My visit to the John Lewis warehouse

As a Logistics and Supply Chain MSc student at Cranfield, I recently had the opportunity to visit the John Lewis warehouse at Magna Park, which is a world-famous warehouse. The company has been a game-changer in terms of retail solutions. The biggest highlight of the visit was learning about how they have automated their processes and combined with omni-channel. Whilst at the warehouse we had the chance to find out about the history of the organisation and how they have developed their warehouse over the last 10 years which I found very insightful.

We learnt how they have used technology and how they have used automation throughout the warehouse. In our Warehousing module we learnt about the different types of machines and about how they are used. By going to the John Lewis warehouse we were able to gain a deeper understanding of what we have learned so far and to see it in practice. It was great to have the opportunity to see the knowledge we had learned put into practice. In our Warehousing module we have been tasked with creating a warehouse, so by going on this warehouse visit it has given us an understanding of how we can do it.

For me the most interesting part was learning about automation within the warehouse and to understand their aims for the business.

Whilst we were at the John Lewis warehouse we were fortunate to meet Marcus, International Development Manager and an alumnus of the programme at Cranfield. Whilst we were there he gave us some advice for the rest of our studies at Cranfield. The biggest piece of advice he gave us was to network. He mentioned that networking is imperative during our studies and to make the most of the advice we are given by our lecturers. He also advised us to dedicate as much time and effort as we can to our thesis project.