Honold Logistik is expanding using a sustainable business idea
As a real estate developer and logistics company, the Honold Group has more than 750,000 m² of space at 22 locations in Germany and Romania. In June 2018 the construction works will be launched for another location of up to 7 hectares in Gerstetten, Dettingen/Albuch bei Ulm. A 25,000 m² plot of land was acquired initially.
The new thing about it: The company also wants to use the large capacity to operate in the market as a supplier of state-of-the-art battery storage systems for alternative energy. Initial talks with the adjacent deep-freeze logistics center of one of the largest German retailers are already in progress. Once the construction is complete, the logistics service provider will store solar energy in its state-of-the-art batteries in the future so it can be fed directly into the cooling cells of the neighboring company whenever required.
Honold will invest more than EUR 20 million in Dettingen in the long term. In the first step, EUR 6 million will be invested in the logistics property, which might cover up to 45,000 m² in the final stage of expansion.
Honold’s goal is to offer not only conventional warehouse logistics but also a large battery storage facility as a pilot project. But at the same time, the company employing 1,200 people would like to raise the awareness of both politicians and the general public for Germany’s urgent need to catch up with regard to battery technology.
According to Managing Director Heiner Matthias Honold, the German industry has lost control over the key components of battery technology to the Asian manufacturers. The logistics facility in Dettingen is a small attempt by Honold to bring state-of-the-art technology back to Germany, more specifically, to Swabian Alb.