Big extension for Unilever warehouse is jobs booster

A multi-million pound investment extending a warehouse for Unilever goods has created 75 new jobs in Cannock, bosses have revealed.

The big automated warehouse at Kingswood Lakeside handles distribution of Unilever's Homecare and Ambient Food ranges, including Marmite, Hellmann's Mayonnaise, Colman's Mustard, Pot Noodle and Pg Tips. Homecare lines distributed from the extended warehouse across the UK include Persil, Domestos, Comfort and Surf.

The original 131,233sq ft by 100ft high warehouse opened in 2006. It cost £50 million and created 200 jobs.

The 18,000sq ft extension was officially opened last week.

The 21-month project has provided an extra 22,000 pallet spaces for the high bay warehouse, operated by DHL Supply Chain, which is now capable of housing more than 100,000 pallets.

Equipped

The project has also involved an automatic vehicle offloading area, an upgrade to the information technology infrastructure and created 75 new jobs to operate the enlarged facility.

The warehouse is equipped with conveyors, elevators, goods-in and dispatch areas

Graham Inglis, DHL Supply Chain's chief executive for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said: "We're delighted to be extending our partnership with Unilever. Having operated the Cannock operation since 2005, we were always mindful of the site's potential to accommodate more capacity and it's exciting to see this come to fruition.

"With the enlarged Cannock operation we are looking forward to delivering even greater levels of service for Unilever going forward."

Bringing two of Unilever's product categories under one roof allows customers to order and receive cross-category deliveries, bringing greater efficiencies for the customer and taking trucks off the road.

The extension was opened by Mr Inglis and Amanda Sourry, chairwoman of Unilever UK and Ireland

DHL is the global market leader in the logistics industry and has more than 275,000 employees in 220 countries.