Mitre 10, the largest independently owned hardware chain in Australasia, will install new state-of-the-art order fulfilment systems for distribution centres in Brisbane and Melbourne.
Mitre 10 has been providing millions of Australian and New Zealand homeowners and tradespeople with DIY and hardware solutions for more than 40 years.
According to Jon Herbert, group general manager supply chain and logistics for Mitre 10, the announcement is the culmination of a two-year process during which the company completely reviewed the management of its supply chain.
“We carried out a strategic review of our supply chain activities and examined ways in which we could extract greater efficiencies for the business as well as cope with the projected growth of the company,” he says.
“It became apparent that a rationalisation of our warehousing activities was required and that we would benefit from economies of scale provided by facilities with much larger footprints.”
Mitre 10 acquired a warehouse facility in the Brisbane suburb of Acacia Ridge, which was already fitted with a bulk storage area, while in Melbourne it is constructing a purpose-built facility.
Each warehouse has a floor area of approximately 25,000 sq m. “Once we’d made the decisions on the premises we then examined the technologies that would best suit our requirements,” Herbert says.
“We’ve contracted Dematic to install a range of technologies at both facilities,” Herbert says.
“Although the Brisbane facility has a pallet rack system it has required Dematic to install a mezzanine floor, conveyor and sortation system, as well as integrating picking technologies using Radio Frequency (RF) that will be be upgraded to Voice Picking (VP) technology at a later stage.”
The RF and VP technologies will be managed by Dematic’s PickDIRECTOR, which will interface with Mitre 10’s warehouse management system.
The same software systems will feature in both warehouses. Melbourne being a new facility, Dematic will be responsible for the complete fit out including the pallet racking.
“We are confident that the Dematic solution will enable Mitre 10 to greatly enhance supply chain efficiencies and the technologies involved will serve us well into the future,” Herbert says.