• 27.01.22
    Katoen Natie: solide et flexible dans le temps
    Du coton aux biens de consommation, Katoen Natie, du néerlandais « nations du coton », née en 1854, continue de grandir et de se transformer. À l’origine coopérative créée pour faciliter l’importation du coton en Europe sur le port d’Anvers, l’entreprise se développe très vite et assure la logistique, le temps passant, d’autres marchandises arrivées depuis la mer : jute, café, fer, acier, fruits… Puis, après la Seconde Guerre mondiale, Katoen Natie continue à grandir. Elle développe ses propres bâtiments et assure le stockage des produits dans ses entrepôts, le transport, la préparation de commandes et l’expédition. Au début des années 90, le logisticien se spécialise dans la pétrochimie, la chimie, l’industrie automobile et la grande distribution. « Nous sommes dans la logistique depuis nos débuts, mais la diversification autour des différents secteurs que nous adressons aujourd’hui s’est faite dans le temps, au fur et à mesure des besoins de l’économie et de nos clients », souligne Nathalie Jean, directrice du développement pour les sites français de Katoen Natie.
    Une aventure internationale et française
    C’est en 1995 que le logisticien belge s’installe en France, à Seingbouse (57), entre Metz et Strasbourg. L’entreprise accompagne un client sur un site pétrochimique de 30 000 m², aujourd’hui dédié aux biens de consommation. Quelques années plus tard, en 2004, alors que Katoen Natie opère pour le compte d’une entreprise française de grande distribution de sport et de loisirs à Anvers, en Belgique, le logisticien accompagne l’enseigne vers le Sud de la France. Katoen Natie ouvre un second site à Saint-Martin-de-Crau (13), qui devient la vitrine de l’entreprise en France et y intègre petit à petit de nouveaux clients. « Nous n’avons pas vocation à nous installer partout sur un territoire. Nous définissons les localisations qui nous intéressent et nous les ouvrons via l’accompagnement d’un client. Puis, nous les développons jusqu’à en faire d’importants sites multiclients. C’est ce qui s’est produit à Saint-Martin-de-Crau en 2004. Nous sommes passés en 16 ans de 30 000 à 350 000 m² », explique Stéphane Galli, directeur général du site. Et pour cause, le site abrite également la logistique de Brico Dépôt, client historique de Katoen Natie en France depuis 2006. « L’enseigne a entendu parler de nous au travers de notre site pétrochimique du Havre. Nous avons construit un premier bâtiment à proximité de ce dernier, à Saint-Jean-de-Folleville pour Brico Dépôt, puis un second à Saint-Martin-de-Crau lorsque l’enseigne a également souhaité opérer sa logistique depuis le Sud », signale Stéphane Galli. Aujourd’hui, le groupe belge adresse depuis ses trois principaux sites français, divers secteurs d’activité allant de l’ameublement au sport, en passant par le bricolage, le discount et le fashion, aussi bien sur de la livraison magasin que e-commerce. « Notre spécialité réside finalement dans la logistique complexe. Comme nous avons l’habitude de le dire avec alinea, l’un de nos clients, nous gérons leurs flux de la bougie au canapé. Le fait d’accompagner de nombreux clients nous permet d’avoir suffisamment d’expérience et de savoir-faire pour résoudre leurs problématiques. Cette logique très orientée solutions, ancrée dans l’amélioration continue des process de nos clients, est partagée entre tous nos sites », précise Nathalie Jean. Flexibilité et confiance comme facteurs de croissance Des sites que l’entreprise veut « multiclients » et flexibles pour assurer une agilité et une adaptabilité constantes à ceux qu’elle accompagne : « Nous sommes convaincus que d’importantes plateformes multiclients, implantées de façon stratégique apportent beaucoup de flexibilité, à la fois au niveau immobilier, opérationnel, mais également RH. Lorsque l’un d’entre eux a besoin de 6 000 m² pendant un certain temps car il doit absorber plus de volume que prévu, le fait d’être propriétaire de grands sites nous permet de répondre plus facilement à sa demande ponctuelle. De la même façon, nous nous appuyons sur des équipes opérationnelles de grande taille (plus de 700 équivalents temps plein à Saint-Martin-de-Crau) capables de renforcer les activités selon leurs besoins. Avoir des sites multiclients nous permet de véritablement pérenniser les emplois », détaille Stéphane Galli. Car chez Katoen Natie, le mot d’ordre réside dans une phrase : « Our people make the difference ». Une baseline que l’entreprise veut réelle et pragmatique, à son image. Ainsi, la direction a choisi de miser sur la décentralisation et d’impliquer ses collaborateurs dans l’organisation : « Chaque client est managé en interne par des interlocuteurs locaux qui travaillent et décident de façon décentralisée. Aujourd’hui, les nouvelles générations recherchent cette autonomie, cette confiance dans leur travail. La direction de Katoen Natie souhaite laisser