Schou builds new logistics centre
Logistics analysis is leading to significant changes to Schou Company’s logistics strategy. A new 100,000 m2 logistic centre will ensure future growth and even better profitability.
Schou Company’s new logistics centre is being built in Kolding and will be finished in 2023.
A thorough logistics analysis by logistics company and supply chain consultancy Langebæk, shows that growth and Schou’s competitiveness, now and in the future, requires a change of direction. There was potential for achieving optimisation in the existing set-up, but a future-proof solution meant building a new, major logistics centre, where several activities could be brought together.
The analysis shows that Schou has the opportunity to improve operations by many millions of kroner and at the same time deal with the expected annual growth.
The analysis also shows that the Triangle Region (the industrial and communications hubs of Kolding, Vejle and Fredericia) is an excellent central distribution location for Schou’s customers.
“In 2019 we were at a crossroads in terms of the logistics strategy and sought advice.
All of our network contacts said Langebæk had the strategic and operational competencies to solve the task. First with analysing and then with the implementation of the strategy,” said Rune Skou Raun, Supply Chain Director at Schou Company.
Analysis from 2019
Langebæk started in 2019, analysing Schou’s business based on the two Danish logistics centres. The analysis showed the board of directors that it would be interesting to dig a little deeper, and Langebæk was asked to do further work with some of the possibilities. By the end of 2019, the board of directors had gained crucial insight – future growth and profitability was best ensured by building a completely new logistics centre in Kolding.
This would mean logistics from several warehouses could be brought together in a single new set-up.
This is why Schou is now building a 100,000 m2 logistics centre, of which 5,500 m2 is a fully automatic warehouse, which is 42 m high, has 40,000 pallet spaces and is integrated with an optimised campaign area.
The rest of the logistics centre will consist of a manual warehouse, which is 15 m high and has approximately 85,000 pallet spaces. In total, the logistics centre will have 125,000 pallet places.
SSI Schäfer is building the automatic warehouse and Daugaard Petersen is building the manual warehouse. Building consultancy services for the project are provided by AK83.
Optimised for growth
“Schou is getting a logistics centre that is built to meet the company’s needs and which is optimised to deal with the continued growth and increasing complexity of the logistics,” said John Carstens, partner at Langebæk.
“It has been an excellent project, with open collaboration, where we created an excellent decision basis. Data is very important in modern logistics, above all, in getting the right data. And we succeeded,” said John Carstens and added that being able to draw on extensive knowledge from comparable projects in the Nordic region was an advantage.
One of the more crucial parts of Langebæk’s logistics analysis was calculating the different scenarios and the work in extrapolating developments within the individual product numbers.
The expectation is that turnover will grow by 22% and volume will grow by 37% over four years. Volume items such as garden furniture are growing more than hand tools. This changes the costs profile and the need for more warehouse space.
In order to carry out the necessary data analyses through the project, and thus be able to analyse and create the basis for making the right decisions, people worked intensively to create and validate good underlying data.
“Reaching agreement on how reality would play out was an important process. It took a few months, but the better the data the better the result. And we have created good underlying data and data accessibility that will help us in the future,” said Rune Skou Raun.