Ford has signed a new three-year spare parts logistics agreement with DHL Supply Chain for the movement of around 38,000 spare parts to 415 of the carmaker’s dealers in Sweden, Norway Finland and the Baltic states. DHL Supply Chain is handling around 5,500 different dealer orders every day from its distribution centre in Örebro, Sweden. The parts are transported there by DHL in three trailers daily from Ford’s European warehouse in Cologne.
Orders from the Örebro warehouse are packaged separately according to specific repair orders for vehicles and then shipped to dealerships and workshops within two days. Emergency orders are shipped overnight or the next morning.
A number of Ford’s workshops in the Stockholm area will also use the Örebro warehouse as a Local Distribution Centre (LDC). The service means that Ford dealerships and workshops do not need to carry excess spare parts inventory.
“From experience we know that DHL can fulfill our requirements of fast and reliable transports to our Ford dealers and workshops, which is essential for us,” said Klaus Heinen, European purchasing manager at Ford. “Örebro is also a very good geographical location for the warehouse.”
DHL Supply Chain’s site manager at the Örebro facility, Matthias Andersson, added: “We have a long history [with Ford] and we have built a very good relationship with [the company] and the resellers. The new agreement shows we have been able once again to meet Ford’s high requirements on delivery performance.”
The latest contract differs slightly from DHL’s development of a new aftermarket distribution concept that will see distribution centres, mega- and micro-local dealer centres delivering to dealers.
The company is carrying out dealership deliveries for Volvo in Sweden involving a main distribution centre in Gothenburg, two mega-local centres in Stockholm and in Malmö, and six micro-local centres throughout the country. The latest concept for Ford is based on daily stock orders.
"[The] LDC is based on the same concept as Volvo is using," said a spokesperson for DHL Supply Chain. "For Ford this is applicable only for 27 dealers who receive their orders packed for workorder (one kit of parts for each vehicle to be repaired). The frequency of received shipments for these dealers is one during daytime and one during night time."
In July this year it also signed a three-year contract with BMW UK based on the concept to increase dealership deliveries in Scotland and Northern England. DHL Supply Chain is providing warehouse services at its shared-user Bellshill location in Scotland, including receipt, put-away, picking and dispatching of automotive components and fast moving spare parts for the Scottish aftermarket.
