Baesweiler, North Rhine-Westphalia — Cook Medical, a world leader in minimally invasive medical technologies, today announced a major development in the extension of its European operations with the opening of a new €15m distribution center in Baesweiler, Germany.
Located less than one hour from Cologne, the new center will be the company’s delivery hub for all European countries providing easy access to Europe’s largest freight airport Cologne/Bonn, as well as to major road and rail networks.
Cook’s increased presence in Germany marks an important step in safeguarding continuity of patient care. The center will streamline Cook’s distribution activity across Europe offering the highest standard, both in terms of device quality and customer service.
“Baesweiler is an ideal location for our European distribution center as we continue to increase our commitment to supporting patients worldwide,” said Bill Doherty, VP EMEA Cook Medical. “Due to its excellent infrastructure and proximity to the cities of Cologne, Dusseldorf and Aachen, it is one of the most efficient logistics locations in Europe – providing our business and patients with increased assurance. This is an important step in achieving our aim to enhance patient care, both with our medical solutions and our streamlined distribution network.”
The distribution center, which has a total storage surface of 5850m2, will stock up to 800,000 products previously stored at Cook Ireland, based in Limerick and William Cook Europe in Denmark. At any one time there will be close to 5,000 different products in stock with 1,500 shipments daily, and up to 20 larger bulk shipments to various distribution partners. In a full year, Cook Medical expects to distribute over half a million packages from the center and will ship regularly to over 100 countries worldwide. The new European Distribution Center joins a network of continental distribution centers serving Cook Medical, with the others being Bloomington, Indiana for the Americas and Shanghai for Asia/Pacific.
The new center will also support Cook in bringing devices to customers in a more environmentally friendly way, with the Baesweiler facility classed as 18.8% more energy efficient than requirements set out in the German Energy Saving Standards. Built with high-quality materials, the structure will be one of Cook’s most energy efficient with solar panels and state of the art insulation ensuring energy efficient heating throughout. The Distribution Center processes are paperless while air pillows replace serrated paper in padding for shipments.
The investment has created 60 jobs with employees responsible for receiving, storing, picking and packing, shipping, returning and labelling medical devices. An additional 20 jobs will be created when a second phase sterilization operation is added in 2014.
The grand opening today will, among other key officials, be attended by Bill Doherty, Mayor of Baesweiler Willi Linkens, and Stephan Jungen of the North Rhine Westphalia development agency. Officials from Cook’s US headquarters also participated in the event.
About Cook Medical
A pioneer in medical breakthroughs, Cook Medical is committed to creating effective solutions that benefit millions of patients worldwide. Today, we combine medical devices, drugs, biologic grafts and cell therapies across more than 16,000 products serving more than 40 medical specialties. Founded in 1963 by a visionary who put patient needs and ethical business practices first, Cook is a family-owned company that has created more than 10,000 jobs worldwide. For more information, visit www.cookmedical.eu. Follow Cook Medical Europe on Twitter and LinkedIn.