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Duravit, design and logistics

Thomas Braig, head of Group Logistics and managing director of Duralog Duravit Logistik and Franz Kook, chairman of the board of Duravit AG
 
Over the past 20 years the company has made a name for itself in the international arena, first and foremost through its collaboration with renowned designers such as Philippe Starck, Norman Foster, Sieger Design, EOOS or Phoenix Design. Duravit-brand bathroom design is now exported to more than 90 countries throughout the world. This has led to strong growth in recent years, with Duravit's sales more than doubling in five years. The highest levels of growth have been attained abroad, with foreign markets accounting for almost 78% of total sales in 2008. This foreign expansion has imposed the very highest demands on the company's logistics organisation. As a 100% subsidiary of Duravit, Duralog Logistik GmbH with its logistics centre in Achern is responsible for ensuring that the bathroom manufacturer's deliveries run smoothly according to plan throughout the world. An Achern-based workforce of 80 is currently entrusted with this task. Optimum planning by the team in Achern assures Duravit of top service ratings worldwide, providing for a vital competitive edge. On this sound footing, Duravit is keeping its sights set firmly on being the number one in logistics. Having expanded the logistics centre only three years ago, Duralog has now once again undertaken an investment in the double-figure million euro bracket, installing a new, fully automated high-bay warehouse in Achern.
 
Integral, Group-wide development of the logistics organisation 
 
"Duravit would not have been able to conquer the foreign markets so quickly without an absolutely reliable delivery organisation, effective services and the ongoing worldwide availability of all products. As such, the success on the sales front is also a success story for us at the logistics level," explains Thomas Braig, head of Group Logistics and managing director of Duralog Duravit Logistik. His team was charged with the task of developing the logistics organisation as necessary as part of a fully integrated overall concept. The experts from Duralog teamed up with a planner to address the challenges. Following a thorough analysis, Duralog decided in favour of an automatic warehouse with curve-negotiating rack-serving units and teamed up with LTW Logistics, Züblin and Saar Lagertechnik. Measuring 105 x 51 metres and 26 metres in height, the new building offers space for 20,000 pallets at various storage heights. A ten metre high bridge which runs deep into the existing manual warehouse incorporates the new building into the overall logistics set-up. On the bridge, a conveyor system of almost 270 metres in length transports the pallets automatically between the different storage areas. "The original manual warehouse and the new automatic facility run together like clockwork," notes Mr. Braig.
 
Duravit lives by its design and brand – both inside and outside of the company
 
"The impact made by a company and its brand is a crucial competitive factor today. With communication habits changing so rapidly, it is more important than ever to make sure that your message is heard above the general noise," Mr. Braig continues. With this in mind, Duravit has pursued a consistent brand policy in recent years: "Worldwide, we are developing an appealing uniform corporate and brand image which exudes clarity and is designed to inspire trust among all our market partners through to the consumer." The appearance of the new building has also been designed to support this corporate image, sporting Duravit's brand colours of blue and grey and showcased by special light effects. The connecting bridge shines resplendently in blue at night, shimmering impressively through the dark hours together with a glazed front of the warehouse. Apart from attending to the worldwide distribution of Duravit's products, the logistics centre in Achern thus also serves as a design object in its own right.
 
Delivery reliability across the board
 
The variety of products from Duravit is destined to become an even greater challenge for the company's logistics organisation in the future. Duravit's range comprises several thousand articles and is continually expanding. One or two new projects (entailing a host of articles) are launched every year. The global economic crisis has even prompted Duravit to up the pace of its development efforts, not only initiating a completely new series but also establishing three new business segments in 2009 – ceramic kitchen sinks, pools and saunas. The Group Logistics department is concerned with the ongoing optimisation of service levels and delivery reliability across all business segments. It organises the worldwide availability of all products by means of software-assisted calculations in rolling quarterly planning. This has resulted in Duravit attaining a delivery reliability level of over 98.5% for its core products. Therefore, the branch magazine Markt Intern awarded Duravit with the first place of its 2009 performance list of service providers and service reliability in the sanitary ceramic segment. "This top rating makes us all the more eager to stay ahead, particularly now that we have the new automatic warehouse at our disposal," notes Mr. Braig.
 
Investment in the future 
 
"This new warehouse is important to the entire Duravit Group in helping us to remain ahead of the field in the area of customer service," comments Franz Kook from a Group perspective. "In view of the factories closing all around us all over Europe, we are particularly glad to be in a position to undertake such investments." Duravit benefits here from its good equity ratio. Only a minor dividend has been paid out to shareholders for some years now, leaving 90 per cent of annual profits within the company for further investments. This enabled the manufacturer to complete the construction of a new plant in India and to open new showrooms in Egypt and Tunisia in 2009, for example. "The plan is now for all our investments in the structures in 2009 to bear fruit and yield profits," Mr. Kook explains. In keeping with these plans, the management board has already budgeted a slight increase in sales for 2010. In contrast, 2009 saw an unintended "blip" in the company's growth and its first ever drop in sales. The company nevertheless has no plans to tinker with its personnel structures. "We want to be ready for take-off, as soon as things start picking up again," insists Franz Kook. The company is certainly all set to mobilise all its strengths on the logistics front.
 
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