A truck fleet is only as good as its service backup and Daimler Truck has re-organised its spare parts logistics by opening a new global supply hub in Halberstadt, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.

As the heart of the global supply of spare parts, a completely new logistics hub – the so-named Global Parts Center and, in the future parts deliveries will be made from this central location, eliminating additional transport routes and cutting the time until parts are available.

The new logistics hub will deliver up to 300 000 different items – from the smallest screw to a finished truck cab – to almost 3 000 vehicle dealers in 170 countries around the world. The Global Parts Center thus will make an important contribution to ensuring the international flow of goods.

Thanks to state-of-the-art storage and conveyor technology, all vehicle parts will be available for immediate retrieval in an automated high-bay warehouse and an automated small parts warehouse. Construction is scheduled to begin this year, with commissioning scheduled 2028.

Karin Rådström, CEO Mercedes-Benz Trucks, says “Halberstadt and the Global Parts Center will play a key role in the future: Spare parts from our new logistics hub will make a significant contribution to keeping our customers and their trucks up and running, thereby delivering on our ambition ‘Trucks you can trust’.”

Jörg Howe, General Representative Daimler Truck AG, responsible for Global Communications & External Affairs, added “Our new Global Parts Center is the biggest logistics project in our company's history. In the future, the Halberstadt site will play a crucial role in keeping our trucks running and thus our economy and society. Without trucks, factories stand still and supermarket shelves remain empty.”

About 2 600 Mercedes-Benz Trucks’ suppliers will provide the logistics hub with their parts in the future so

Halberstadt will become the heart of the worldwide supply of spare parts for Mercedes-Benz Trucks. Fuso parts supply in Europe will also be handled by Halberstadt in the future.

In a three-stage logistics process, the new location will serve around 20 regional logistics centers worldwide – in, for example, various European countries, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Brazil and China – which in turn will supply regional dealers with parts.

 In the first stage of expansion, the new building in the East Industrial Park in Halberstadt will have a gross floor area of around 270 000 square metres with around 260 000 square metres of logistics space. Up to 450 qualified jobs will be created on site. After further construction stages and the assumption of additional activities in connection with global parts logistics, up to 600 jobs will be created at the site.

The new logistics location is planned from the start for CO₂-neutral operation; the energy concept completely dispenses with fossil fuels. Neither natural gas nor oil is required. The location will be heated with electric heat pumps that bring heat into the building via underfloor heating systems. Due to the low heating water temperatures and the storage effect in the industrial floors, a high level of energy efficiency will be achieved.

In addition, it is intended to equip the roofs with photovoltaic systems, which can generate up to 13-million kWh of electrical energy per year. This is more electricity than will be consumed at the site. Surplus energy from the Global Parts Center will be made available to other Daimler Truck locations in Germany. The roofs of the outbuildings will be greened.

Employees will be provided with a large number of charging stations for e-vehicles and e-bikes. Appropriate charging options will also be available for suppliers’ trucks, whose fleets are gradually being electrified.