Inside Exertis' national distribution centre in Burnley

Impressions from CRN's trip to Exertis' sprawling distribution facility in Burnley

Five football pitches worth of space, nearly 20m in height, 17 million units shipped annually and £25m invested in making it all run as seamlessly as possible - Exertis's newly refurbished national distribution centre (NDC) in Burnley, 30 miles outside Manchester, makes it very clear where DCC's investment in the distributor has been focused.

In total, the group has invested approximately £90m in the distribution facility, which replaced seven more localised warehouses nearly seven years ago, according to CEO Tim Griffin.

Another warehouse, at Raunds, is expected to be closed next year, following a consultation period announced today.

Griffin took the reins at Exertis earlier this year from parent company DCC and has been heavily involved in making the most out of the "jewel in the crown".

With the site open seven days a week, five of those on a 24-hour schedule, one of the major challenges has been to make the NDC compliant with Exertis' ambitious sustainability goals.

Efficiency at the centre

The centrepiece of the facility is the 25,000 sq ft, four-level pick tower, which is designed to save surface area.

With 72 pick zones and 51,500 pick locations, the tower, in combination with the SAP software used to direct the influx of shipments around the facility, Exertis believes that this is the most advanced facility of its kind in the UK.

"Our system has already determined where that stock is best placed within the racking," chief logistics officer Sion Wineyard explains, as the group of journalists watches a tiny (in comparison) box make its way along the lofty structure.

"Talking about the efficiency SAP brings, when we're picking stock, we want that to be at the most efficient point within the racking, which is as low as possible and as close to the end of the rack as possible. 55 per cent of the daily demand lands within the last hour of the day, which challenges the team to get those order processed."

Sustainability

After it is picked from the tower, the box will be algorithmically added to a designated shipment, formulated to take the smallest possible amount of space in a shipping truck and, ideally, to be shipped to its destination at once with every other piece of the client's order.

Part of the automation at the NDC also includes carton reduction and lidding, by way of software gauging the amount of empty space in each packed box and then compressing the package to eliminate that "void."

According to Exertis, the facility boasts industry leading void reduction, leading to an average of eight per cent empty space per box, while the industry average sits at 25 per cent.

This way, the goal is to minimise the amount of "air" shipped, whilst also minimising the number of shipping miles a single order travels.

This is, of course, an exercise in cost efficiency, but the distributor is also keenly aware of the facility's carbon footprint and actively working to limit this.

In order to do this, the firm has looked at multiple points across the operation, from packing and lidding to the energy supply of the facility.

Upon approaching the NDC, the first thing one notices is the field of solar panels covering the building's roof - 65,000 sq ft or 2,748 panels to be exact.

Even on a cloudy day, of which Burnley sees many throughout the year, the facility generates enough electricity to power 40 per cent of the NDC's energy needs and sell a proportion of the energy back into the grid.

The facility itself is configured to prioritise solar energy over the National Grid, and the electricity it generates annually is enough to reduce the facility's CO2 output by 450 tonnes.