Springboard for further development

Franchisees, employees, suppliers and other business partners of Aveve were able to see the efficiency of the new logistics centre for themselves at an open day during the first weekend in February. The new facility came on stream back in November, having taken a year to construct.

Aveve hopes that its new building, which is exclusively for the use of the company’s retail arm, will deliver higher productivity and logistical efficiency as well as improving the supply of goods to its 250-plus stores. 50 of the stores are operated by the company itself and the other 200 by franchisees. The group aims to centralise the supply to the stores step by step. Its range is to be streamlined from 28 000 items at present to a maximum of 18 000, and Aveve also intends to concentrate the number of suppliers it uses.
By centralising the supply to the stores, Aveve wants to create conditions enabling the sales staff in the stores to spend more time in future on their key task of advising customers. To relieve the burden on store sales staff, many stores have specific staff-members who fill the shelves before or after opening hours. In most cases, trucks can deliver their load to a separate stock-room without the assistance or presence of staff members being required.
The new building covers an area of 36 000 m2, making it the largest ever constructed by Aveve. The company has invested € 20 mio in it, a sign that it considers the retail sector extremely important.
Seven smaller warehouses, together occupying an area of 20 000 m2, have been replaced by the new centre. Since the existing range only accounts for 65 per cent of the warehouse capacity now available, the company has sufficient space available to be able to operate flexibly in the immediate future. The new logistics centre has space for 54 000 pallets and utilises state-of-the-art technology such as scanning and voice picking. This much larger storage space compared with previously permits improved labour efficiency and meets the needs of the retail chain for the next few years. Plans are also in hand to construct a separate warehouse for plant protection products in stage two of the project in the second half of the year.

Environmental issues were also given serious…