Annual savings of 220,000 km - Henkel opens new warehouse in Krusevac and starts construction of EUR 30 million factory

Henkel's new warehouse in Krusevac (Photo: Suzana Obradović)

Henkel started the new investment cycle in Serbia totaling EUR 40 mil last year when it invested EUR 5 mil in the Bref Duo Stick production line. Yesterday, in Krusevac, the new warehouse was officially opened and as the company reps are announcing, the end of the year should see a new section totaling EUR 30 mil.

The Henkel company heads who attended the warehouse opening ceremony yesterday, were not hiding their satisfaction with the new facility with the capacity of 8.600 palettes where EUR 4 mil were invested.

Johann Seif, Global planning and Logistics Head with Henkel, said that the investment was implemented 100 % within the planned budget framework as well as that all deadlines for the construction were aligned, i.e. that the warehouse was built in 5 months.

- The warehouse construction might seem to be a smaller step but it is a very important project. We are building where our market is and we carry out distribution from that facility. As for now, this warehouse is sufficient and we will cover the entire Serbia with it and the neighboring and EU countries. As for now, this is the only warehouse planned to be built in Serbia which does not mean that the future will not show that this facility is not big enough – Seif said in his interview for eKapija and added that only new investments are a good opportunity for the company to survive the crises and become even stronger.

(a detail from the opening ceremony)

One of the reasons why Henkel opted for the construction of the warehouse is the position strengthening at the Serbian market and export increase. As Christoph Till, President of the Henkel Serbia, said for our portal, the company will try to increase the number of countries they export to in the upcoming period.

- We now export from Krusevac to 20 countries and we are aiming at increasing the number. Apart from that, the new warehouse will contribute to market share increase at the Serbian market and position strengthening,

The new Krusevac-based facility is important for Henekl because it places the entire warehouse space under one roof. Apart from that, the entire process has been modernized. Namely, earlier, product were driven by the forklift from the section into the warehouse and now the process has been automat zed, i.e. goods comes from production via special line where it is packed into palettes.

Milos Jovic, Planning and Logistics Manager, explains for our portal that the construction of the new warehouse contributes to environmental protection.

- In the next five years, we will have 220.000 km less on the average per year.

(Johann Seif, Bratislav Gasic, Johannes Eigner, Christoph Till and Gabriela Beneman touring the warehouse)

As Jovic told us, Dizajn Arhitektura did the warehouse project, Tehnogradnja carried out the construction while Door Inzenjering was responsible for supervision. Euromont delivered doors and ramps, InTeSe delivered cabinets, while Dunav Novi Banovci, a distributor of Jungheinrich, delivered forklifts.

The Mayor of Krusevac, Bratislav Gasic, estimated that the investments big value is the fact that it will enable new vacancies in the future and that the City of Krusevac and Henekl are at the threshold of the new development stage both of Krusevac and Henkel.

The Ambassador of Austria in Serbia, Johannes Eigner, attended the opening and said in his well-spoken Serbian that Henkel is a symbol of strengthening the business cooperation between the two countries and the sign of the economy recovery of Serbia.

Gabriela Beneman, adviser to the Department of Economy and Trade of the German Embassy, reminded at the warehouse opening ceremony that 370 companies from that country were operating in Serbia at the moment.

- As of 2000, German companies have hired more than 25.000 people and invested more than EUR 1,7 billion – Beneman said and added that researches show that out of all the German companies operating in Serbia, 92% said they would invest again here.

(Photo: Suzana Obradović)

By the end of 2014 Henkel to invest EUR 30 mil

In her interview for ekapija, the President of Henkel Serbia said that the company has already started the construction of the new section totaling EUR 30 mil.

- It is a big investment and the next step is that Krusevac becomes the global production center. We have already started with the implementation and the entire year will be spent on the facility construction. By the end of 2014, we expect the section opening – Kristof Til said for our portal.

Til said it is an innovative household chemical devices product but did not want to specify which product it is.

Till mentioned that last year Henkel started the production of Bref Duo Stick which gave the global importance to the plant in Krusevac since the item is produced only in Serbia. With this project, Henkel is listed in the finals for the Aurea 2014 investment of the year award which our portal gives.

Suzana Obradovic