à ses collaborateurs la capacité à apprendre. Cela les implique davantage et renforce la confiance avec l’entreprise », soutient Stéphane Galli. Une organisation qui porte ses fruits puisque Katoen Natie affiche deux milliards de chiffre d’affaires dont 25 % sont portés par les biens de consommation. Pour y parvenir, l’entreprise s’appuie donc sur ses équipes mais pas seulement. Elle dispose d’un WMS en propre, développé par sa cellule IT en interne et reste en veille sur les innovations du secteur, tout en gardant en ligne de mire son objectif principal : la flexibilité. « Cet enjeu est ancré dans notre business model et notre philosophie. Nous recherchons donc des solutions en cohérence. Nous regardons l’automatisation, la robotisation et la mécanisation sur des process bien précis, dès lors que cela fait sens par rapport à un délai, un volume attendu ou réduit la pénibilité de nos opérateurs… Quoiqu’il arrive, ce qui compte est de rester flexible pour que, dans deux ans, les solutions logistiques mises en place évoluent en fonction des besoins de nos clients et des habitudes de consommation », insiste Nathalie Jean. Poursuivre son développement en Europe Davantage positionné comme un « partenaire stratégique », que comme un prestataire, Katoen Natie affiche en toute logique des ambitions à la hauteur des clients grands comptes qu’il accompagne. Ainsi, le groupe souhaite continuer à développer ses sites existants et notamment à Saint-Martin-de-Crau où 30 000 m² sortent actuellement de terre. Enfin, le logisticien belge, après s’être implanté en Pologne l’an passé avec son client Action, envisage désormais de nouvelles localisations sur le territoire français. Katoen Natie en chiffres : > 2,1 milliards d'euros de chiffre d'affaires monde > 140 millions d'euros de chiffre d'affaires France > Implanté dans 33 pays > 18 000 collaborateurs dans le monde > 1 400 collaborateurs en Frace > 3 sites principaux en France
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  • 01.04.19
    Katoen Natie announces major investments in the Netherlands
    Chemelot Covering an area of over 800 hectares, the Chemelot site is one of the major chemical hubs in Europe and has been expanding in recent years. The integrated cluster of companies produces a variety of chemicals and performance plastics for a wide range of markets and applications. Chemelot also hosts a research campus, with over 8,000 people working on-site. Katoen Natie investments Since 2013, Katoen Natie has acquired a number of logistics terminals in Limburg. Its sites in Nuth, Born, Geleen, Elsloo, Tüddern and Maasmechelen currently employ 250 people. With the expansion, Katoen Natie will anchor its strategic presence in the region. Central to the investment is a 12 hectare green field project on the Chemelot site. Here, Katoen Natie will build a brand new multi-customer terminal consisting of 54,500 m² state-of-the-art warehouse and 207 silos. Aside from warehousing operations, Katoen Natie will offer a full range value-added services including repackaging of chemicals, purifying of contaminated products, compounding and compacting services. The Chemelot terminal is expected to be operational in Q2, 2020. In addition to the investments on-site, Katoen Natie will expand its Nuth logistics terminal with 10,000 m² of warehouse space and 60 silos expected to be operational by the end of 2019. Another plot of land was acquired at Mitsubishi Avenue in Born, where Katoen Natie will construct and operate a 35,000m² warehouse to service the automotive industry. Investments in the local transport capacity will continue over the next year. With the purchase of 115 new lorries, 45 dry bulk trailers and 10 liquid bulk trailers the existing fleet will be renewed and expanded. Gateway to Central and Eastern Europe Aside from their proximity to Chemelot, the Katoen Natie terminals in Limburg are located just a few kilometers from the Belgian and German border. This strategic location, close to the ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam and with easy rail and water access, make them an ideal stepping-stone for import flows into the Ruhr area and Eastern Europe. With this expansion, Katoen Natie affirms its position as the leading logistics and industrial services provider for the chemical industry in Europe. The implantation of its logistics platform on the Chemelot site will produce significant transport savings for Katoen Natie’s existing customers and reduce overall CO₂-emissions. In total, the 100,000 m² of added warehouse capacity and value-added logistics operations will create 75 new full time jobs in the region. Katoen Natie Katoen Natie is a private Flemish enterprise and its activities consist of value add logistical services with activities in 30 countries and more than 13.000 employees. For more about Katoen Natie go to https://www.katoennatie.com/who-we-are/
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  • 22.09.23
