Every company and every market is different. This is reflected in the layout of your warehouse.
Our warehousing experts are available to offer tailor-made advice.50
Harris Farm Markets opened its first store in 1971 with a focus on working with small suppliers who provide high-quality fresh produce. Founded by David and Cathy Harris, the company remains family owned to this day and currently employs around 3,000 people. It operates 35 stores in New South Wales, Queensland and Australian Capital Territory (ACT) – all serviced by the 17,000 m2 warehouse, located in the Sydney suburb of Greystanes.
“The business has always been focused on fruit and veg – that’s our heart and soul,” says Angus Harris, co-CEO of Harris Farm Markets. “Nevertheless, the grocery and meat side of the business has grown dramatically over the past 25 years.”
Servicing stockless operations
With the company expanding its offer to consumers, thoughts turned to how best to ensure the smooth flow of goods to stores. The first step was to build the new warehouse, which consolidates the functions of several older facilities.
“Up until four or five years ago, we didn’t even run a grocery distribution business, we had someone else doing it for us and it was mainly direct to store,” says Angus. “The opening of this warehouse is mainly to enable the growth of that side of the business, which is expanding rapidly.”
The company’s focus soon turned to equipping the facility with automation that would enable stockless operations and move goods quickly to stores. The challenge for Harris Farm Markets is that it deals with many smaller producers, from those delivering goods by car up to semi-trailers.
“Our produce range crosses over with major supermarkets only in about 10% of what we sell, and it’s mostly family concerns who deliver to us once a week,” explains Angus. “Goods come in and go straight out, and we have a lot of what we call rainbow deliveries, with perhaps ten different products on one pallet.”
Finding a way to facilitate those all-important stockless operations in an efficient manner was therefore top of the agenda for Harris Farm Markets as it set about finding an automation partner. “We looked at a number of different options as we went through the tender process,” says Angus.
“We selected the Vanderlande system, because it did exactly what we required, which is to provide an efficient way of being able to receive those rainbow pallets and split them up for distribution to our stores. Additionally, the return on investment appeared far greater with the Vanderlande solution than the others we looked at.”
A boost to capacity
As the system got up and running, the Harris Farm Markets’ team enjoyed a pleasant surprise – they could see space on the warehouse floor! Much of this is down to the POSISORTER, which is known for its high capacity and availability, as well as its ability to deal with a wide range of case types. It also handles products gently, which makes it an ideal choice for moving delicate stock, such as fruit and vegetables.
“Before automation, there were products everywhere – and we were running behind,” explains Angus. “It’s important that our products don’t sit too long in the warehouse, because one or two days makes a difference when dealing with fresh items. So, the short-term impact of the new automation has been to get those items to store more quickly.”
Providing for the future
According to Angus, Vanderlande’s solution also frees up the warehouse to become more adaptable in the way it serves the overall business. “We’ve already got a game plan for using this centre as a hub for the future. We are looking at ways to supply products to our satellite sites more efficiently, and as we grow in Queensland and ACT we’ll look to automate those warehouses as well.”
In addition, Angus believes the automation will help the company navigate the next 15 years of growth by covering the capacity required to open at least another ten stores. The automated solution provided by Vanderlande, which includes enhanced tracking and tracing, is a step up from the previous manual process, which centred around using hand scanners.
“Human error has dropped dramatically, because the system is quick, exact and safe,” adds Angus. “Everyone loves the fact that we can get through the day’s orders in full, and stock is rarely carried over.”
Building a strong partnership
The warehouse team has been delighted with the support they received from Vanderlande during the design and implementation phases. “I would definitely describe it as a strong partnership, and Vanderlande provides a service that is above and beyond,” explains Angus.
“Their people helped us put the system in when we were wearing our training wheels. And if there are any issues going forward, we know that they’ve got our backs and they’ll do whatever they can to help us.”