Located in Leuven, Belgium, the centre has increased its warehouse capacity from 2,700 sq m to 4,600 sq m and is capable of shipping 97 percent of company parts on the same day.

The new facility has the capacity to ship over 20,000 parts per month with orders being processed 365 days a year. A second stage of expansion to the centre is due to complete in 2022 which will increase warehouse capacity to 5,528 sq m.

At the heart of the parts operation is the expanded warehouse, which will hold €37 million (US$55.2 million) of parts in stock and 35,000 parts numbers for machines across the company’s range, including those that are no longer in production, even for machines older than 30 years of age. Once the scheduled further expansion to the warehouse is completed in 2022, the number of parts in stock will double.

The warehouse is fully automated and equipped with a new ‘mini-load’ system for small parts picking from 8,000 small trays, travelling from 70,000 locations within the warehouse, and a stacker crane system for 3,000 medium to large pallets.

In addition, the new 1,000 sq m logistical working area will house an automated conveyor belt system and four intelligent work stations. There will also be increased ground floor storage capacity for very large parts.

The entire facility is integrated into the company’s network with a high-end parts ordering system which facilitates online ordering from each company branch, together with real-time stock visibility for dealers and linked website tracking for shipment status checking.

The European Parts Centre forms part of the company’s total support package, which includes service, spare parts, application engineering support, turnkey project management, training, and spindle servicing. The second phase of expansion for the Parts Centre is scheduled for 2022 to meet projected demand for parts in the European market.

Marcus Burton, European Group Managing Director of the company commented on the opening: “The expanded Parts Centre enhances our European parts capability, offering customers the most responsive parts ordering and dispatch service in the machine tool sector.

“The ability to rapidly identify, pick and dispatch spare parts is vital in keeping machines productive. We have many customers in Europe and it is vital that spare parts are readily available to maximise productivity and minimise downtime.”

He continued: “The expanded centre sends a clear message that aftersales support is an essential part of our on-going commitment to customers and that we will continue to invest in our service and support capabilities.”