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30/11/2011
Forever Direct Europe serves as the European Distribution Center (EDC) of Forever Living Products. The operation started in 2008 and was outsourced to DHL in Zevenbergen, The Netherlands. For over three years this logistics service provider took care of the replenishment of the local warehouses in Europe, Middle East and Africa. Almost two years ago Forever Direct decided to insource this operation. “It is our strong belief that the best way to control the quality of processes is doing it ourselves. Because of our business model we have a direct responsibility to our 9.5 million distributors all over the world. We must be able to supply them every day, everywhere”, says Martin Zegers, managing director of Forever Direct Europe.
Feasibility study
Forever Direct requested Groenewout to execute a feasibility study for the future EDC in EMEA. The feasibility study provided an analysis of data holding the characteristics of the current operation, including expected growth figures. This report included the analyses of alternative warehouse layouts, based on qualitative and quantitative criteria.
New EDC
The result is a new EDC who will serve 11 countries. The logistic concept of the new EDC was also assigned to Groenewout. The consultants of Groenewout designed the optimal warehouse layout that met requirements of the company. The business case was presented during spring 2010 and approved by Forever Direct. “Then we started looking for a building that was appropriate for our EDC. We soon found out that the best solution was to build it ourselves. Not only in financial, but also in aesthetic respect. Our new EDC has to look good for our distributors”, says Zegers.
Click here for the press release of the start construction of the metallic golden distribution center.
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