Henkel invests USD 52M to expand consumer goods logistics hub in Düsseldorf

GERMANY – Henkel has opened its newly expanded high-bay warehouse for consumer goods at its Düsseldorf headquarters, marking a transformative €45 million (USD 52 million) investment that strengthens the company’s European supply chain infrastructure. 

The 24,000-square-meter facility, which spans more than three football fields, houses over 200,000 pallet spaces and stores laundry, cleaning, and hair care products, making it Henkel’s largest consumer goods warehouse in Europe. 

In conjunction with integrating its consumer goods businesses into a single business unit, Henkel Consumer Brands has consolidated five previously separate warehouse locations across Germany and the Benelux region into a single central logistics hub in Düsseldorf. 

This consolidation delivers simplified supply chains with reduced complexity, shorter transport distances that lower emissions, and a unified customer experience where clients can order products from the entire consumer goods portfolio with a single order, one delivery, and one invoice.

The new high-bay warehouse expansion is seamlessly integrated with Henkel’s existing fully automated facility that opened in 2014, creating a completely unified logistics centre that represents a major operational milestone in Henkel’s supply chain optimization strategy. 

Henkel CEO Carsten Knobel, “Düsseldorf is our global headquarters and at the same time our second-largest production and logistics site worldwide.”

“We are continuously investing in the site – on average, around 100 million euros per year. The new state-of-the-art warehouse, in which we have invested 45 million euros, represents an important step toward more efficient logistics structures in our consumer business.”

The expansion delivers significant sustainability improvements through Henkel’s direct rail connection, enabling CO₂-efficient rail transport of goods from the production site in Wassertrüdingen, Bavaria, to Düsseldorf, where Henkel produces hair products for Germany and approximately half of the European market. 

This rail-based transportation system reduces transport distances across the European network, lowers emissions, and provides more sustainable customer supply across Germany and the Benelux regions. 

As Henkel’s largest consumer goods warehouse in Europe, this facility plays a pivotal role in optimizing the company’s European supply network and supports Henkel Consumer Brands’ broader strategy of building a single multi-category platform that combines consumer brands and businesses while streamlining supply chain operations.

This investment follows Henkel’s announcement of tackling more than 800 projects as part of its supply chain optimization initiative, demonstrating the company’s commitment to doubling down on investments in key supply chain components while cutting back in other areas to realize profits, ultimately strengthening European supply chain resilience and operational efficiency across the consumer goods sector.

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