Future-proofing in an ever-changing industry

The new Plant T is a boost for TVH’s efficiency and lead times 

TVH will take a significant step towards the future with the opening of Plant T. This new building isn’t just another warehouse to increase storage capacity; it’s a vital link in a new logistics process. The aim? Be even more efficient, reduce lead times even further; and improve product quality. In short: to be prepared for future growth.

With Plant T, TVH will continue to elevate its data and product quality, enabling us to deliver even greater value to our customers.

• It will be a vital link in the supply chain, significantly reducing the lead time for all products to our customers.
• New process changes will be possible, enabling employees to develop technical knowledge and progress from generalists to product specialists.

TVH is opening its brand-new facility, Plant T, in June 2026. The building represents a significant expansion to the total footprint of the company’s facilities in Belgium (currently: 215,000 m² including Plant T), with a footprint of around 18,000 m². The building itself has four floors, housing 54,000 m² of logistics space, including 2,000 m² of office space. It also houses 17 loading docks and is connected to the warehouse across the street via an eye-catching, 600-tonne connector bridge. Overall, TVH invested no less than EUR 85 million in the brand-new plant. A conscious choice, says Patrick Lecluyse, Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors at TVH: “This is clear proof that we are investing in future growth and that, as an international, company we remain locally anchored.”

With Plant T, TVH takes a new step forward in future-proofing its logistics process. “To put it bluntly, the building will help us manage our parts better, so customers get their parts even faster,” affirms Tom Verbeke, Director Goods In at TVH.

The new plant will serve as a central hub for all incoming goods, sorting them by priority. Tom Verbeke: “This way, we can already make a distinction between goods that are already ready for stock (our so-called “happy flow”) and goods that require an additional (technical) check and/or proper professional packaging. Additionally, we can immediately sort products that need specialised treatment froom those that we can store directly.”

It all results in a more efficient logistics system. Tanja Dysli, COO at TVH, confirms: “It’s easy to think Plant T is just another storage warehouse, but that’s not the case at all; it’s a vital link in our warehouse logistical process to improve throughput time and consequently offer better lead times to customers, and our other branches worldwide.”

TVH deliberately built a larger plant to handle the volume of incoming goods. “The warehouse part of Plant T is meant for interim storage before goods are checked and packed. We see it as a first buffer to withstand the fluctuations of incoming volumes. Today, we might have 150,000 incoming goods; tomorrow, about 400,000. You need to be able to handle those differences. Plant T will be essential in mitigating those flow differences. Currently, the warehouse part contains classic temporary storage in 33 ft (10 m) racks. But its height will allow for further investment in fully automated buffer storage later on.”

The expansion will also improve efficiency within TVH’s logistics. Tom Verbeke explains: “After receiving the goods, the products will be brought to our product specialists. Engine pistons will be sent to a specialist who also handles gaskets and valves, which makes much more sense. This allows our colleagues to specialise in specific categories, such as electronics, hydraulics, and brake systems. The result is that quality checks and data enrichment will improve. Plus, we create synergies across the different departments, strengthening our technical knowledge even further, so we can help and advise our customers even better.”

As a whole, Plant T consists of four work floors and three high-bay warehouse blocks, each with its own functionalities. “For instance, the ground floor is used for receiving, sorting, and buffering incoming goods, while the second floor will house our Quality department. In addition, we installed several offices tol accommodate the teams moving to Plant T. Consequently, there are plenty of state-of-the-art meeting rooms, so people don’t need to travel between buildings when they want to discuss projects.”

Plant T will also feature efficient internal mobility of goods. “By using conveyors, lifts, robots and AMRs, all parts can easily be sorted, buffered and moved across the plant to the correct workstation,” Tanja Dysli explains. “Thanks to our eye-catching bridge, they can even move directly to the Goods Out warehouse across the street. Moreover, we use AMR (Autonomous Mobile Robots) because the technology is highly flexible and scalable, enabling us to deliver the right goods to each workstation precisely and according to their correct priority.”

As always with TVH, sustainability sits at the heart of the new plant. “For instance, the roof contains 2,266 solar panels, totaling 1472 MWp. These panels will produce around 1,250 MW. To put things in perspective, that’s the equivalent of 350 households.

In addition, TVH aims to achieve the BREEAM certification of “Outstanding” for its efforts in making Plant T as sustainable as possible. The state-of-the-art waste recycling area, where TVH sorts and processes wood, plastics and other waste streams, also contributes to this achievement.

Last but not least, well-being and ergonomics were central to the design of the building. Tom Verbeke notes: “The addition of showers and changing rooms was an obvious choice, as well as the comfortable dining area on the second floor. Each floor and space also has climate control.” Tanja Dysli adds: “Moreover, wherever we can use automation and robotics to support our team and elleviate heavy and tedious manual labour, we have decided to adopt technology to enable our people to work more ergonomically.

In conclusion, Plant T marks a new chapter in TVH’s successful operations. By advancing our logistics infrastructure, we are unlocking new levels of efficiency and further reducing lead times. The goal remains unchanged: to continuously elevate how we serve our customers.”