Tesco Lotus opens centre in South

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Tesco Lotus opens centre in South
KWANCHAI RUNGFAPAISARN
THE NATION
SURAT THANI



NEW DISTRIBUTION FACILITY IN SURAT THANI TO SERVE 200 OUTLETS AND LIFT LOCAL ECONOMY

SURAT THANI: -- Tesco Lotus has opened a regional distribution centre in Surat Thani, it's second in the country, to serve more than 200 Tesco Lotus hypermarkets and Express stores in the South.

The first regional distribution centre was opened in Khon Kaen last year to serve 400 Tesco Lotus hypermarkets and Express stores in the Northeastern region.

Monchai Intarapornudom, distribution director at Tesco Lotus, said the Surat Thani centre would efficiently and quickly bring products to Tesco Lotus customers throughout the South, while promoting growth of the local economy.

"The opening of our regional distribution centre in Surat Thani is another significant milestone in our continued efforts to elevate the quality of the products and services we offer to our customers," said Monchai.

The company has launched a new partnership model with key suppliers to enhance quality and freshness. The new model is aimed at encouraging infrastructure sharing, enhancing greater efficiency and avoiding unnecessary investment.

It will allow individual vendors to lease space at the distribution centre so they can distribute products to all Tesco Lotus stores around the country from one spot.

Monchai said the centre, worth an investment of Bt2.5 billion, would generate 800 jobs, most of which will be filled by people in the surrounding areas. In addition to the direct employment, the centre will allow local SMEs that don't have the capacity to transport their products to central distribution centres to send their goods to one regional location to give them access to Tesco Lotus customers in the South and throughout the country. The centre will also help small vendors and suppliers save on long distance transportation costs.

Monchai said Tesco Lotus was considering opening another regional distribution centre in the North of Thailand in the next five years. The company is in the process of deciding on a potential location, which will either be Chiang Mai or Lampang.

The new regional distribution centre in Surat Thani is one of the most advanced and energy-efficient in Thailand. With a service area of 55,000 square metres, the centre is located on 190 rai of land in Punpin district. It is one of only a few fully integrated distribution centres in the modern retail sector that can store fresh and ambient products under the same roof, Monchai said.

Products are stored in temperature-controlled chambers at minus 21 degrees Celsius for frozen foods, 1 degree Celsius for dairy products and meat, 12 degrees Celsius for fruit and vegetables and 20 degrees Celsius for bread and bakery products. This ensures optimum quality of fresh produce until it reaches the hands of customers. Dry groceries and non-food products are stored at room temperature. The distribution centre has the capacity to handle 30,000 pallets and 3.5 million packs.

The centre is one of the most energy-efficient in Thailand, using green innovations and energy-saving technology including motion sensor LED lighting, hot water generated by coolers for basket washing, ceiling fans that work with natural wind directions to ventilate the room-temperature storage area, double doors preventing air conditioning leakage, floor insulation to cool down the rooms, and voltage stabilisers to regulate electrical currents and enhance the efficiency of electrical equipment.

The regional distribution centre will save approximately 400,000 kilometres of transportation per week, which equates to an equivalent of 270 kilograms per week, or 14 tonnes per month of carbon emissions. The distribution centre will serve almost 190 existing Tesco Lotus stores, as well as future stores, in 14 provinces across southern Thailand.

Built for the future, the centre has the capacity to lease out storage space to Tesco Lotus's vendors, suppliers and partners to use as their own distribution space for southern Thailand, avoiding unnecessary investments in infrastructure and distribution centre management. One such partner is DKSH, the leading Market Expansion Services provider with a focus on Asia, which currently leases approximately 5,145 square metres at the distribution centre, to enhance the efficiency of its services and its ability to better serve its customers.

Tesco Lotus has also partnered with Pran Fresh, the retailer's strategic distributor of fresh produce from direct sourcing.

Pran Fresh has rented 600 square metres in the distribution centre's 12 degrees Celsius room to operate on-site, from receiving goods from growers, cutting, cleaning, and packing the products in a controlled environment, a process which takes approximately 2-4 hours. The finished products are then transferred to a dedicated area before being distributed to Tesco Lotus stores in the South.

More than 33 tonnes per week of 150 items of fresh produce is currently sourced, stored, cleaned, packed and distributed from the centre, generating daily revenue of Bt250,000 for growers and workers. Tesco Lotus is in the process of directly sourcing additional produce from more local farms, such as the Baan Pee Ya project in Pattani province, and other farmers in provinces such as Nakhon Si Thammarat. The company directly sources 50-60 million tonnes of fresh fruits and vegetables from Thai farmers every year.

Tesco Lotus operates five other distribution centres in Wang Noi, Bangbuathong, Sam Khok, Lamlukka and Khon Kaen to service almost 1,800 Tesco Lotus stores around Thailand.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Tesco-Lotus-opens-centre-in-South-30270164.html


-- The Nation 2015-10-05

[BSJ]

Can we consider this as Spam.....and not in a can? Or does it qualify as junk news?

[SamuiRes]

One can only hope this will improve the appalling supply chain to Tesco in Samui. On Saturday the fresh food bins were virtually empty and not for the first time. Dry food stocks regularly run out and a product available one week is not available the next week or sometimes for weeks afterwards.

[JDGRUEN]

One can only hope this will improve the appalling supply chain to Tesco in Samui. On Saturday the fresh food bins were virtually empty and not for the first time. Dry food stocks regularly run out and a product available one week is not available the next week or sometimes for weeks afterwards.

Ditto - Ao Nang, Krabi ... only a bit worse here I think... Not one block of real cheese in 9 months - NONE. My list is long ...

[bangon04]

Monchai said the centre, worth an investment of Bt2.5 billion, would generate 800 jobs,

what happened to the story a while ago that Tesco was thinking about shrinking its exposure in Thailand and other countries???

[car720]

Well at least it is not Target with its bullseye logo.

Though it amounts to about the same.