Linde MH invests in Kahl site and bolsters central Spare Parts

Aschaffenburg, 28 November 2008 — The expansion of storage capacity at the Kahl am Main site (Germany) sees Linde Material Handling meeting the growing needs of the spare parts business and boosting the productivity of its central warehouse. The new hall, which cost EUR 700,000 to construct, represents just the first phase of an extensive package of measures that Linde will use to further expand its spare parts logistics over the coming three years.

Opening of the expansion of the logistics centre at the Kahl am Main site (Germany) of Linde Material Handling (from right to left): Head of Spare Parts Johannes Queisser, Theodor Maurer, Managing Director, both Linde Material Handling, Jürgen Seitz mayor of Kahl and the architect Ute Schnellbach.

The existing logistics centre was extended in a record time of just four months to include a lightweight construction hall with an area of just under 2000 sqm. A total of 7000 large-volume spare parts will in future go through the new logistics terminal and will free up space for popular items as well as additional packaging areas in the main warehouse. "This expansion will allow us to meet our own goal of guaranteeing a very high level of availability for all items including those with a low turn-over rate, and optimising our inventory commitment", explained Johannes Queisser, Head of Spare Parts at Linde Material Handling, at the official opening of the hall on 20 November 2008. The extra capacity created by the expansion will allow Linde to pursue its strategy of centralising its stocks. "Customers all over the world can now access these items", says Queisser.

"The number of delivered order items has doubled over the last few years and we are anticipating a further increase in incoming daily orders at the central spare parts warehouse", explains Queisser. Queisser sees the main reason for growth in the increasing demand of truck operators for services from authorised Linde dealers, who in turn use high-quality Linde original spare parts. To enable it to process the increased delivery volumes with the same level of reliability, Linde MH aims to invest more in expanding and optimising technology in its spare parts logistics by 2011.

Central spare parts warehouse in Kahl

More than 65,000 parts are stored at the central Linde Material Handling spare parts warehouse in Kahl am Main. Any orders submitted before 5.30 pm and re-quested as express delivery are on their way with the service mechanic by 7.00 am the following morning, at the Linde dealer or at one of the foreign subsidiaries. Linde guarantees 95% parts availability for all recent models up to a construction year of 1998. Together with the spare parts stocks at authorised Linde dealers, this means that almost 100% availability is achieved. A modern logistics system is the nuts and bolts of a speedy spare parts supply, and the system in place at Linde handles several million spare parts every year. The service engineers can check the availability of parts and also request prices and replacements online. Orders are registered, commissioned and supplied online.