For the fourth time since its launch in 2012, HelloFresh has moved to a new distribution centre. With the new, sustainable 21,000-square-metre building in Bleiswijk, the food package distributor can move forward for the foreseeable future. Olaf Vreeburg, head of operations and supply chain at HelloFresh, proudly gives a tour of the building, which was opened to great interest on 11 July: "Here we have room again for further growth, innovation and personalisation".
The new, still largely empty distribution centre is soberly furnished. The enormous hall contains conveyors with a total length of 650 metres. Next to it are a few rows of flow racks. "The process is divided into two steps: kitting and consolidation," Vreeburg tells during the tour. "In the kitting department, we prepare the recipes by putting the required ingredients in a box. For each recipe, we make four different 'kits': for one, two, three and four people. In the consolidation department, we collect the ordered recipes for each customer in a shipping box."
In both cases, the logistics process is more or less the same. A conveyor guides the boxes along the flow racks. In the channels of the flow racks are the products to be placed in the boxes. For guidance and control, HelloFresh does not use barcode scanning, pick-to-light or other technology. "On the inside of each shipping box is a label. This shows which recipes for how many people the customer has ordered. Otherwise, it is a pretty straightforward process. We check the contents of each box at the end, but that also happens in between when one employee passes a dispatch box to his colleague further down the conveyor belt."
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No sorting required
Remarkably, the shipping boxes do not need to be sorted after the consolidation process. Because HelloFresh already knows what customers have ordered three days before delivery, delivery routes can be planned well in advance. The order in which these orders are prepared at the DC is aligned with those delivery routes. So is the order in which the shipping boxes are stacked on block pallets. Twenty per cent of the block pallets go to the pier with twenty loading docks for the delivery trucks that supply the Randstad. The remaining eighty per cent goes in trailers from transport company Lelieveld to the ten hubs, where they are transferred to delivery vans serving the other customers in the Benelux
The logistics process is almost identical to the previous distribution centre in The Hague. Vreeburg and his team did not want to change too much at once. "What is new, however, are the two conveyors in the kitting department for the removal of the boxes and crates in which the ingredients are delivered. The cartons go directly to a carton press. The crates go to the adjacent room, where they are sorted to be sent back. In that room, we also have limited storage facilities for packaging materials and for some ingredients that we can keep for longer, such as dried herbs.
Constant four degrees
In the distribution centre with the BREAAM Excellent sustainability certificate, the temperature is constantly at 4 degrees Celsius, just like in the entire chain. HelloFresh keeps a close eye on that temperature. That already starts with checking the temperature of incoming goods and ends with delivery to customers. "We use vans with active cooling. Sensors continuously monitor the temperature. If the outside temperature exceeds 27 degrees, we add extra ice packs. If the temperature in a car gets too high because the cooling system fails, for example, we intervene. Then we send another van or have to inform customers that we will deliver later. We cannot deliver food that is not stored and transported under the right conditions," Vreeburg says.
Notable is the large freezer cell, which allows products to be stored at a temperature of -19 degrees. For now, it is only used for storage of icepacks and for the few leftovers. "Because we know in advance what customers have ordered, we can buy very specifically. If there are any leftovers, we freeze them and send them to food banks," says Vreeburg, who adds that the refrigeration is powered by energy from the solar panels on the roof. The capacity of the 1,200 square metres of solar panels is geared to an outdoor temperature of 30 degrees. So even in tropical weather, the DC can be kept at temperature without having to use the electricity grid
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AGVs in the future
The new distribution centre is HelloFresh's fifth home. The founders started at home in Amsterdam in the spring of 2012 and soon moved to the Foodcenter in the capital. When that too became too small, Olaf Vreeburg enlisted the help of logistics service provider Leen Menken. First, the operation was housed in Leen Menken's premises in Zoetermeer, followed by premises in The Hague that HelloFresh no longer had to share with other parties. The distribution centre in Bleiswijk was developed at HelloFresh's request by real estate company Borghese, which is also the owner. HelloFresh is the tenant and owner of the logistics equipment and IT systems. Leen Menken contributed to the design and takes care of the operation.
Vreeburg is visibly delighted with the new distribution centre. "We have room for growth and innovation here. Innovation includes further personalisation by expanding the number of recipes. Customers can now choose from 12 recipes every week and add breakfast, dessert or wine to their package, but here we have room to offer even more flavours." Vreeburg does not reveal much else about the innovation plans, but does point to the large freezer cell and food processing capabilities. The freezer cell makes it possible to deliver frozen products. HelloFresh does not yet process food, but the premises are prepared for this in terms of equipment and hygiene requirements. HelloFresh is also looking at innovation in logistics. The processes are designed in such a way that, in time, automated guided vehicles (AGVs) can be used for internal transport, for example from the consolidation department to the loading and unloading zone.
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No waste streams
The building was officially opened on Wednesday 11 July by HelloFresh Benelux ceo Maartje Frederiks and Mayor Pieter van de Stadt of Lansingerland. He expressed his delight at HelloFresh's arrival at Prisma business park, where Mediq and Hoogvliet are also working on new distribution centres. "We are busy further expanding this logistics hotspot along the A12. Soon we will open a train station here. We are also working on an electric reail terminal."
Borghese's Rutger-Jan Broekhoven pointed to the BREAAM certificate in his reason during the opening. "That in itself is nothing special, what is special is that this is a building with cooling based on renewable energy. Also special is that this building generates absolutely no waste streams. This is a super sustainable place." Leen Menken mentioned the growing challenge of finding good people. Two hundred people work at HelloFresh's premises. "They do that at times when many people are off or sleeping. The pleasant working conditions in this building help us find those people."
