiently at work for years. It was that high level of performance in Europe that Richmond wanted to match in its U.S. warehouse operations.
States Phil Keay, Manager of Jungheinrich's Parts and Service Support, about the new warehouse in Richmond, "We designed it for maximum efficiency. For example, all high-usage parts are located within 30 ft. of the packing stations, with packing machinery ergonomically located above the packing tables. Parts are swiftly picked, boxed up and moved along to the freight terminals. The whole process takes less than 20 minutes, from order placement to initiation of delivery."
Notes Michael Hendriksz, "We were in cramped quarters before, but the warehouse area has now been increased by at least a factor of five." He reveals that concurrent to the warehouse move, the company headquarters are moving into new corporate facilities about three times the size of those they presently occupy. The spare parts warehouse move has been just the first phase of a general corporate relocation to a new site in Richmond.
Besides its storage function, the new warehouse will also contain some manufacturing activity, including production of hydraulic hoses, hose fittings and lift chains. Explains Keay, "We'll manufacture hoses here, because they have a limited shelf life and demand a first-in first-out system. Also, since hoses and lift chains are dimension-wise specific to each vehicle model, it's simply easier for us to produce them here on demand. We'll also manufacture our exclusive press-on high-pressure hose fittings here for use on all our new trucks."
Source: Jungheinrich Lift Truck Corp.