    Katoen Natie Support Lifelong Learning
    Founded in 1854, Katoen Natie started as a cotton guild and has since grown into one of the largest full-service suppliers of logistics and technical solutions. The company counts over 18000 employees in 35 countries. Despite its tremendous growth throughout the years, Katoen Natie remains a family business at heart that takes pride in the added value they deliver, their organisational culture and their employees. The Challenge Katoen Natie strongly believes that its people make the difference. Therefore, the company invests many resources in the development and performance of their employees in order to cultivate an environment where critical minds can flourish and feel supported.  s emphasis on employee development and performance, as well as their expanding workforce prompted Katoen Natie business unit Consumer Goods & Industry to start their search for an LMS. Up until that point, all learning & development data was tracked manually in different spreadsheets, and performance evaluations were done on paper. This created a lot of administrative burden and complicated reporting and analysis. Consequently, the business unit Consumer Goods & Industry (CG&I) at Katoen Natie decided to investigate ways to digitize and automate these processes. The Solution After carefully considering various contenders, the CG&I business unit of Katoen Natie decided that Totara would best fit their needs. Totara was not unknown to Katoen Natie. Their location in Singapore had already been using this software since 2020. What really tipped the scales, though, was Totara’s great price/quality ratio and the flexibility it offers. In order to leverage this flexibility to the maximum, Katoen Natie Belgium decided to partner with Deloitte, which provided a team of Totara experts and developers that guided them through every step of the process.
    “The nice thing about Totara is how customizable it is. It allows you to go beyond the standard functionalities of the platform, without having to touch the core code.”
    Together with Deloitte, Katoen Natie implemented both Totara Learn and Totara Perform in their CG&I business unit. The combination of these two modules allows them to closely track and manage learning and performance, in order to help employees to grow their skill set and remain compliant with company requirements. Katoen Natie offers training to both blue- and white-collar employees across multiple departments. Therefore, they make frequent use of (certification) programmes and audiences to provide tailored learning materials. Thanks to Totara Perform, Katoen Natie can also follow up on coaching and feedback processes more easily, leaving evaluations on paper in the past. By setting up different audiences, they can tailor these processes to their diverse workforce. In addition, the platform automatically tracks competency development based on completed programmes and courses. This allows managers to keep an overview of their team’s development to identify and close skill gaps early on. Furthermore, each business unit at Katoen Natie consists of multiple sites. This is no different for the CG&I business unit. Therefore, they decided to set up multitenancy on their platform. Segmenting the LMS into tenants enables each site to have its own way of working in terms of managing users, learning, and performance and ensures privacy protection. While the platform uses a general catalogue that allows each user to see which learning materials are on offer across the entire business unit, learners can only access those courses and programmes that belong to their tenant, and user data remains within each tenant. Similarly, each site manages its own performance evaluations, without having to share that data outside of its tenant. The Result The implementation of Totara Learn and Perform in the Consumer Goods & Industry business unit at Katoen Natie has upgraded, simplified and automated both learning and performance management. The administrative burden of tracking everything in various spreadsheets or on paper has been lifted. The business unit now has an easy overview of all internal and external training completed by their 5500 blue-and white-collar employees, as well as the employees’ competency development and performance data. This helps GC&I to ensure that their workforce keeps growing their skill set and remains compliant with training and certification requirements. Thanks to Totara’s flexibility and Deloitte’s team of Totara experts, Katoen Natie was able to create a Talent Experience platform that is easy to use and completely tailored to their organizational structure and the needs of their diverse employees. The implementation has been such a success, that other business units at Katoen Natie have now also started their own Totara implementation, relying again on the help of Totara Platinum Partner Deloitte.
