DSV and New Balance Expand Collaboration

New Balance expands its long-standing collaboration with the logistics service provider DSV. With the new business agreement, New Balance and DSV are tripling the storage and distribution volume for the EMEA region. To manage the significant increase in goods, a custom-built and automated 60,000 m² warehouse facility in the Dutch border town of Venlo has been modernized and inaugurated.

(PresseBox; Berlin/Venlo) Since 2005, DSV and New Balance have collaborated multiple times on projects to develop new or existing distribution centers to support New Balance’s business growth in the EMEA region. Nevertheless, the new agreement undeniably marks the largest expansion of this partnership. The millions of shoes and garments that DSV already stores and distributes for New Balance each year will now be tripled.

“I am pleased to announce the extension and expansion of our collaboration with New Balance, as a long-standing customer, in EMEA. The new agreement is a recognition of our dedicated employees and the investment in a state-of-the-art and automated system that we have developed together with New Balance for storage and distribution. The new custom facility for New Balance promotes high customer satisfaction and allows both parties to further expand the partnership in EMEA in the future,” says Peter van der Maas, Executive Vice President, DSV.

Through the expanded collaboration, New Balance thus has the opportunity to manage the increased demand in EMEA. Mathias Boenke, Senior Vice President EMEA at New Balance, explains:

“The consistent quality and reliability of DSV have prompted us to further expand our collaboration to keep pace with the changing needs of our customers. The great work of DSV and our continuous investments in their logistics and storage capacities, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, enable New Balance EMEA to achieve our ambitious growth targets.”

Efficiency through Customized Automation

As part of the modernization of the Venlo logistics site, DSV and New Balance have closely collaborated to implement a new concept for goods processing, which is now tailored to the significantly increased volume of New Balance. The new facility ensures high capacity and a flexible shuttle system for inbound and outbound storage, allowing the immense volume of additional goods to be efficiently delivered from the warehouse to all parts of Europe.

“In our new warehouse, we are using state-of-the-art storage technology and innovative elements of warehouse automation to meet the specific requirements and needs of New Balance and its customers. By incorporating new automated processes and the ‘Goods-to-Person’ method, we increase efficiency, particularly by dedicating the resources of our skilled personnel to the most complex tasks in the warehouse, allowing simpler tasks to be handled by automated processes,” says Peter van der Maas, Executive Vice President, DSV.

The supplier of the automated and mechanized systems for the 60,000 m² warehouse was the Austrian company KNAPP. The DSV business partner is a developer of advanced and intelligent automation solutions.

About NEW BALANCE

New Balance Athletics, headquartered in Boston, MA, has the following mission: By demonstrating responsible leadership, we build global brands that athletes wear with pride, create jobs that employees take pride in, and host communities that take pride in. New Balance MADE U.S. is a premium collection that has been made in the USA for over 75 years and represents a limited portion of our U.S. sales. It has a domestic share of 70%. New Balance owns and operates four factories in New England and one in Flimby, UK. New Balance employs more than 7,000 people worldwide and recorded global sales of $3.3 billion in 2020.

Photo: © DSV