Diageo Australia has been awarded the 2015 Smart Award for Excellence in Manufacturing Supply Chains for its new distribution centre (DC) in Huntingwood, Sydney.
The DC, which sits alongside Diageo Australia’s primary manufacturing site in Huntingwood, has the capacity to store 26,000 pallets of Diageo’s world famous products.
Diageo manufactures and supplies liquor to retailers and suppliers including Woolworths and Coles. Its new ‘One Touch’ supply chain has delivered efficiencies that have enabled Diageo to bring distribution back in-house rather than having to outsource to third party logistics providers.
The new ‘One Touch’ supply chain involved building a new DC in Huntingwood, which consolidated Diageo’s two Sydney facilities into one. The new DC features a Dematic ColbyRACK custom designed 31 metre high-bay storage system. The six-aisle, double-deep, storage system provides capacity for 26,000 pallets, more than doubling the DC’s capacity from 10,000 pallets.
The new warehouse is serviced by six Dematic RapidStore cranes, capable of handling around 110 pallet movements per hour. A key benefit of the new system is its ability to immediately transfer stock from production straight into storage for order readiness.
“Over the past few years, there has been a general trend among retailers and liquor distributors to reduce the level of stock they are holding and to expect ‘just-in-time’ deliveries,” said Joe Russo, Supply Director, Diageo Australia. “It was therefore critical for Diageo to upgrade our supply chain to ensure we were capable of meeting our customers’ needs.”
“The $21.5 million investment in this project also reflects Diageo’s commitment to keeping our Australian manufacturing operations local.”
David Rubie, Dematic’s Manager of Industry Logistics said Dematic was proud to have been involved in the development and delivery of Diageo’s award-winning ‘One Touch’ supply chain and new DC.
Source: Diageo Australia media release.