Dematic to commision new automated distribution centre for Woolworths 

Warehouse automation provider Dematic has been selected by Primary Connect — the supply chain arm of retailer giant Woolworths Group — to supply a state-of-the-art automated fulfilment system for the new National Distribution Centre (NDC) in Moorebank Logistics Park, Sydney. 

With over 50 years presence in Australia, Dematic has a long history serving the supply chain industry. 

“Our local capability with over 600 employees and a manufacturing facility in Belrose, Sydney, ensures we continue to provide quality service and systems to our customers,” said Michael Jerogin, CEO, Dematic APAC.  

Jerogin said they are very proud to be a trusted partner of Woolworths and thrilled to be building on this partnership by playing a key role in Woolworths’ automation strategy. 

The Dematic solution for the new NDC will build store-friendly pallets for Woolworths’ retail stores. The Flexible Mixed Case Order Fulfilment system, powered by the Dematic iQ Warehouse Management System (WMS), will handle 9,000+ products from 900 suppliers, delivering daily to over 1,000 stores nationally. 

Stretching at 40,700 square metres, the Moorebank NDC is planned to feature wall-to-wall automation, providing the flexibility to cater for seasonal and other peaks in demand, such as those experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is designed to deliver store orders, catering for Woolworths’ expected growth with built-in scalability and modularity. 

Transport advantages are also expected to benefit Woolworths by helping to remove at least 26,000 truck movements between Woolworths facilities from NSW roads annually. 

Paul Graham, Primary Connect Managing Director and Woolworths Group Chief Supply Chain Officer, said the investment at Moorebank is designed to transform the way they serve Woolworths stores, strengthen their network and deliver on their ambition to create Australia’s best food and grocery supply chain.  

 “Cutting-edge automation will build tailored pallets for specific aisles in individual stores — helping us improve on-shelf product availability with faster restocking, reducing congestion in stores and enabling a safer work environment for our teams with less manual handling,” Graham explained.  

“We expect the new facilities to also help us progress our localised ranging efforts, with the ability to hold thousands of additional products centrally than we can in our existing facilities.” 

Dematic Senior Director – Integrated Systems Pas Tomasiello and his team have worked closely with Woolworths Supply Chain Development Team to optimise and leverage the full scalability of the Dematic systems. 

Tomasiello explained the NDC is designed to help Woolworths carry a higher range of slow-moving packaged products much more efficiently in a centralised location, rather than being spread across multiple sites.  

“Consolidation, coupled with advanced automation, will allow Woolworths to achieve new volume milestones and make significant gains in the speed and accuracy of deliveries to stores across the nation,” he said. 

The Dematic iQ WMS will interface into Woolworths’ systems and provide Industry 4.0 DC capabilities with system interconnectivity, data-driven intelligence and decision support tools, delivering enhanced DC operations with faster insights and decision capabilities. 

The Moorebank NDC will be operational late 2023. 

Source: Dematic