While competitors partially retracted from the British market following the Brexit vote in 2016, German company Ferdinand Bilstein invested in a new facility in the geographical centre of England.
In association with Ulrich Schlosser from WITRON, Paul Dodgson, operations director at Ferdinand Bilstein UK and Felix Wortmann, project manager logistics planning at Ferdinand Bilstein Germany planned the logistics centre in Markham Vale.
Located close to Manchester, Sheffield, and Nottingham, the Bilstein group has been operating the 19,000 square metre distribution centre since 2018.
Presently, more than 50,000 different products are stored in the facility. Customers who order by 5:30 pm, receive their orders the following day. Same-day collections are also possible.
'Centralised Operations'
"We have centralised our logistics operations in Markham Vale. [Earlier], we supplied our UK customers from two distribution centres, one in the north, the other in the south of England," Wortmann said.
"Operations were quite complex as the parts [were] stored in [separate] warehouses within the sites. Consolidation of ready-to-ship pallets and packages was time and effort consuming."
"We actually wanted to settle down in the South of England [to] supply both the UK and the continent with febi, SWAG and Blue Print automotive replacement parts in the future", explained Felix Wortmann.
WITRON's delivery and performance scope include the design and realisation of all material flows, IT, control, warehouse management, and mechanical components.
The conveyor technology and stacker cranes were designed and produced by WITRON's subsidiary, FAS.
A WITRON OnSite team comprising six people is located at the site to take care of the entire system and its maintenance in the long run.
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