Alina Oprea • 10 February, 2023 at 3:57 PM
Lidl continues its investments in Romania and inaugurates the largest logistics center in its portfolio, in Fundeni commune, Călărași county. The new warehouse, strategically located near the A2 highway, will supply more than 55 stores in the south and southeast of the country.
"Within the new warehouse in Fundeni, a series of alternative solutions have been implemented both to save energy and to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emissions from transport. For example, the new regional headquarters is equipped with 2,650 solar panels, which have the capacity to produce around 30% of the amount of energy intended to operate the building. In addition, the logistics center is equipped with an electric charging station, intended to power trucks, such as the first 100% electric truck on the Romanian market, launched by Scania, Blue River and Lidl last year or the 2 electric trucks, from Mercedes -Benz Trucks & Buses Romania and Volvo Trucks Romania that joined the Blue River fleet this month, and that will serve the supply of Lidl stores in this region", informs the company.
With the inauguration of this building, the retailer is building a CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) filling station for the first time for part of the fleet of trucks that transport goods for Lidl stores.
In line with the measures to reduce the impact of buildings on the environment, together with the new logistics center in Fundeni, Lidl Romania also inaugurates a mural of over 6,000 square meters, located on two of the sides of the building. The painting was created by artist Irlo, in partnership with The Institute, and was created entirely from environmentally friendly paint Airlite, which purifies the air near the building. Thus, this paint reduces air pollution when exposed to natural light, eliminating approximately 330 kg of nitrogen oxides annually. Furthermore, it cancels the effect of 1,294 Euro 6 petrol cars or 970 Euro 6 diesel cars every day and takes the place of 240 trees.
Through this investment, more than 250 jobs were created, both in the operational and administrative areas.
The sixth regional headquarters covers a total built area of over 56,000 sqm and a land area of over 173,000 sqm, making it the largest warehouse in Lidl's portfolio.
"Located near the A2 highway, the building is an extremely important logistics point for the efficiency of the distribution process in the south and southeast of the country and in parallel for reducing the negative impact on the environment, generated by logistics transport. In addition, with the aim of reducing the carbon footprint generated by the supply of stores, starting from 2021, Lidl has implemented the digital solution Quintiq, which helps to make transport more efficient by permanently communicating the utilization rate of trucks and delivery times", the company announcement continues.
With the aim of streamlining the process of storing and distributing products in stores, the logistics warehouse in Fundeni stands out through a series of solutions and measures such as the ALMA system, a tool that allows efficient management of the process of loading and unloading trucks, the system of PDR type gravity racks, a solution that makes storage space more efficient, and an LPV system for rotating pallets – a solution for managing stocks of products that have a short shelf life, a measure that also allows reducing food waste in within the warehouse.