Coles unveils new automated distribution centre

Coles has opened its new automated distribution centre in western Sydney as part of its more than $1 billion investment in technology-led innovation.

Officially opening yesterday morning, the Kemps Creek ADC has been designed to provide better availability for customers and create safer, more efficient outcomes for team members and suppliers.

The site spans 187,000 sqm which is the equivalent size of around 25 rugby league fields. With a building size of 66,000 sqm, the facility is promoted as one of the biggest and most productive automated distribution centres in the world.

Once operating at full capacity, the ADC will service 229 NSW 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 a year, this is around 1.6 billion sales units.

This is the second of two Coles facilities using Witron technology. The first ADC opened in Redbank, Queensland last year and has since processed more than 140 million cartons, with customers in Queensland and northern NSW seeing a 20% improvement in availability compared to other stores.

Coles CEO Leah Weckert says she is proud of all the hard work the team had put into the opening of Coles’ second ADC.

“[This] 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,” she says.

“We have seen great improvements in availability for our customers in Queensland and northern NSW 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 Kemps Creek ADC is fitted with a 3.5-megawatt solar solution on the roof, which is among the largest in the Coles network. To minimise food waste, edible food that can’t be processed at Coles’ stores will be donated to the retailer’s community partners Foodbank and SecondBite.