BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
CUBE has started the construction of an additional storage warehouse.
The brand is currently running up against its storage capacity, it said, while further growth in the industry is expected in the coming years. To anticipate this growth, extra storage space is now being created. The new warehouse will be built next to the current production halls in Waldershof, Germany.
CUBE said it has given ‘a lot of thought’ to the new building and the various possibilities. “No activities need to take place on the ground floor, in contrast to the existing production halls,” it said. “This makes it possible to build upwards. Thanks to the new high-bay warehouse, a relatively small amount of ground surface is needed. This way, an area of only 6,400 m² will be used to realize a warehouse that would normally occupy 54,000 m².”
The fully automated warehouse will be directly connected to the existing production halls. This connection is important for CUBE, it said, as the automated transport has to avoid freight routes. At the same time, it will ‘considerably improve’ the flow of goods. Currently, the storage and retrieval per hour already amount to 300 pallets. With the expansion, CUBE said it can move and store more.
“This high-bay warehouse, which will be fully automatic and highly compressed, will ensure that we can continue to meet the demand for bicycles,” said Marcus Pürner, CEO of CUBE. “Due to the difficult supply situation worldwide and in Asia in particular, we want to be able to compensate for these fluctuations. We need to do that by increasing our stock.
“We are talking about delivery times of up to 900 days. That is almost three years! Some Asian suppliers no longer accept orders before 2023. There is a huge worldwide demand for raw materials in the bicycle industry, but also the industry in general. Aluminium, for example, is already scarce. And if one bicycle part is missing, we may no longer be able to build a specific bicycle. And that’s why CUBE needs to stock up.”
Not only is it important to have enough stock – the production chain also needs to be more efficient. “We have reduced our purchases from Asia by 100,000 bicycles. These bikes are now produced in Waldershof,” said Pürner. “We want and need to become more independent from Asia. For example, we are currently in the process of setting up our own rim production.”
The new warehouse will provide enough storage for bikes and parts. As the building will be built on the existing parking lot for employees, new parking facilities are needed which is why a parking deck is also included in the plan. In addition, CUBE has also started the construction of an 11,000 m² hall in Lorenzreuth near Marktredwitz for the storage of accessories.
Read the June issue of BikeBiz below:
