Blackwoods, the largest business in the Wesfarmers Industrial and Safety Division, was a winner in the 2104 Supply Chain and Logistics Association of Australia’s Australian Supply Chain & Logistics (ASCL) Awards.
Blackwoods won the SCLAA’s Storage and Handling of Materials Award in recognition of the several technology advances incorporated into Blackwoods new DC and trading branch at Greystanes in Sydney’s western suburbs.
Blackwoods distributes one of the widest product ranges in Australia, despatching up to 300,000 different SKUs.
A key feature of its new DC is the first Multishuttle 2 Goods-to-Person (GTP) order fulfilment system of its type in Australia.
“With customer expectations that are just as varied as our product range, our on-going goal is to fulfill all customers’ workplace needs by delivering exceptional customer service and satisfaction through dynamic, smart, easy and innovative sales and service solutions, backed by efficient and timely distribution,” said Blackwoods General Manager NSW/ACT, Tony Pantilas.
“A key facilitator in achieving our delivery promise to customers is our constantly evolving supply chain network, a central feature of which is our new Greystanes DC in Sydney, featuring the first automated GTP picking system of its type in ANZ.”
Dematic’s Multishuttle has revolutionised the storage and sequencing of totes in split-case order fulfilment, with Blackwoods’ Multishuttle 2 system – operating at up to twice the speed of the first generation model, further increasing productivity, throughput and therefore delivery performance to customers and efficiency for suppliers.
The system includes two aisles, with totes stored double deep over 25 levels high. Each aisle is serviced by two elevators, one feeding totes into the aisle and one retrieving them, with each elevator capable of handling two totes at a time, doubling the throughput for every cycle of the lift.
The award was presented at the Members Dining Room at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on November 30.