Volkswagen makes material logistics more efficient

OREANDA-NEWS. The new Group Consolidation Center KCC at Malacky near Bratislava was officially inaugurated yesterday. "KCC Bratislava is a further building brick of Volkswagen Group Logistics with a view to optimizing material transport. A sustained reduction in truck traffic of about 10% between KCC and the European plants and a reduction of about one third in the energy requirements of the building are two aspects that make the KCC efficient and environmentally compatible," said Thomas Zernechel, Head of Volkswagen Group Logistics.

KCC Bratislava will provide a new trans-shipment point for full and empty containers within the Volkswagen Group transport network. At KCC, flows of goods between suppliers and Group plants at considerable geographic distances will be consolidated. About 540 suppliers from Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria will supply components to 28 European plants of the Group brands Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Audi, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, ?KODA, SEAT, Porsche and Lamborghini via the Consolidation Center.

In comparison with the former logistics building, which was leased, the new KCC building in Malacky with floor space of 19,000m?, 24 loading and unloading stations and 50 truck parking spaces, offers very good structural conditions. A hall area of about three soccer pitches means that it will be possible to handle material flows from the region for all brands within the Group efficiently and to leverage synergy effects. "The new KCC building will open up further possibilities of slimming down processes, boosting capacity and making material handling even more efficient and cost-effective," said Astrid L?hring, Head of Material Logistics. KCC is operated by Duvenbeck under a contract with Volkswagen. About 1,200t of material and 6,000 containers are moved here every day.

KCC is also exemplary in terms of environmental protection measures. Optimum thermal insulation will reduce heating expenses, the use of double gates in loading and unloading areas will minimize heat losses and LED lighting will cut power consumption by about 50 percent.