Eaton picks DHL for revamp of European distribution centres

Eaton, the power management company has chosen DHL Supply Chain to create and manage three distribution centres for its Electrical business in Europe.

The plan is to consolidate Eaton’s standalone distribution centre capabilities throughout Europe into three integrated primary distribution centres. These will be located in the UK, Germany and the Czech Republic, where the current DHL managed distribution centre will be expanded.

Klaus Gaeb, vice president supply chain and operational excellence at Eaton EMEA, said: “DHL is very experienced in warehousing and distribution as well as supply chain solutions and we can help with their environmental focus and drive energy efficiency by applying Eaton’s power management technologies to their facilities. It’s a very interesting partnership where we support each other’s growth while we keep focused on our core businesses.”

A new building is planned at Rheinbach, Germany, that will serve Eaton’s customers in Western Europe. The green field construction is scheduled to start in the fourth quarter 2017, with DHL storing and distributing different electric components such as switch cabinets, fuses and control devices in the new warehouse after its completion in 2018. The goal is to create a more efficient warehousing concept enabled by a fully automated solution and thereby reducing overall run times to meet increased customer demand.