DHL Supply Chain has opened what it calls New Zealand’s “most advanced” life sciences and healthcare logistics facility as part of a NZ$90 million investment that lifts the company’s local health logistics footprint by 20% and introduces large-scale warehouse automation in Auckland.
The 14,100 square metre Te Kapua Drive site in Māngere is part of the DHL Health Logistics network. It’s designed to speed the delivery of medicines and healthcare products nationwide — including direct-to-patient and direct-to-pharmacy distribution — with enhanced safety, quality control and traceability.
DHL Supply Chain Asia Pacific chief executive Javier Bilbao says the facility “future-proofs” the company’s ability to “efficiently, safely, and sustainably distribute critical and life-saving pharmaceutical and healthcare products to patients and consumers throughout New Zealand”.
Bilbao says the facility supports the group’s Strategy 2030 to integrate healthcare supply chains “through a fully inhouse managed, end-to-end supply chain model”.
“Alongside Te Kapua, we’ve thus expanded our regional life sciences and healthcare footprint with the opening of new facilities in Singapore, Malaysia, India, and South Korea.
“These investments reflect our commitment to building resilient, future-ready infrastructure that enables faster, more reliable delivery of life-saving pharmaceuticals and media devices throughout the region.”
DHL Supply Chain New Zealand managing director Matt Casbolt says advanced health logistics are essential for a growing and ageing population.
“At Te Kapua, we are developing highly customised warehousing capacity, and building new skills in robotics and quality assurance, strengthening our ability to support customers throughout New Zealand and the Pacific Islands,” Casbolt says.
About 80 staff will be based at the site, including what DHL says is the country’s largest health logistics quality assurance team, with increasing roles in data analysis, mechatronics and robotics.
Productivity is driven by goods-to-person automation featuring 41 Geek+ robots — described as the largest deployment by a New Zealand third-party logistics provider — alongside very-narrow-aisle (VNA) pallet storage and retrieval. Local integrator Automate-X installed the robots and trained DHL staff to manage calibration and maintenance. DHL says the automation reduces manual-handling risks by taking on heavy lifting and repetitive tasks.
The facility includes 12,000 temperature-controlled pallet storage spaces, humidity-controlled storage, and multiple temperature environments from 2°C to 8°C and down to –30°C. An adjoining 2°C to 8°C antechamber is used for preparing and packing temperature-controlled products to minimise temperature excursions. Dangerous-goods storage and a specialist room for licensed secondary repackaging of life sciences and healthcare products are also provided.
Rated five Green Star, the building uses 100% renewable electricity via Renewable Energy Certificates, LED lighting with smart controls, energy metering, cool roofing, rainwater reuse and energy-efficient HVAC systems. DHL’s reusable Cool Green Cell packaging is being used to cut transport waste and costs for temperature-controlled shipments.
The Auckland development sits within DHL Group’s NZ$1 billion (€500m) plan to expand Asia-Pacific life sciences and healthcare logistics by 2030.
