Sainsbury’s Distribution Centre visit

Here is my thought about the Sainsbury’s warehouse visit with the full time Logisitics Supply Chain Management MSc 2020 cohort:

The things that really impressed me were:

The way how DHL and Sainsbury work together. It is true that the technology they use is advanced, especially the automation system. But in my opinion, technology is not the key factor, their management philosophy, collaboration and R&D capabilities are more important.

The functioning of the warehouse is also impressive. Traditionally, the warehouse is used to deal with the bulk deliveries, receive the loads from the manufacturers, store the products and then pick and send smaller quantities to the retailer stores.

I think Sainsbury and DHL have redefined warehouse, they also use it to manage e-commerce orders. In this way, the lead time will be shortened, and the cost will be reduced. I believe this is a big progression, as it changes the traditional warehouse to a more complex operation.

I also observed the information integration during the visit, all the orders or demands from stores or customers are already collected and analyzed before the products arrived. That’s why the automation system can run smoothly. Y