World-class facility

VISA Global Logistics has opened a new warehouse in Melbourne’s East to better serve its customers and enhance its national footprint. Logistics & Materials Handling caught up with Tony Baxter, National Warehouse Manager, to find out more.
VISA Global Logistics is Australia’s largest privately-owned, international freight forwarding company and the nation’s third largest wharf cartage carrier.
Operating since 1982, VISA owns and operates 53 offices all over the world.
Proud of its ability to offer a complete end-to-end service, VISA has opened a new warehouse facility in Lyndhurst in Melbourne’s east. The largest of its kind in Victoria, VISA has been working on the strategy behind this new facility for 18 months.
“This new warehouse is part of our growth strategy. We are enhancing our footprint in Melbourne’s East so that we can offer a better service to our customers,” Tony Baxter, National Warehouse Manager, says.
VISA provides services inclusive of global freight forwarding, customs clearance, 3PL warehousing and transport and distribution. “We know that speed to market is so important to our customers, so we have strategically picked Melbourne East for our new warehouse. The Lyndhurst facility allows us to offer a wharf-to-warehouse-to-customer service.”
The warehouse gives VISA’s customers coverage of Melbourne and the surrounding suburbs. It offers a direct pick up from the Port to Melbourne’s East and avoids traffic, Tony says.
The warehouse is also close to rail head services in the east and according to Tony it offers a true multi-modal experience. “We took one of the first sites here because we know it will become an industrial hub and will be central to serving Melbourne’s needs.”
In addition to the benefits realised from the location of the warehouse, the new facility also offers customers a significant upgrade in terms of data and real-time information. “We know that our customers want visibility and transparency so we have upgraded from a legacy warehouse management system to a Tier 1 system,” Tony says.
The new site will deploy Manhattan’s warehouse management system which uses advanced, proprietary algorithms to mathematically organise and optimise logistics operations. According to Tony, this cutting-edge technology will give customers greater visibility and accurate real-time transactional data.
“There is an increased customer demand for live and valid accurate data, especially in the FMCG sector. This new system gives our customers a dashboard of their KPI’s and access to relevant useful information in a user-friendly platform.”
For the transport management side of things, VISA has created its own tool ­– OneTrack. The system is a freight management platform that VISA has developed and built in-house. “It is intuitive and user-friendly and gives our customers live track and trace, proof of delivery details and access to see their products in the container from source to destination,” Tony says.
At VISA security and safety is taken very seriously and the warehouse features the highest level of security, giving access only via fingerprint scanning.
The warehouse will feature semi-automatic material handling equipment and Very Narrow Aisle racking. According to Tony, this allows for enhanced consolidated storage which offers a good utilisation of floor space.
This has great benefits for the customer as they can palletise and position their freight aisle by aisle, enabling them to pick and pack quicker and put stock away faster as a result of the automated line guidance system.
The facility is also fully bonded, has reefer and fumigation capability and space for 8,000 pallets. “Customers are starting to fill the warehouse already, some have taken advantage of the ability to consolidate their stock and others wanted to move closer to the port. At only 40km away and close proximity to major road network, the Lyndhurst facility offers reliable delivery times.”
With over 20 years in the industry, Tony believes that VISA’s point of difference is that they are truly a solutions-based logistics provider. “Many proclaim to offer their customers a solution-based service, but VISA’s flat structure allows us to work together as an entire business to find the right solution for the customer. We work in unison to find the best solution for the customer overall,” Tony says.
VISA’s extensive global network ensures that they deliver a comprehensive logistics system for all of their customers, the new warehouse in Melbourne’s east gives customers more reliable delivery times and exceptional customer service and efficiency from Australia’s largest privately-owned logistics business.