Supermarket Morrisons plans to follow up the recent opening of its new 920,000ft² Kent RDC with the construction of a similar operation in Bridgwater, Somerset to support growth in the South-West.
The proposed RDC is currently at the planning stage, but Morrisons is confident that the site, just off the M5, will be operational by mid-2011.
Neal Austin, the firm's logistics director, says: "We are just reflecting on what we can do in the South-West. We think we can do things a bit better than the present set-up."
Its current infrastructure in the South-West largely dates from its takeover of Safeway in 2004, supported by an ambient operation in Swindon, Wilts.
Austin points to the operational improvements the company is already experiencing from the new Sittingbourne RDC, which opened at the end of October.
As well as helping Morrisons cut 22 million road miles and 17,000 tonnes of CO2 due to reduced mileage to stores, Austin says there are other benefits: "Clearly there's an associated cost reduction, but the big win for us is sharper service to our stores."
Morrisons is currently targeting CO2 cuts of 8% across the transport operation by 2010. It has already installed IT systems from Paragon and Isotrak to optimise its transport planning and has also introduced 28 double-deck trailers to the fleet.
"We are looking at their ability to deliver to stores. There are plenty of other opportunities to add to the double-deck fleet," says Austin. Although backhaul is also increasing - it already has alliances with Unilever and Nestlé and returns pallets and packing to its DC using its own trucks - Austin says there are limits to what it can do.
He explains: "In truth, with our manufacturing [operations] clearly first and foremost, we have to support our own internal network."
He adds: "The amount of empty legs is reducing. I think we get good use out of our vehicles and we will continue to work on it to move that forward. However, our priority will always be our own stores and manufacturing."
