Woolworths has announced the opening of its new state-of-the-art regional distribution centre (RDC) in Western Sydney, New South Wales.
The $1.3 billion precinct is Woolworths Group’s largest single investment to date.
It joins the organisation’s mega Moorebank Logistics Precinct at which Woolworths’ recently-opened national distribution centre is also located.
Together the new facilities will move over five million cartons per week to supermarkets with a range of 20,000 individual products.
With direct links to Port Botany, interstate rail and Sydney’s M5 and M7 motorways, they will also take 26,000 truck movements off Australian roads each year.
Woolworths Group CEO, Amanda Bardwell, said the investment is critical to Woolworths’ customers, team and future capability.
“These new facilities are a game-changer, putting products in stores more efficiently and seamlessly,” she said.
“Behind the scenes, this investment delivers a more resilient supply chain, while the automation also significantly reduces heavy manual handling, which makes a real difference to our team members every single day.”
Both facilities cover 75,000 square metres of floor space.
The automated DCs will move food, grocery and everyday items onto shelves faster, with pallets arriving in store aisle-ready – suited to individual store layouts to enable fast restocking.
Bardwell said customers will benefit from better product availability and convenience, particularly leading up to the Christmas season.
“We know they want to be able to come in store and find what they need quickly and easily,” she said.
“From weekly specials to festive favourites, we know we have to have it on shelves or online when customers want it.”
Both DCs have achieved a Five Star Green Star rating from the Green Building Council of Australia.
They feature solar panels which will generate 5.3 megawatts of energy each year as well as rainwater harvesting.
In other news, Coolway Trans has enlarged its intermodal freight services in a partnership with Pacific National.
