At the beginning of March, UPS opened a new supply chain logistics center in Roermond, the Netherlands, which will expand the company’s existing site by 17,000 sqm; the total area of storage space will be 85,000 sqm. The site is number one in sustainability among UPS logistics centers and will support strong growth and the changing logistics needs of retail, high technology and industrial production. Thanks to its reach throughout Europe and close connections with air and sea hubs in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Liège and Cologne, Roermond has become one of UPS’s main logistics locations. Customers on the Czech market will also be able to use the logistics center.
Intelligent logistics technologies with automated warehousing and retrieval (ASRS) and autonomous mobile robots (AMR) in the new logistics center will offer UPS customers more efficient and reliable warehousing, order fulfillment, return management and other value-added services. In addition, these technologies make it possible to optimize storage utilization and increase storage capacity by 400%, which is an increasingly important factor for global third-party logistics, as available logistics facilities are under increasing pressure due to e-commerce growth.
In terms of sustainability, the building is equipped with solar panels, has green parks and boasts environmental certificates BREEAM Excellent, DGNB Gold and energy class A +++.
“Over the past year, we have seen strong growth in the vertical market in Europe and e-commerce,” said Patrick Loos, Country Manager for the Netherlands. “It simply came to our notice then in Roermond, they have improved our capabilities and offered a next-generation sustainable facility equipped with advanced automation technologies.”
The facility benefits from a well-accessible location and a skilled workforce in the Netherlands, and will open the first UPS Innovation Center in Europe after the opening of the Innovation Center in Singapore last December. The aim of the center, which is scheduled to open in the second half of 2022, is to offer innovators and entrepreneurs a space where they can experiment and test the latest automation and warehousing technologies. Those that get the green light will then be expanded into the worldwide UPS network.
“We are currently working with a number of partners to ensure that our customers have the opportunity to test the most promising technologies in our Innovation Center,” added Patrick Loos. “We look forward to working together to create the shape of the storage area of the future.”
