Agricultural machinery company John Deere Sub Sahara Africa has officially opened its R150-million state-of-the-art parts warehouse at Plumbago Business Park, in Johannesburg, which MD Len Brand said was “arguably the largest and most sophisticated parts warehouse in Africa”.
The 20 000 m2 warehouse, which employs 33 full-time staff members, stocks 76 000 different part numbers and receives replenishment stock through sea- and airfreight daily. Dealers have access to an emergency number, which enables them to order emergency stock 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Brand said the warehouse was required, as John Deere South Africa was given an extended mandate in 2008 to service countries in Central, West and East Africa, including Mauritius, Madagascar and Reunion. The facility would serve 61 John Deere dealers in South Africa and 49 on the rest of the continent.
“We are currently only using 55% to 60% of the warehouse capacity, so we have room to expand as demand grows. We also have an additional 6 500 m2 of land, which can be added to the warehouse, taking it to well over 26 000 m2,” he indicated.
John Deere would also house parts for the new products that formed part of its recently expanded range.
Further, the company expected marked electricity savings to be derived from the sophisticated ecofriendly lighting system it installed at the warehouse. Using movement sensors, the system switching lights on in zones where activity is detected, or conversely, switches lights off where no activity is detected.
Brand added that the company had also launched an office in Kenya, with another one in Ghana due to be opened by the end of the year. The offices were tasked to effectively support the newly established dealer network in these areas.