All of Nikon Europe’s incoming and outgoing goods, warehousing and value-added services are being handled by DHL Solutions as part of a deal covering Europe and Africa. Operating from its European Distribution Centre in The Netherlands, DHL has taken full responsibility throughout the complete supply chain, including management and execution from pick up at source in the Far East to its local logistics centres in Hong Kong.
From there DHL is forwarding the shipments by air to the central European logistic centre at Beringe. Together with three regional logistics centres in Europe all goods will be distributed to wholesalers for fine distribution to the shops. Nikon, a leading manufacturer in the global imaging industry, has special and very clear requirements for security during transport and storage and DHL’s integrated IT systems allow the tracking of the goods throughout the supply chain.
The contract also covers supervised inventory storage, repackaging products for consumer kits with accessories or specific lenses, scanning the kits for warranty purposes, inserting instruction manuals in the appropriate European languages, repackaging goods for seasonal or special offer campaigns and managing the return flow. Karel Van Ellinkhuizen, DHL’s managing director for the Netherlands, says that the recently agreed contract with Nikon Europe serves as a perfect example of DHL’s business strategy of taking over more and more of the logistics activities that manufacturing companies perform.
Meanwhile, Sony has outsourced its warehouse activities at the World Repair Parts Center Europe in Londerzeel, Belgium, to DHL Solutions. The three-year contract is being carried out in three project phases:
- The management and 41 employees at Sony’s Londerzee 10,000sq m warehouse have been taken over by DHL. This is a pure pick and pack operation, including stock management and reverse logistics.
- The second phase is the takeover of the operational inbound and outbound flow of goods.
- The third phase involves producing a process analysis in conjunction with Sony. Possibilities for improvements to the current process will also be considered.
