Inbound HUB Aldi
In June 2019, Distrilog & ALDI launched the ‘Inbound Hub Project’. The objective? To streamline the supply of products from dozens of suppliers to each of the 7 large regional ALDI warehouses, make them more efficient and thus reduce costs. Below you can see the starting situation: smaller suppliers have to deliver a limited number of pallets to each of the 7 DCs, resulting in excessive transport movements, reception work, etc.
The Inbound Hub concept solves this logistics problem: suppliers deliver consolidated shipments to the Distrilog Hub. Orders from the 7 DCs are sent to the suppliers, allowing the supplier to consolidate its deliveries into one larger shipment instead of 7 smaller ones. This shipment is then delivered to the Inbound Hub where it is received and temporarily stocked. Since all suppliers operate in this way, the Inbound Hub at Distrilog holds limited stock of a wide range of items. The regional DCs in turn order from the hub what they need in a self-selected mix of products, as long as it can fill a trailer in total. The visual below illustrates how dramatically movements are simplified.
So in this case, Distrilog is responsible for warehouse logistics, temporary storage and transport towards the DCs. Moreover, a major advantage is that the Distrilog-HUB allows conditioned storage and alcohol storage, leading to a simplification of the consolidation process in the HUB itself.
The big advantage of installing this HUB is, of course, the large number of trips it avoids. It is estimated that at least 80% of trips are avoided! This makes sense, as dozens of suppliers do not have to repeatedly drive all over Belgium for small partial deliveries, but can deliver full trucks to one address. And that one address - the Distrilog Hub - then delivers full trucks to the regional DCs with deliveries from 8 or more suppliers on board. As such, it is not only a nice efficiency optimisation for ALDI, but also a serious step in the green direction!
Contact our team for a collaboration or tailor-made solution
At Distrilog Group, we like to take into account the wishes and needs of the customer. This is why we are happy to help you find the best solution. Curious about the available options? You’re welcome to contact us.