Asda officially opens £100m distribution centre

Grocery giant Asda has officially opened its new, £100 million automated distribution centre in Warrington with an official visit from HRH Prince Andrew.

97% of the warehouse is automated, with 600 staff working side by side robots.

The new Asda site processes around four million cases a week. It serves 140 stores in the North of England and beyond, including Manchester, Liverpool, Cheshire, Lancashire and North Wales.

The facilities automation is one of the most ergonomically friendly distribution centres in Europe. Staff have standing workstations and are assisted by robots as well as around 4.5km or conveyor belts in the building.

Asda’s parent company Walmart plans to replicate this facility’s systems in its operations across the United States.

The site includes nine robotic cranes, which each control 27,000 individual pallet locations and are able to lift pallets as high as 27 meters.

According to the retailer, the warehouse has a one million square foot capacity because of the “unique way its robots can access stock.”

“Our Warrington site really is impressive,” said Roger Burnley, deputy CEO and COO, Asda. “Our colleagues do a fantastic job to ensure the depot works at its maximum efficiency to send product to stores across the North of England.”  
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