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Bijoy Ghosh

Hi-tech warehouse: Redington India’s Automated Distribution Centre at Kavaraipettai, about 45 km from Chennai near Gummudipoondi on the National Highway connecting Chennai with Kolkata. —

T. E. Raja Simhan

Chennai, Sept. 11 Redington India’s ‘Automated Distribution Centre’ near Chennai, a fully WiFi enabled, ‘hi-tech’ godown, will be fully operational in a couple of months.

Set up with an investment of Rs 30 crore, the ADC features what is called a Very Narrow Aisle (VNA) racking system. Pallet racks are placed very close together; the WiFi enables handheld devices identify the desired object precisely in quickly. Loading and unloading happens with a side-loading fork truck.

Mr R. Arunachalam, General Manager, Supply Chain Business Initiatives, Redington, says that with VNA, about 50 per cent more floor space can be made available than with a wide aisle solution. VNA racking also increases pallet storage by leveraging vertical space. “Given land prices in metros, higher vertical utilisation is important,” observes Mr Arunachalam. The ADC has some 9,000 pallet locations in a vertical storage of racking and around 12,000 shelving locations, as well as a bulk storage area. There is also enough room for further expansion.

The Chennai-based company is an end-to-end supply chain solutions provider for global brands in IT and non-IT verticals. It distributes products for companies such as Nokia, LG, Whirlpool, Microsoft (Xbox) and Apple (iPod). The products it distributes come in very small (Belkin – 6 gm) to very large (digital printing machine – 6 tonnes) sizes.

The company handles over 100 tonnes of products a month out of Chennai and 600 tonnes across the country.

According to its President, Consumer and Digital Products Division, Mr E.H. Kasturi Rangan, construction of new ADCs in Delhi and Kolkata is expected to commence shortly. In Mumbai, Redington is in the process of acquiring land. The ADCs in metros will act as the mother warehouses to feed smaller centres in various regions. The company has over 60 warehouses across the country.

Redington also plans to put up an ADC at Dubai’s Jebel Ali Free Trade Zone.

More Stories on : Supply Chain Management | Storage | Tamil Nadu | Consumer Electronics

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