B+S Reports Near Full Occupancy at New Location in Paderborn

The logistics service provider B+S GmbH Logistics and Services reports near full occupancy at its new location in Paderborn. The largest customer at the warehouse location in East Westphalia is Grillfürst. For the barbecue specialty trade, B+S takes on comprehensive logistics services in the area of e-commerce fulfillment for the B2C online shop. Additionally, B+S also handles the supply of the stationary Grillfürst stores and the grocery retail sector.

(Borgholzhausen/Paderborn) Just over six months after the opening, the 30,000 square meters of warehouse space in the Paderborn logistics park are fully occupied. “We are very proud that we are successfully taking the next step in our growth curve in Paderborn,” says Managing Director Stefan Brinkmann. “Logistics remains a sector with high development potential. It is an indispensable support for industry and trade. Our concept demonstrates that we can respond flexibly to any customer requirements and develop the appropriate solution.”

Focus on Multichannel Logistics and Peak Management

This also applies to B+S’s largest customer in Paderborn, the barbecue specialists Grillfürst. They sell their products and goods to end consumers through a multichannel trading concept, in their own retail stores, and via a comprehensive online shop. Additionally, they supply the grocery retail sector (LEH) and other trading levels in the B2B area. The business of Grillfürst is characterized by high seasonality. “Summer is just around the corner. For companies in this retail sector, spring is therefore the peak season,” says Stefan Brinkmann. “We had little time from the opening of the hall to today to start our operations. We are even more pleased that we can now successfully meet the various requirements of our customers under full load.” For Grillfürst, B+S takes on complete logistics including storage and delivery to various points of sale.

Logistics Service Becomes Full Service

For logistics customers, the complete takeover of logistics services is becoming increasingly important. Companies from industry and trade today require not only singular services such as transport or storage for their business operations. They demand fully scalable and fast logistics processes tailored to their needs. “The flexibility of B+S, the profound response to daily challenges, and the deep expertise in automation characterize our collaboration,” reports Ralf Geishauser from Grillfürst GmbH. “In the selection process, we focused on specific B2C knowledge, meaning logistics from a large warehouse to thousands of end customers. This also includes the networking of IT systems for fast service processing. B+S ensures this.” The combination of the requirements of retail and the business with end customers, along with a heterogeneous goods structure, requires effective integration of IT solutions. “At the location, we replicate processes with high individual volumes for retail as well as the more granular processes from Grillfürst’s e-commerce business,” explains Stefan Brinkmann. “Whether we transport palletized barbecue sauces to the LEH or handle the shipping of a large grill to individual customers: we need to integrate many different platforms digitally via IT into our system. This includes the transport management system of the courier service for transport, the integration of the online shop into our warehouse backend, or the processing of a return.

Conveniently Located Multi-User Site

The convenient location of the site on the A33 between the Ruhr area, southern Lower Saxony, and the Hanover metropolitan region is another crucial factor for Grillfürst. “A large part of the grills and accessories arrives via container through the Hamburg port within three hours to Paderborn. From there, nationwide rapid distribution to the end customer is ensured. Often even the next day,” emphasizes Ralf Geishauser.

For even more efficient processes, B+S in Paderborn is combining block storage technology with an automatic shuttle system for the first time. The hall offers a height of 14 meters to optimize storage space with high rack storage on a small footprint. “The facility is built as a multi-user site, and the hall zones can be flexibly separated. This allows us to adjust storage space flexibly. This construction method serves as a guideline for upcoming projects,” emphasizes the managing director.

Sustainability is Part of the Concept

The topic of sustainability has also accompanied B+S in the design and construction of the property. It is built according to the Gold Standard of the German Sustainable Building Council. The site meets – like all nationwide branches of B+S – the challenges of the International Featured Standard (IFS) and is certified according to the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP). “Especially the food trade and the associated industry guarantee high safety standards. This must also be ensured by the logistics service provider,” defines Stefan Brinkmann. B+S is growing as part of the Nagel Group and thus Europe’s largest food logistics provider in this trade sector and also supplies further partners from the LEH in Paderborn. Additionally, B+S has achieved the status of Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) at all company locations. This allows the company to establish faster customs processes and simplify customs controls.

Photo: © B+S