Huge new warehouse in Wolverhampton now up and running as parts firm takes aim at 'Premier League'

The aftermarket parts distributor saw plans to open a 500,000 square ft national distribution centre near Wolverhampton come to fruition as all of its near 200 nationwide branches began to receive deliveries from the new building.

The firm has been bringing the site up to full capacity since it moved in in May this year, with office space and an advanced logistics operation now fully operational, , alongside nearly 700 parking spaces for cars and HGVs combined.

Around 400 jobs have been created by the opening of the site already, with the firm set to recruit to a further 200 positions as it expands over the next 12 months.

Now, GSF Chief Executive Steve Horne says the company is set to take on the industry's big boys after what he described as a "game changing" development for the firm.

"We're moving GSF from the Championship and into the Premier League and now into a position where we're fighting for the title," he said.

"I still look back to when we got the keys to this place in may, we started moving equipment around in June and as of now all 194 branches are served from here. The team have done a phenomenal job to get here and it's all absolutely on the plan that we set out 12 months ago.

"It's not an automated environment, it's a manual environment that's fit for purpose and it will provide maximum availability and accuracy to the branches that they can give to the customers.

"We're making quite a noise out there and I don't think anyone really knows what to do with us. But I'm not focussed on the competition, my focus is on making GSF the best we can be and we do that by serving the customers very, very well."

The move is part of plans to ramp up operations at the Sutton Coldfield headquartered company, which has seen them invest more than £100m this year alone, with the new distribution centre considered a key component of the firms future growth as it targets becoming the number one player in the aftermarket car parts sector.

GSF has around 195 branches across the country and employs about 3,000 people.

The company has invested heavily in computer equipment and its delivery fleet, and also launched a new e-commerce platform earlier this week which is says will give it a platform to scale up.

"One of the things we knew we had to do was invest heavily in GSF, to drive that growth and if we wanted to compete in the top league we needed to really accelerate those investments. But all our investments have been really considered and focussed in delivering the best service to the customers that we can do," he added.

"This year we will have invested over £100m, and that's not just a made up number, that's a fact. That's what we've put into the business to what we call 'supercharge' GSF for where we want it to go.

"We all know, the number one decision making criteria for the customer is 'have you got it?' so you've got the have the produce on the shelf. To get to a good standard we've had to put £30m into the network and I believe that's probably one of the single biggest factors why we've got the kind of growth that we've got."