Co-op looks for efficiencies with new site

Martin Beaumont (right) opens the Co-op's national distribution centre with Guy McCracken, chief executive, food retail (centre) and Trevor Ashworth, director of food retail logistics

The Co-op has opened a new national distribution centre (NDC) in Coventry, which it claims will serve more food stores than other grocery distribution centre in the UK.

Employing 670 staff, the NDC services some 3,300 Co-op food stores including the Group?s own stores and those of the independent Co-op societies that form the Co-operative Retail Trading Group (CRTG).

Around 400 lorry loads leave the Coventry NDC each week carrying products, including food, drink and electrical items, destined for the shelves of all Co-op stores ? from the Shetlands to the Channel Islands.

Based at Prologis Park, Coventry, the NDC is now operating at full productivity and has been formally opened by the Co-op Group?s chief executive, Martin Beaumont.

Speaking at the opening, Beaumont stressed the significance of the NDC for the Co-op?s food retail business.

?The opening of the national distribution centre and the reorganisation of our logistics network is a huge step forward in terms of food distribution for the Co-operative movement helping us to provide even better service levels to our stores and customers,? he said.

?We now have a much more effective and efficient supply chain, enabling us to negotiate significantly better terms with our suppliers, which is an ongoing priority for us.?

The Coventry site provides 312,000sq ft of warehouse space and more than two miles of shelving. Some 1.2m cases are picked and delivered weekly to make up the 10,000 orders that are dispatched each week.

The site is the central hub of the Co-op?s nationwide distribution network for ambient goods and enables the regional distribution centres to focus on faster-selling fresh lines.