30 October 2009 Great Bear standardises WMS operations on Autostore
Great Bear Distribution Ltd today announced that the Autostore warehouse management system (WMS) from Central Systems & Automation Ltd is now managing its newly completed Desborough Distribution Centre (DDC) in Northamptonshire.
Autostore - developed by supply chain integration specialists Central Systems & Automation - is a proven system for enhancing warehouse and supply chain performance. It increases available capacity, raises pallet throughput, cuts paperwork and delivers real-time management information while improving scheduling, planning and storage decisions.
Mark Roberts is Great Bear's General Manager, Business Development: "Technology infrastructure is critically important to us, underpinning our ability to deliver a fast, accurate, flexible and highly cost-efficient service. Controlling an optimised mix of automated and manual processes, Autostore now operates five Great Bear distribution centres around the UK and such standardisation is critically important key to delivering future-proofed value and high performance supply chain management for our clients."
Pallet and goods throughput is faster, enabling Great Bear to make Desborough work close to its capacity limits without compromising performance or forcing physical expansion. The centralised control of data ensures that network bandwidth is optimised, delivering a faster and more efficient IT backbone.
Andrew McKaig is Commercial Director at Central Systems & Automation: "System confidence is key. An enterprise WMS has to work from day one and deliver against both the specification as well as the unexpected too. Autostore is a proven solution over many years and for many organisations, delivering just this power and reliability across a range of automated, manual and mixed warehouse management environments."
Great Bear Distribution manages over 3 million square feet of warehousing, 23 distribution centres, 150 vehicles and 1,200 people and turns over more than £85 million. It runs a true multi-site, multi-client 3PL operation for a range of clients in the grocery, manufacturing and retail markets who include Sainsbury's, Mars, Umbro, Unilever and Michelin.
Built in 2007 and completed inside 12 months, the green-field DDC site covers 475,000 ft2 of storage space with 70,000 pallet positions in four chambers - plus 58 loading bays with four level access doors and four automated vehicle off load bays. Great Bear's strategy to standardised WMS infrastructure at the DDC and other sites means it can best match client demands without costly integration issues.
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For more information on this announcement, please email Julian Wright