Rengo Co., Ltd. announces that the logistics warehouse being constructed jointly with Sumitomo Corporation has been completed today.
The logistics warehouse is constructed on the location of the previous Yodogawa Mill (Fukushima-ku, Osaka-shi), which closed on March 31, 2018. Out of a total of four floors, the entire first floor and part of the second floor belong to Rengo. The Yodogawa Logistics Center will be established on the first floor, while the Central Laboratory will be relocated to part of the first and the second floors. Operations are expected to commence in September 2021 after installation of facilities and other works have been completed.
Yodogawa Logistics Center is capable of storing approximately 20,000 tons of paperboard products and will be the Rengo Group's largest logistics center in the Kansai region. In addition to a warehouse management system (WMS)—which uses AI, IoT, and RFID that Rengo has previously introduced—and truck guidance system, Rengo will seek to bring efficiency to logistics by introducing automatic lifts. Going forward, Rengo will continue to improve transportation quality and service as well as carry out operational reform of logistics sites to promote the White Logistics Movement.
The Central Laboratory, which is currently located near the logistics warehouse, will be relocated due to deterioration of the existing building and facilities. The new Central Laboratory will have open interaction spaces within the laboratory to encourage transformation of ideas—through natural interaction and fusion between different research areas—to create further innovation.
There is also a plan to relocate the Osaka branch of Rengo's consolidated subsidiary Howa Sangyo Co., Ltd. to the area owned by Rengo on the second floor of the logistics warehouse.