Kubota has recently started operations at its new Northern European Distribution Centre (NEDC) in Alblasserdam, the Netherlands. This investment was made for the purpose of developing a larger assembly capacity and logistics system for the region, enabling Kubota to deliver products faster. The company’s President & Representative Director, Yuichi Kitao, attended the opening ceremony of the new Centre along with the President of Kubota’s European Tractor Business Unit (TBU), Shinichi Yamada, as well as other representatives from Kubota Group’s top leadership team.
The complexity of the European market, which becomes increasingly competitive with more demanding and diverse customer requirements, made it necessary for Kubota to respond with greater agility and efficiency to fully meet these needs. Thanks to its prime location in the port of Alblasserdam, directly next to the container terminal, NEDC will facilitate import and export activities for products sourced in Europe, Japan, the United States and India and thus the distribution of Kubota products.
NEDC will allow the company to focus on providing services that increase customer satisfaction, becoming their trusted partner, in line with the Group’s motto, ‘’Kubota On Your Side’. In addition, with this new Centre, which will employ 60 people initially, the company expects to streamline its internal processes and reduce logistics and operating costs.
With more than 32,000 m2 of floor space and the capacity to assemble 3,000 units per year, the launch of NEDC required a great effort by the Kubota project team due to the complexity of the project itself as well as several external impacts, created by the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing challenges in the global supply chain. The NEDC project team demonstrated Kubota’s ability to overcome challenges faced, and successfully complete the construction and begin operations, thanks to the hard work of employees and the great support of key partners, such as Goodman, Channelfret International, Broekman Logistics and BCTN Terminals.
Kubota Corporation’s President, Yuichi Kitao, emphasised the importance that the company’s new Distribution Centre will have for the Group: “I am convinced that the NEDC will play a key role in the growth and improvement of our European business. I hope that this new facility can successfully contribute to making the Kubota Group the world’s leading brand in the industry, achieving customer satisfaction through excellent service and operations”.
In his opening speech, Kubota’s President of the European Tractor Business Unit Shinichi Yamada commented: “First of all, I would like to express my sincere thanks to all our employees and partners for their hard work to establish the new European Distribution Centre. The commissioning of this facility is not an objective in itself. What we want with the new NEDC is to expand our assembly and delivery capacity in order to increase productivity and better serve our customers. We are confident that this perfect location will also make it easier for us to manage our international business relations”.