IN Brief:
- Inther is upgrading the intralogistics installation it originally built approximately 15 years ago at DHL Beringe.
- The scope covers conveyors, sorting, mezzanine shelving, automated packing, system controls, and software while daily operations continue.
- The first upgraded sections are already running, with the full project scheduled for completion in Q1 2027.
Inther Group has begun a phased retrofit of the intralogistics system at DHL’s distribution centre in Beringe, the Netherlands, replacing equipment and controls while the facility continues serving an international technology customer. Inther installed the original system approximately 15 years ago and is now modernising much of it as operational requirements and equipment life cycles have changed.
The programme covers replacement conveyors, greater sorting capability, an additional level of shelving above the mezzanine, conveyors feeding packing workstations, and an automated packaging machine. It also includes renewal of the system’s controls and software. The underlying layout and core installation will be retained in part, distinguishing the work from a complete rebuild or relocation of the distribution operation. No contract value, original system capacity, or target throughput improvement has been published.
DHL’s customer relationship has been renewed and expanded, creating a requirement to accommodate future activity and additional volumes. At the same time, elements of the existing installation, including software and equipment components, were approaching the end of their technical life. Replacing ageing components can restore supportability while retaining the existing building, important system interfaces, and equipment that remains serviceable.
Inther and DHL have structured the implementation around scheduled intervention windows rather than taking the warehouse out of service for a prolonged period. Teams prepare the next section of work during the week, remove a defined part of the old installation, and install the replacement over an agreed window, often during the weekend. The intention is to return the affected section to operation for the following working period, reducing the length of disruption to the material flow.
Removing a conveyor that feeds picking or packing requires an alternative material route or a planned local stoppage while goods cannot reach the next process. Changes to power supplies, machine controls, guarding, emergency stops, and software interfaces also need testing before a modified section can be released. Individual work packages must be small enough to isolate, replace, test, and return to service without forcing the remainder of the warehouse to stop. Inther has not published the detailed temporary routing arrangements used during each intervention.
The first upgraded sections are already operating, while completion of the full programme is expected in the first quarter of 2027. Marc Biermann, Inther’s head of sales engineering, has identified the need to carry out technical change while warehouse work continues as the central project challenge. Inther designed and installed the original system, giving its engineering teams direct knowledge of the conveyor layout, control interfaces, and operating processes being modified.
Bas Maas, project manager at Inther, has described close coordination with DHL over the work windows, including some opportunities for short weekday stoppages where necessary. The arrangement permits short, controlled local shutdowns when required; the wider operation remains active, but the retrofit is not being carried out without any interruption at all.
The replacement of sorting equipment and packing conveyors affects the handover between order assembly and dispatch. Conveyors have to deliver the correct goods to the correct workstations, while sortation capacity must match the destination or service categories used by the operation. Introducing an automated packaging machine can add another controlled step, requiring the upstream material flow and downstream dispatch process to accommodate the machine’s operating cycle. The precise type, format range, and throughput of the new packaging equipment have not been specified.
Replacing the controls requires equipment controllers to manage motors, sensors, diversions, and fault states while warehouse and material-flow software coordinates which orders and containers travel through the installation. During a phased retrofit, old and new control elements may need to work together temporarily as sections are commissioned. Interfaces must be verified against the physical equipment rather than assumed compatible because their functions are similar. Inther has not named the new software releases or published a detailed architecture for the changeover.
An added shelving level above the mezzanine will change access and replenishment arrangements, as well as movement between picking locations and conveyor induction points. Their value depends on the characteristics of the technology customer’s products, the order mix, and how stock is assigned within the building. No extra storage position count or measured increase in usable capacity has yet been announced for the project.
Inther is retaining the system’s basic structure while replacing ageing equipment and expanding parts of the installation. The cost of planned downtime, the remaining useful life of retained plant, and the ability to maintain customer service will influence the retrofit’s economics, but neither party has disclosed a payback calculation or performance target. The upgraded installation is intended to support the renewed and expanded DHL customer operation.
Before the intended first-quarter 2027 completion, the upgraded conveyors, sortation, packing equipment, and controls will need to work as one coordinated system. The project is already passing through staged commissioning, with the first sections back in use. Final acceptance, measured throughput, and any operating improvements will become clearer after the remaining conveyors, control systems, and packaging equipment have been brought into service.
