Coles has opened its second Automated Distribution Centre (ADC) as part of its over $1 billion investment in technology-led innovation.
The newly opened ADC in Kemps Creek is located 40 kilometres from the Sydney CBD, spans 187,000 square metres and has a building size of 66,000 square metres, making it one of the biggest and most productive ADCs in the world.
Once operating at full capacity, the Kemps Creek facility will service 229 New South Wales and ACT stores, with the site able to process more than four million cartons per week, the equivalent of 32 million products sold in stores. Over the course of a year, this is around 1.6 billion sales units.
Leah Weckert, CEO of Coles Group, said she was proud of the hard work the team had put into opening Coles’ second ADC.
“Today marks a key milestone on our roadmap to enhance our supply chain and improve our operating efficiency, with a world-class facility that will deliver improved availability for our NSW customers.
“We have seen great improvements in availability for our customers in Queensland and Northern New South Wales following the opening of Redbank ADC in Queensland last year – and I’m excited to see this second ADC bring these same benefits to NSW.
“This facility also delivers a step-change for the safety of our team, with the elimination of around 16 million kilograms of manual handling every week.”
The first ADC, opened in Redbank, Queensland last May, has since processed more than 140 million cartons, with customers in Queensland and Northern New South Wales seeing a 20 per cent improvement in availability compared to other stores.
Kemps Creek and Redbank ADCs form the two parts of a $1 billion plus investment in technology led innovation for a more efficient, sustainable, and safer supply chain.
James Graham AM, Chairman of Coles Group, said he was pleased to see this major investment in Coles’ supply chain come to fruition.
“Over 4,400 people contributed more than 1.8 million working hours to building the site, installing the automation and getting the system ready for operation – it is an achievement that everyone should be very proud of.”
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