Changzhou Giant Bearing Co., Ltd

Latin America is an increasingly important region for SKF and in order to further improve the logistics structure and reduce costs, the company has opened a regional distribution centre in Montevideo, Uruguay. This centre joins the global network of regional distribution centers, which SKF has in North America, Europe and Asia.

"The opening of the regional distribution centre in Uruguay reinforces our commitment to this fast growing region for the SKF Group. It will enable us to significantly improve the support and service to our customers and distributors in the region, while helping us reduce both operating costs and capital tied up in inventory," says Tom Johnstone, President and CEO, SKF. "The centre combines the latest logistics infrastructure with SKF best practices the Group has in its logistics operations worldwide."

"The implementation of regional planning for this new centre and the local warehouses will improve availability of our products while reducing costs and inventory," says Ralph Hendrikx, General Manager, Latin America Distribution Centre. "It will complement the existing local warehouses in the area allowing us to reduce delivery lead times and provide a wider range of products to our customers and distributors."

The distribution centre started operation on 4 July 2011 and represents an investment of around USD 2,5 million.