Waiblingen, 4/19/2022 | Company press release

The STIHL Group is paving the way for further growth, especially in the future-focused field of cordless products, by operating a new central warehouse in Völklingen (Saarland, Germany). In the future, Völklingen will supply all STIHL sales companies worldwide as well as some STIHL dealers, mainly in Germany, France, and the Benelux countries. At the new logistics and distribution site, the garden and power tool manufacturer STIHL will store and distribute cordless products as well as all power tools manufactured at the production site in Tyrol. The central warehouse located in the Saarland region, Germany, is replacing the current warehouse in Strasbourg, which has reached the limits of its capacity as demand for STIHL products continues to rise. Norbert Pick, STIHL Executive Board Member for Marketing and Sales, enthuses: “With the new central warehouse, we are not only significantly increasing our capacities, but also continuing to guarantee customer-oriented market supply as well as competitive logistics. This puts us in an ideal position for further growth in the STIHL Group.” The new building is scheduled for completion in mid-2022. The central warehouse will be fully operational from January 1, 2023.

A strategic location and state-of-the-art equipment

The new central warehouse has a total floor space of 58,000 square meters, making it the STIHL Group’s largest warehouse. Völklingen’s geographical location in the Germany-France-Luxembourg border triangle offers several advantages: First, the site is situated in a central location in relation to the STIHL specialist dealers which it directly supplies. Furthermore, the central warehouse is located within easy reach of German and French highways and close to the A620 federal highway, making for an efficient and flexible supply chain. Dr. Georg Miehler, Head of Sales Logistics at STIHL, emphasizes: “With the new central warehouse, we are optimizing our processes from order handover to delivery to our customers. Advanced and highly flexible warehouse technology enables us to meet customer requirements to the best possible extent.” STIHL Tirol, the Group’s Austrian production site, is also heavily involved in the project, having been tasked with managing the operations of the new central warehouse. “This significant strategic step enables us to meet the continuing strong demand for STIHL products and to serve our customers even better and even more quickly,” commented STIHL Tirol Managing Director Dr. Clemens Schaller.

The new building will feature state-of-the-art warehouse and order-picking technologies, such as self-driving picking devices and, in place of conventional hand-held scanners, smartwatches that display stock levels and instructions. This technology facilitates ergonomic and flexible working. Thanks to a combination of narrow-aisle, flow-through and wide-aisle storage, the facility is optimally adapted to the goods being stored and enables high flexibility adaptation to changing conditions.  With a total area of 120,000 square meters, the plot on which the new building is being constructed also offers capacity to expand the storage space, so STIHL is equipped to handle future growth and further increases in unit sales.

The STIHL central warehouse is being constructed by Dietz AG and operated by Hellmann Worldwide Logistics

The STIHL central warehouse in Völklingen is being constructed by Dietz AG, Bensheim as investor, and operated by the company Hellmann Worldwide Logistics. STIHL has signed a ten-year contract with Hellmann. Michael Schall, department consultant for strategic logistics projects and project manager for the new central warehouse at STIHL, is delighted about the collaboration: “Hellmann is a strong partner with many years of expertise, and will support us as we continue on our growth course for cordless products.” Volker Sauerborn, COO Contract Logistics at Hellmann, added: “We are delighted that the STIHL Group has opted for Hellmann as a long-term logistics partner and will implement its growth strategy jointly with us. The signing of a ten-year contract clearly shows the level of trust STIHL has in us. STIHL and Hellmann are two family-owned companies with very similar values, and I am confident that we will both continue to grow successfully in the years ahead.”

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