Alnatura logistics centre - digging the first turf

The German company Alnatura, that has its headquarters in Bickenbach in south Hessen, is building one of the biggest and most environmentally friendly organic logistics centres in Europe. In the middle of March, the first turf was dug in Lorsch, that is 20 km from the company headquarters. In a time of economic crisis it was a positive signal, and many prominent politicians were there to celebrate the new venture. The organic industry is still showing few signs of the crisis: last year, Alnatura recorded a rise in turnover of 24 % to 304 million euros. (Picture: With great pleasure: digging the first turf for the new Alnatura organic distribution centre in the presence of leading politicians)
Götz Rehn (picture), who commissioned the building, said that they had felt welcome in Lorsch from the start. He emphasised his standpoint: “On the 25th anniversary of Alnatura, the decision to have our own distribution centre is without doubt one of the most important but also most challenging in our history.” The founder of Alnatura has been planning the distribution centre for a number of years. The timescale is bold: in November of this year the building moves into the final phase, and in February 2010 one of the biggest distribution centres in Europe will become operational. Around 100 guests, including many prominent local politicians, were present when the first turf was cut on 17 March 2009. Silke Lautenschläger (picture), the Minister for the Environment, Energy, Agriculture and Consumer Protection in Hessen, said how pleased she was with the ecology and the sustainability of the building, and the fact that 60 new jobs had been created. “I would like to see examples like this becoming routine.”

The building biology: the larch wood for the façade, that is nearly 12 metres high, came from the nearby forest, the Odenwald. It has an FSC certificate and is untreated. “We want it to express the Alnatura company idea,” explains Alexander Link. The whole of the flat roof is covered with photovoltaic panels, and an air-water heat pump warms and cools the building, whilst a geothermal system heats the connected office block. All the electricity is generated by hydro. The long-term aim is a carbon-neutral distribution centre. Christian Kühn (first picture: second from right) from Greenfield praised the focused and rapid negotiation of the lease and the forward-looking concepts introduced by Alnatura. He also thanked the local administration and showed his appreciation of the cooperation and help provided by the business promotion strategy for the Bergstraße economic region.

The first building phase will cover 21,000 m² of the 73,000 m² site: the warehouse will occupy 13,000 m² and a separate office building will cover 1,400 m² (picture). The site is big enough for the expansion that has already been planned. The estimated cost of the project is 22 million euros. The centre is being built for Alnatura by Greenfield Development, a project development company in Düsseldorf. After a short selection process in November 2008, Alnatura opted for Greenfield, explains Alexander Link, who is the head of finance and controlling and is supervising the project for Alnatura. The team round the managing director of Greenfield, Jan-Gerd Bach, has specialised in building logistics centres all over Germany, and they have designed tailor-made, environmentally friendly buildings in record time. The business park in Lorsch is one of the best logistics sites in the region and is linked to two important motorways (A5 and A67).

With an area of around 21,000 m² and a manually operated shelving system (no automation) in the first phase the logistics centre will stock 3,500 lines in the dry goods range. Mr Link points out that this will equate to 60-70 % of capacity in the early stage. Together with the roughly 900 Alnatura brand products, the product range will consist of brands articles from manufacturers in the wholefood trade, including Rapunzel. He adds that they are currently engaged in intensive dialogue with their partners. Alnatura will rent the building and leave operating the centre to a partner company. There will be no company-specific vehicle park. The first storey of the separate office building is
earmarked for the people running the logistics centre. In the basement you will find, among other things, rooms for social activities. Regarding the division of operations, Manon Haccius from Alnatura’s management board explained the company standpoint: “We regard cooperation as very important. If we can’t do particular jobs, we are more than happy to pass them on to the people who can do them best.” (Picture: Model of the logistics centre)

Up to now, supplying Alnatura stores (currently 45) and partner companies (dm, Tegut, Globus, etc.) with Alnatura brand articles has been decentralised using various wholesalers. The wholefood brands and fresh foods for the Alnatura stores will be supplied by the successors to Dennree, the main supplier for many years: namely the regional wholesalers Grell, Naturkost West, Rinklin and Terra that operate under the collective name AGWERT. This arrangement will continue for fresh foods. The new distribution centre will be restricted to storing dry goods - chilled goods and fresh foods will not play a part here. As project officer Alexander Link explained, they came to the conclusion on the basis of company growth, a detailed analysis of logistics and a simulation of food miles that their own distribution centre promised more efficient and more environmentally friendly delivery of goods. He emphasised that “AGWERT remains an important component in our logistics concept; it will take over all the fresh food supplies and will continue as a distributor in the different regions.”