Fives to automate DHL eCommerce Solutions’ new mega hub in Coventry, UK

Material handling and sorting solutions provider Fives is set to oversee the high-speed automation of DHL eCommerce Solutions’ new 25,000 sqm mega hub in Coventry in the UK, helping to support DHL’s ambitious growth plan in the region.

The hub, which will be run by DHL’s UK e-commerce operation, DHL Parcel UK, will open in early 2023 at Segro Park Coventry Gateway, located south of Coventry Airport. Once fully operational, it will process around 56,000 items per hour.

“We chose Fives for its ability to really understand our business and help us build a system that will handle most products we process,” said Richard Wenham, Head of Operational Support at DHL Parcel UK. “Fives’ skill in getting underneath the skin of how we work really impressed us from the outset of the project.”

The UK project builds on an already strong partnership between Fives and DHL. In April, for example, Fives won a contract with DHL Express to equip its new hub in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Meanwhile, in 2021, Fives was awarded a contract with DHL Express to provide a new handling system for its new facility at Neu-Ulm in southern Germany, which went into operation in spring 2022. And in March 2021 Fives successfully automated the new DHL Express Italy hub at Milan Malpensa Airport.

DHL UK investment

DHL eCommerce Solutions recently announced a €560 million investment plan across its UK e-commerce operation, DHL Parcel UK. The investment comes following a 40% volume uplift since the start of 2020 and soaring demand for its e-commerce and B2B services.

The expansion project is designed to deliver the right infrastructure to facilitate growth as well as putting the business at the forefront of sustainable and digital logistics. The new Coventry mega hub is a key part of this.  The hub will be equipped with the latest intralogistics technologies to automatically sort items of different sizes and weights at high-speed.

The automation solution

Fives’ engineers have spent months working on a turnkey solution that best meets DHL’s requirements in terms of warehouse operations and inbound and outbound flows, to ensure efficient and fast handling and shipping above all.

At the heart of the automation project will be four GENI-Belt cross-belt sorters and two GENI-Flex sorters, sorting items from 150mm and 50g to 2,000mm and 60kg. Fives’ technologies will be equipped and integrated with vertical switches, swiveler wheel diverters, 3.5km of conveyors, almost 40 high-speed induction lines and about 150 chutes.

“The recent growth of the UK market is one of the fastest in the world. Fives is increasingly investing in the UK, through project execution, visibility, and a sustainable presence. This important investment plan is expected to bring opportunities both from historical customers, such as DHL, and from new potential partners,” added Vincenzo Guerra, Chief Sales Officer at Fives Intralogistics (Italy).