Redington's Chennai ADC now fully operational

Chennai: Redington's Automated Distribution Center (ADC), located in Kavaraipettai, about 40 km away from Chennai on Chennai-Nellore highway, is fully operational now. The warehouse facility was under trial for three months to identify and fix the flaws and to enhance the distribution process.

The facility, which is spread across 100,000 sq ft also has equal quantum of space available for extension in the future.

The company has moved its entire logistics operations from its warehouse at Poonamalle High Road, Chennai, to the new center.

Redington handles about 70,000 tonnes production a year on all-India basis, of which 12 percent is handled in Chennai.

The company has deployed 'very narrow aisle' trucks at the facility from Toyota BT, while
the racks and shelves installation has been done by Schaefer.

Entire warehouse is Wi-Fi enabled and RF guns are used by pick-up men. eBizNET-WMS, Warehouse Management System, developed by Seven Hills Business Solutions is being used at the location.

“Since our WMS talks to any system, the process time is substantially minimized. Once the data is in the WMS, due to the mechanized operation, the pick-up time is reduced to a large extent. In addition, the pick-up errors and damages are lessened. As ours is a multi-client facility, there is utilization-based billing, vis-à-vis a standalone facility, where the client is billed for the entire space irrespective of the usage,” noted R Arunachalam, GM-Supply Chain Business Initiatives, Redington.

On security and safety front, beam smoke detectors have been installed around the facility to detect fire and raise alarm.

“The USPs are the accuracy of inventory reporting, helping clients for consolidation of warehouses, economies of scale for vehicle routing for deliveries, etc,” added Arunachalam.

The company is in advanced stage of discussions with many prospective customers from FMCG and automobile industries, amongst others, for providing 3PL activities out of the Chennai ADC.

Redington expects the total investment for ADCs in four metros to be about Rs 150 crores. It even plans to complete the land purchase for the Mumbai ADC by end of the year and commence construction of Kolkata and Delhi ADCs soon sequentially.

Apart from saving in rent, Redington expects to save around Rs 50 lakh in operating expenses from the fifth year, when the company would have recovered its investments.