SKF broke ground today on a new regional distribution centre located in the WaiGaoQiao Free Trade Zone in the northeast part of Shanghai. The new centre will support the entire NE Asia Pacific region and joins the global network of SKF regional distribution centres already located in North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia. This new centre will be the first SKF warehouse built according to the LEED GOLD building certification.

"This new centre combines the best practices the Group has in its logistics operations worldwide with the latest logistics infrastructure and will enable us to even better support our distributors and customers in NE Asia," says Tom Johnstone, SKF President and CEO. "This building, as with other new buildings in SKF, is built to the LEED standard which reinforces our long term commitment to environmental sustainability, as also shown through the recent launch of our BeyondZero portfolio."

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), developed by the U.S. Green Building Council, consists of a suite of rating systems for the design, construction, and operation of high performance green buildings. During 2011, SKF ran 11 construction projects around the world that followed the LEED standard.

"This new distribution centre is in-line with SKF's strategy to better serve customers in China, as well as within the whole Asia Pacific region. It will allow us to provide better availability with short delivery lead-time," says Jessica Zhou, General Manager SKF Logistics Services China.

The distribution centre is a fully automated warehouse with a 30-metre High Automatic Storing and Retrieval System (ASRS) and will be fully operational in 2013. The total investment will be around SEK 100 million.