    “We’ve really enjoyed having Deloitte at our side throughout this process. They are fully engaged in every step of the way, to make sure our ideas and requirements are realized. They also ensure that we have a lot of autonomy on the platform. They share their knowledge, rather than keeping it in-house.” Marijke De Paepe – Human Resources at Katoen Natie
       
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  • 19.09.23
    Warehousing Benefits Near Gdansk and Katoen Natie's Strategic Advantage

    Unlocking the Advantages of Katoen Natie's Warehousing Expansion Near the Thriving Port of Gdansk

    In a strategic move tailored to cater to the surging demand for warehousing space, Katoen Natie, a renowned logistics and industrial service provider, has unveiled its latest endeavor in Poland. Two brand-new warehousing sites, strategically positioned in Kutno and Wroclaw, are set to deliver a host of benefits for businesses seeking proximity to the thriving Port of Gdansk.
    Capitalizing on Economic Prosperity
    The decision to embark on this expansion journey was fueled by the resounding demand among customers for warehousing facilities in close proximity to the rapidly ascending Port of Gdansk. This thriving port has been at the epicenter of Poland's economic rise, with its continuous surge in transshipments. Particularly noteworthy is the exceptional dynamism in container turnover, which can be attributed to the presence of the largest DCT container terminal in the Baltic Sea. This impressive growth trajectory has not only captured the attention of businesses but has also ignited their enthusiasm to establish their warehousing operations either at the port itself or in its close proximity.  
    A Strategic Nexus for Warehousing: The Port of Gdansk
    At the heart of this expansion strategy lies the Port of Gdansk, an economic powerhouse that has been on an upward trajectory for some time now. Katoen Natie's decision to open these new warehousing sites in Kutno and Wroclaw is testament to the port's pivotal role in the region's economic landscape.
    Unrivaled Connectivity: Road, Rail, and Ocean Links for Warehousing
    One of the standout features of this development is the unparalleled connectivity that the Port of Gdansk offers, providing significant benefits for warehousing operations. With convenient road and railway transport connections seamlessly linked to the port, businesses stand to reap substantial benefits. The regular and direct ocean links that the port enjoys not only bolster international trade but also translate into tangible advantages for warehousing needs. Reduced costs for cargo transshipment, storage, and transportation are some of the key benefits that businesses can expect to harness from their proximity to this flourishing hub.
    A Future-Focused Approach to Warehousing
    Katoen Natie's investment in these new warehousing sites near the Port of Gdansk underscores their commitment to providing cutting-edge warehousing solutions that align with the demands of a rapidly evolving global economy. As the Port of Gdansk continues to rise as a significant player on the global trade stage, Katoen Natie's warehousing presence in Kutno and Wroclaw will undoubtedly serve as a critical link in the supply chains of businesses looking to leverage the port's strategic warehousing advantages. In a world where speed, efficiency, and accessibility are paramount for warehousing operations, Katoen Natie's strategic expansion near the Port of Gdansk is poised to offer a seamless and cost-effective warehousing solution to businesses looking to tap into the economic vibrancy of this thriving region.
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