WACKER, the Munich-based chemical group, has announced the opening of a new logistics facility at its production site at Amtala near Kolkata. The high-bay warehouse, with a capacity of 5,000 pallet spaces, will be operated by Wacker Metroark Chemicals Pvt. Ltd. (WMC), a joint venture with the Kolkata-based Metroark Pvt. Ltd. The new logistics center complements WMC’s existing network of warehouses strategically located in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata.
At the opening ceremony, attended by WMC Executive Director Levi Cottington and WMC Managing Director Soumitra Mukherjee, Dr. Christian Hartel, President of WACKER’s silicones business division, said the new facility will help maximize flexibility of logistics, increase delivery speed and minimize lead times for customers.
“This investment will strengthen our growth opportunities in India. Therefore, the warehouse has more capacity than we will use currently”, Dr. Hartel said.
He emphasized that investing more than one million euros for the facility will have an immediate effect on WMC’s ability to increase the efficiency of its logistics operations. 
“This will enhance the accuracy and traceability of our deliveries for our customers and will ultimately help to keep the costs in line.”
The high-bay warehouse uses very narrow aisle (VNA) forklifts that are wire guided to retrieve goods. The SAP warehouse management module ensures improved insight into the inventory and storage locations. Scanners will keep track of various transactions in the warehouse. Thus, the inventory information is made available to the operators in real time via a computer interface attached to the VNA.
WMC is responsible for production, marketing and sales activities in the Indian sub-continent relating to WACKER silicone products. The joint venture, in which WACKER has a 51 per cent stake, was set up in 1998 and is active in India’s most important trade centers with sales offices in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai, as well as in Dhaka in Bangladesh. The key markets are textiles, personal care, construction, coatings, transmission and distribution, automotive, plastics, adhesives, and packaging sectors.
The company also markets WACKER sealants, silanes and pyrogenic silica in India. WMC’s current employee strength in India is 180.