High availability of goods, prompt delivery
The largest location in the Hermes Fulfilment network in Germany is Haldensleben in Saxony-Anhalt. The logistics service provider has been operating one of the most important dispatch centers in Europe there for more than 30 years. In fact, there are actually two sites, one for our Group company Bonprix and one for OTTO. The site specializes in the small-volume product range. Clothing is predominantly stored, packed and shipped to the end customer there. Up to 300,000 shipments leave the dispatch center every day. Deliveries are made throughout Europe. Hermes Fulfilment employs around 4,200 people in Haldensleben. The Otto Group has invested almost one billion euros in the site to date, most recently in digitalization and AI-controlled robots. The use of these AI-controlled robots is intended to increase operational efficiency and occupational safety and make warehouse work more attractive in view of the shortage of skilled workers: humans and robots as a team in logistics!
More than 150 million euros were recently invested in the construction of a 16,300 square meter automated shuttle warehouse in Altenkunstadt (Upper Franconia), which will open in summer 2024. The facility - one of the most modern in Europe - is intended to increase productivity and shorten throughput times. The aim is to process orders within a few hours of receipt and ship them to end customers on the same day.
Other locations in Löhne (North Rhine-Westphalia) and Ansbach (Bavaria) specialize in the large-volume range. On a total area of 230,000 square meters, refrigerators, washing machines, furniture and televisions with a screen diagonal of more than 55 inches, for example, are handled logistically - a task that requires a lot of muscle power. The large items usually weigh more than 31.5 kilograms. This is why "two men" or two people are usually needed for handling.
The network in Germany is supplemented by a site in Erfurt. The 50,000 square meter warehouse mainly stores carpets - up to 320,000 pieces. The spectrum ranges from bath mats to Persian carpets. They are shipped to the end customer via the Ohrdruf logistics center (also in Thuringia). In Ohrdruf and Langenselbold (Hesse), mainly electrical appliances, small furniture and consumer electronics weighing up to 31.5 kilograms are stored. The newest location in the Hermes Fulfilment network in Germany is Gernsheim in Hesse. The plan is to store, pack and ship goods from external retailers that are connected to the Otto Group's marketplaces via the "F2X" platform.
Laying the foundations for the future with logistics centers in Germany and abroad
In addition to the numerous logistics centers in Germany, Hermes Fulfilment also operates locations in Switzerland, Italy, the Czech Republic and Poland. In Iłowa, Poland, about an hour's drive east of Cottbus, a shipping center is being built on a 260,000 square meter site, which will officially start operations in autumn 2024. The building complex comprises nine halls with a total area of 118,000 square meters. This is the first time in the company's history that Hermes Fulfilment has built a completely new site outside Germany. Up to 1,900 employees will store, pick and ship OTTO goods to Germany there in future. For the Otto Group and its logistics service provider Hermes Fulfilment, a strong European network of locations with a focus on Germany is the basis for optimally positioning itself for online retail in the future.
The Otto Group's press release can be found HERE.
