New Distribution Centre

To support ever expanding sales during the late 80s and the early years of the present decade an impressive new Southern Distribution Centre was opened in Basingstoke in 1986 with 55,000 square feet of space. Improved equipment and working methods greatly increased the tonnage that could be handled. A high bay section with a semi-automatic system stacks pallets over 30ft high so that over 6,000 pallets can be accommodated, nearly three times the capacity of the previous depot.

The assembly of small orders is carried out from a new system of carton 'livestorage' whereby stock is fed into the back and travels to the picking gate at the front. As the stock is picked the picking position is automatically replenished by stock moving forward.