Description

Bol.com opened its web shop on March 30, 1999. More than twenty years later bol.com has 10 million active customers in the Netherlands and Belgium and a range of more than 20 million products. Bol.com is one of the most popular web shops in the Netherlands and Belgium. In 2018 bol.com realized over 2 billion turnover.

At bol.com, customers find the largest selection in a large number of product categories with books & e-books in Dutch and other languages, music, films, games, electronics, toys, baby items, garden and DIY items and everything for living, animals, sports, leisure and personal care.

Opportunities

In 2014 bol.com decided, for strategical reasons, to set up an owned fulfillment centre (bol.com fulfillment centre = BFC). Up till that moment bol.com logistics was outsourced to a 3PL.

The total project encompassed the realization of 250.000 m2 floor space within a building block of 100.000 m2 on a 20 ha. land plot in Waalwijk, the Netherlands. The first phase (BFC1) was the design, tender, realization and commissioning of half of the total fulfillment centre for a semi-mechanized logistics solution.

Solution

Groenewout started to support bol.com with defining the program of requirements for the building and building related installations for the BFC1, including setting up related CAPEX and planning.

After having chosen the architect, Groenewout took the role of streamlead building and managed the complete process of permitting, contracting, realization management (planning, more/less work) and commissioning in a continuous close alignment with the selected logistics solution.

Benefits

• The complete and detailed requirements document created a drivers wheel for the technical component for the complete project up to commissioning.
• Setting up a correct budget at start and close monitoring of more/less work resulted in a financial finish close to target.
• Early and smart alignment of building engineering with storage systems, conveyors (8 km) and other logistics solutions.
• Realization within 2,5 year for complete project from start definition of specs to phased commissioning of building.
• International award winning BREEAM Outstanding (*****).