Australian footwear retailer and wholesaler Munro Footwear Group is relocating to a $50 million distribution centre (DC) in Truganina’s MidWest Logistics Hub.
Munro has made the strategic decision to optimise, integrate and consolidate its domestic supply chain by moving into the $600 million Truganina Hub in Victoria, owned by Charter Hall’s flagship $8.3 billion Prime Industrial Fund.
Munro will be relocating from its current operations in Thornbury into a new purpose-built 26,354 sqm national DC for their in-store and online operations, on a total site area of 49,815 sqm.
The DC will feature a significant leading-edge Autonomous Mobile Robot (AMR) solution with a capacity to store over 1.2 million units, which will absorb volumes currently supported by external third-party logistics providers. The facility has also been designed to achieve a minimum 5-Star Green Star rating.
The new AMR solution will increase picking speed and accuracy creating greater productivity and efficiency in operations, while reducing lead times to customers. This new facility will assist in optimising inventory levels, integration with transport carriers and enhancing customer experience across the group’s 260 plus store network and most importantly the 11 eCommerce sites, which have been growing at 25 per cent per annum.
Marcus Bartlett, Chief Operating Officer at Munro Footwear Group says the company is on a strong growth trajectory and have made a major investment in optimising our supply chain operations to support our increasing in-store and online sales.
“The new facility is a key initiative in our multi-year growth plan to expand our business, optimise our customer experience and strengthen our distribution capability, particularly to support online sales,” Marcus says.
Munro partnered with supply chain and property consultancy TMX to review its supply chain network, design new operations with an automated solution and run the property procurement process. TMX secured a 10-year lease for Munro with Charter Hall and will now project manage the development of the new facility on behalf of Munro alongside Charter Hall.
Sam Dellios, Director at TMX says the new facility will have one of the largest AMR goods-to-person deployments in Australia and is an exciting milestone for Munro.
“We have had a long-term partnership with Munro and through that, we’re able to comprehensively understand their business, design an optimised operating solution and procure the automation and property requirement,” Sam says. “Munro has gone through a major boost in sales from the recent retail explosion, so our team has designed this new facility to flexibly support Munro’s dynamic growth from both in-store and online sales.”
Andrew Simons, Head of Development, Industrial and Logistics at Charter Hall says Munro will join existing tenant customers including Coles, Uniqlo, Toll, Ingham’s, Encore Tissue and Bridgestone at MidWest Logistics Hub.
“Charter Hall has attracted these strong tenant covenants to the estate due to its strategic location and our experience in developing complex warehouse facilities to accommodate next-generation automation requirements,” Andrew says. “The integration of leading-edge technology and AMR solutions will ensure the facility delivers exceptional supply chain efficiencies and productivity for Munro’s customers.”
The site is expected to be operational in the second half of 2022.
For more information on TMX, click here.