Coles has officially opened its new Kemps Creek Automated Distribution Centre (ADC) in western Sydney, which is one of the largest and most productive in the world. Spanning 66,000 square meters, the center will service 229 stores in New South Wales and the ACT, processing over four million cartons weekly. This represents 32 million products sold in-store, equivalent to 1.6 billion sales units annually. The facility eliminates 16 million kgs of manual handling every week.
After opening the Redbank ADC last year, there was a 20% improvement in product availability in stores. The ADC is part of Coles’ $1 billion investment in technology and innovation, using advanced Wiltron technology to improve efficiency, safety, and product availability. Wiltron technology enables store order pallets to be packed to different heights in an optimal stacking sequence, so they require less sorting once they arrive at stores.
The Kemps Creek ADC, along with the Redbank ADC, signifies Coles’ largest capital investment, doubling the capacity of regular distribution centers. It is half the footprint of the other two DC’s in NSW due to the 36m high pallet storage area. The facility also includes a 3.5-megawatt solar installation and Coles Group will be 100% renewable energy by FY25.
