L&R invests in new logistics hub in Poland
Further improvement of the delivery service
Lohmann & Rauscher (L&R), the international developer, manufacturer and supplier of medical and hygiene products, is expanding its existing logistics network with three goods distribution centers in Europe and investing in a new logistics hub in Poznań, Poland. From there, the Polish market will be supplied from the 2nd quarter and customers in Germany from the 3rd quarter. For customers in Europe, this means improved delivery service and greater delivery reliability.
The Corona pandemic and the Ukraine war have had a number of negative consequences for various sectors of the economy in recent years and months: Many manufacturers and distributors as well as their customers have been confronted with supply disruptions due to lockdowns in the Far East, export stops, destroyed transport routes, immensely increased transport costs, etc. The consequences of the Corona pandemic and the war in Ukraine have been very severe.
Wolfgang Suessle, President & CEO of L&R: „As a partner and solution provider for our customers, patients and healthcare systems, we focused all our efforts on minimizing the impact of the Corona pandemic and the Ukraine war. Nevertheless, we and our competitors in the medical device industry also experienced supply disruptions. Recently, however, we have been able to significantly and steadily improve again our ability to deliver. We know: Delivery reliability is the be-all and end-all for our customers' work. We decided early and quickly to make further investments to improve our delivery capability. As a customer-oriented, learning and flexible organization, we have set ourselves the goal of providing the best possible delivery service with maximum risk minimization for our customers."
Suessle explains the approach in this regard as "multi-pronged" and cites the significant
increase in inventories, the provision of additional storage space, and further redundancies in warehouse and distribution logistics as concrete measures. Now the globally active medical products supplier is going one step further and expanding its logistics network in Europe.
New logistics center in Poland increases delivery service
To date, L&R has three major logistics hubs in Europe: Neuwied-Block (GER), Schönau a. d. Triesting (AUT) and Saint-Nabord (FRA). In April 2023, a new and thus fourth logistics hub will be added in Poznań / Poland.
Thomas Menitz, Chief Operation Officer (COO) and Senior Executive Vice President of L&R, and responsible, among other things, for the entire Supply Chain Operations of the L&R Group: "The new logistics hub in Poland is a tremendous asset for the entire L&R Group: because it will allow us to avoid delivery backlogs in the future. And even more: we will not only be able to raise our delivery service to the usual high level, but will also be able to increase it and thus offer greater delivery reliability. This will enable us to do even better as a reliable solution provider. It's an investment for our customers!"
The Polish market will be supplied from Poznań from the 2nd quarter of 2023 and customers in Germany from the 3rd quarter. The new logistics hub will relieve the entire L&R logistics network and in particular the logistics hub in Neuwied-Block in Rhineland-Palatinate, which currently supplies Germany and other countries in Western Europe. Depending on demand, other countries besides Poland and Germany can be supplied from the new logistics hub in Poland.
The new logistics center in Poznan, with almost 9,000 m², has 4,000 pallet spaces and 1,000 shelf spaces and can be expanded several times over if necessary. The necessary neighboring property has already been acquired by L&R and further expansion is in preparation. The first 20 new employees have already been recruited in Poland to work in the new logistics hub.