DHL Supply Chain’s Life Sciences & Healthcare Campus in the Netherlands is an international distribution hub for medicine packages. Since the logistics provider established a distribution center in Nijmegen in 2008, it has expanded and specialized its services for the pharmaceutical industry. Today, it is a significant contributor to smart logistics for the Dutch Life Sciences and Health ecosystem. The company distributes thousands of medicine packages to places worldwide, serving both pharmaceutical companies and, ultimately, healthcare providers and patients.
Climate controlled logistics for medicine and medical devices
The company focuses on the European and global markets for pharmaceuticals and medical devices. “Manufacturers use our location as a European or global distribution center”, says Peter Korte, DHL’s vice president of Life Sciences & Healthcare Benelux and Denmark. “We manage stocks for our customers and prepare shipments to deliver to hospitals, pharmacies, and healthcare institutions. Medicines can be stored at different temperatures in our facilities. From 15-25 degrees to minus 80 degrees Celsius.”
“East Netherlands is the perfect place within Europe for international logistics companies”, Korte said. Thanks in part to the knowledge and network of Oost NL, a regional economic development agency in the Invest in Holland network, DHL was able to expand its existing premises at Bedrijvenpark Bijsterhuizen – located in both Wijchen and Nijmegen – with a state-of-the-art campus facility. About 525 employees are employed there.
Adding value to the pharma supply chain
(Re)packaging medicine is also a big part of their work on the DHL Campus. “We adapt packaging for a specific market on behalf of our customers”, explains Korte. “We have blank medicine bottles in stock from several companies. We use these to, under the supervision of pharmacists, make final products that comply with the laws and regulations of a particular country. We then print the packaging box with a serial number and an expiration date, after which we ship the medicine.”
The campus also offers a service called ‘order-to-cash’. DHL helps, for example, American start-ups that want to serve the European market with logistics and the financial process. “So we not only have their medicine in storage, we also take orders from hospitals and other customers. We then send invoices, collect the money and ensure that the money reaches the client’s account,” Korte explains.
Sustainable, climate-neutral facility
The distribution campus in Nijmegen is climate neutral. “DHL wants to be CO2 neutral throughout the organization by 2050, but we want our premises to be so by 2030. Our buildings on the Bijsterhuizen business park are already completely climate neutral. We generate 60 percent of our energy needs through solar panels there, and the buildings do not use gas. The buildings are also incredibly well-insulated, and we made the roofs white, so heat stress has less chance”, says Korte.
The DHL campus in Nijmegen has grown from 34,000 to 90,000 square meters in recent years. And there’s a reason for that. “The region of Nijmegen is the perfect base of operations within Europe for us and other distribution centers. We are close to important air and sea ports in the Netherlands and Germany. Another advantage is that Nijmegen is a student city, so there is enough well-trained personnel. All this makes East Netherlands the ideal location.”
Support from the Invest in Holland network
DHL has been supported in its campus expansion by Oost NL. Korte: “Oost NL contributes to a good business climate for international customers in East Netherlands. Oost NL is the connecting factor for us within the Nijmegen region life-science-and-healthcare-ecosystem, with its network within the pharmaceutical industry and its knowledge of this sector.”
Source: Oost NL
