Jaycar Electronics Group, an electronics retailer based in Australia and New Zealand, has officially opened its new automated distribution centre in Eastern Creek, Sydney.
The 232,000ft² facility features a range of automated solutions which, according to the company, have allowed for a significant increase in storage and output, despite the new warehouse being a similar size to the previous one.
“Weâre doubling our volume within the same warehouse space, which is even more important with industrial land prices continuing to rise in Sydney and major cities,” said Justin Mackedie, Chief Supply Chain Officer at Electus Distribution â the wholesale arm of Jaycar Electronics.
Mackedie added that the warehouse is performing “exceptionally well”, with 99.7% of orders being delivered in full and on time.
For more on space optimisation within the warehouse, check out this feature from the June issue of Logistics Manager Magazine!
Intralogistics solutions provider Swisslog was tasked with automating the facility. It features a fully-automated goods-to-person picking system supporting up to 24,000 totes and cartons, as well as a 20,000-pallet capacity multi-deep automated pallet store.
Electus Distribution’s Mackedie explained: “Utilising Swisslogâs Vectura crane multi-deep pallet storage system, we can store pallets seven deep instead of the typical one or two, which means we can achieve about a 30% increase in storage per square metre of warehouse space.”
The warehouse’s automated systems are connected by Swisslog’s SynQ warehouse management system (WMS), which Jaycar Electronics believes can “optimise warehouse productivity, efficiency, and throughput, while eliminating bottlenecks”.
Swisslog exhibited at IntraLogisteX 2023 and will be returning to the NEC, Birmingham on 19-20 March 2024, where IntraLogisteX will once again be co-located with Robotics and Automation, with the new addition of the Sustainable Supply Chain Exhibition.
To find out more about any of the three exhibitions taking place in 2024, click here!
There has been a global trend of increasing levels of automation within warehouses in recent years. According to a report by LogisticsIQ, the global warehouse automation market is expected to be worth around US$41 billion by 2027.
However, a 2023 JLL study revealed that only 60% of logistics occupiers across the Asia Pacific region have deployed some form of automation solution. JLL’s Director of Research Consultancy for Asia Pacific, Peter Guevarra, explained the reasons behind this, saying: “Most occupiers cited the high initial capital expenditure (CapEx) as the primary obstacle, although the long payback period is also a clear hurdle in the decision-making process.”
