High Praise for Arco's £30m National Distribution Centre Extension

The UK's leading safety company, Arco, has been highly commended by SHD Logistics in their "New Facility Award". Following a £30 million investment to extend its National Distribution Centre (NDC), Arco has supplied PPE to the NHS, front line responders and critical industries throughout the pandemic.

The scale of its response to the COVID-19 crisis has been facilitated by its NDC extension which has trebled Arco's storage capacity with an additional area of 220,000 square feet in size and standing at an impressive 22 metres high. The investment will ensure that Arco can future proof its commitment to customers through improved logistical and storage capabilities and meet its ambitious growth plans.

Arco reviewed its supply chain strategy to ensure it could meet its customers' evolving service requirements and have the capacity to meet demand. Cost and service analysis led to the extension of the existing NDC to increase pallet storage capacity, and a £22m investment was approved for the build and £8m for the internal fit-out. The build of Arco's new extension, known as NDC2, began in March 2018. The extension supported £4m worth of investment in 2016 to Arco's original facility which doubled the number of packing benches alongside software and conveyor system updates. The resulting increase in picking and packing capability improved the throughput capacity and enhanced Arco's capabilities to meet next day deliveries.

Now completed, the NDC and extension have a combined floor space of 400,000 square feet. The extension can hold 40,000 pallets and is the company's main storage facility with bespoke racking commissioned to accommodate larger products. To easily and efficiently manage product movement between the two buildings, Arco introduced a new replenishment conveyor system. Today, 2.7km of conveyor carry products around the building.

To support Arco's sustainability vision, natural daylight illuminates the facility and daylight harvesting LED lights activate when needed, limiting electricity usage.

Planned Go Live and COVID-19

To deliver a seamless transition and mitigate risks of day-to-day operations and customer service, the transition to the new building was planned to take a phased approach, with stock being transferred from the third party providers by June 2020.

However, on March 11th 2020, the World Health Organisation declared the COVID-19 outbreak a global pandemic, 12 days later the UK went into lockdown. Arco responded quickly, with the new facility providing immediate capacity, becoming involved in the procurement, stocking and distribution of over 140m face masks, 18m gloves, over 0.5m coveralls and 0.5m hygiene products, including hand sanitiser.

Arco became a key supplier to the NHS, ambulance services, local authorities, other public health bodies and critical industries such as food supply. The logistics team doubled the size of the nightshift, moving from 24/5 to 24/7 operation. This was achieved within 48 hours under strict control measures: social distancing, increased cleaning regimes and 30-minute gaps between shifts to reduce exposure and contact. In the first 12 months of its NDC expansion being operational, Arco has delivered 52,194 pallets and just under 2 million parcels across the UK and Ireland.

The teams involved in the operations were recognised earlier in the year by Safety and Health Practitioner for their COVID response and work to raise safety standards across the UK. Arco was awarded SHP's prestigious "Most Influential Team in Health and Safety" award.

Arco is delighted to have its National Distribution Centre praised by SHD Logistics, achieving Second Place in the highly competitive "New Facility" award category.

Neil Griffiths, Divisional Director of Logistics, said:

"To have our logistical, supply chain and distribution expertise validated by such a credible body is wonderful. We're incredibly proud of what we've achieved over the last 14 months. Our NDC extension and the expert team have enabled us to make a significant contribution to support the UK supply chain with critical safety equipment throughout the pandemic. Our thanks to SHD Logistics for recognising us in the New Facility award category and highly commending the work we do to keep people safe."