The Hoyer Group and Evonik recently celebrated the commissioning of a jointly designed and “innovatively equipped” new logistics center in Essen, Germany.
Operated by Hoyer, the new logistics center is the result of intensive cooperation between the group’s Supply Chain Services division and Evonik, a specialty chemicals company. The facility features state-of-the-art technology and equipment, and meets “the highest safety standards,” Hoyer said. Goods receipt, storage, and order picking processes are automated where possible. For example, goods flow is digitalized via seamless tracking of SSCC (Serial Shipper Container Code)-18 pallet numbers, increasing efficiency in processing and personnel deployment, and simplifying and accelerating the value-added chain of the chemical industry.
“We understand the challenges our customers face—and support them with customized solutions to meet these successfully,” said Björn Schniederkötter, Hoyer Group CEO. “Safety and efficiency set the parameters in this respect. We welcome the fact that Evonik shares our concepts of value. In addition to a dedicated protection and prevention concept, the new location inspires confidence through efficient work lines, state-of-the-art equipment, intelligent software, and energy-efficient plant.”
The new logistics center is Evonik’s largest international finished product warehouse for palletized goods, Hoyer said. It’s also highly modernized, with Hoyer’s first driverless transport systems inside. In addition, there are semi-automatic storage and retrieval devices, and Hoyer has the option of implementing full automation in the future.
Hoyer also coordinated the approach routes and processes with Evonik. The largest manufacturing industrial company in Essen transfers various raw materials and finished products from the adjacent site across plant boundaries to Hoyer’s logistics center, where containers are stored centrally and order-picked for onward transport.
A ramp-up in volume to the targeted filling level will be achieved in the second half of 2022, the company added. The warehouse offers 27,000 pallet spaces on 19,000 square meters of floor space for 18,000 tonnes (19,842 U.S. tons) of products, which are stored “safely and properly” with the help of software.
The precise planning and direct connection between production and storage facilities is helping Evonik meet its climate targets as well. The location will reduce the company’s road transports by approximately 3 million tonne-kilometers, or about 3,000 truck journeys, eliminating 210 tonnes (231 tons) of CO2 per year, the companies said.
Inside the warehouse, a fleet of electric trucks, and the energy saved by equipping the site with the latest LED lighting, also will contribute to sustainability.