Jaycar Electronics doubles output and storage volume with automation

Major Australian and New Zealand (ANZ) electronics retailer and e-tailer Jaycar Group has celebrated moving to full production with a new Swisslog warehouse automation solution. The new 25.5-metre-high distribution centre (DC) in Eastern Creek, Sydney, is larger than the Sydney Cricket Ground at 21,595 m² and greatly increases Jaycar’s storage and output within the same footprint as the previous warehouse.

“This was a significant decision, showing the family’s confidence in the future growth opportunities across ANZ for the business by the founder, Gary Johnston, and Chair, Kerry Johnston,” said Justin Mackedie, Chief Supply Chain Officer, Electus Distribution, which is the entity responsible for warehousing, distribution, stock and servicing for Jaycar. “We’re doubling our volume within the same warehouse space, which is even more important with industrial land prices continuing to rise in Sydney and major cities.”

Jaycar Electronics Group is a leading Australian and New Zealand retailer of electronics, leisure and related products, with a network of more than 326 company reseller stockist stores across ANZ.

The new Swisslog automated warehouse includes a 20,000-pallet-capacity, multi-deep automated pallet store, with a fully automated 24,000 tote and carton goods-to-person picking system, with the capacity to facilitate future expansion.

“The warehouse is performing exceptionally well, and Jaycar is achieving 99.7% DIFOT (delivered in full on time) on orders,” said Mackedie. “Swisslog was chosen for this project because it was able to provide a complete end-to-end solution that was tailored to Jaycar’s needs. One of those needs was the ability to expand in line with our planned second phase of expansion in the years ahead.

“Swisslog was integrally involved in the DC design, which meant it was designed with a view to further increases in throughput and storage as Jaycar continues to expand its operations.

“Utilising Swisslog’s Vectura crane multi-deep pallet storage system, we can store pallets seven deep instead of the typical one or two, which means we can achieve about a 30% increase in storage per square metre of warehouse space,” he added.

Swisslog Managing Director, Australia and New Zealand, Dan Ulmamei said Swisslog’s methodology of working collaboratively with its customers was crucial to the success of this project where the Swisslog and Jaycar teams worked together on remote commissioning and testing during times with COVID restrictions in place.

Swisslog is also responsible for service and maintenance of all the mechanical equipment, as well as the SynQ software that provides a warehouse management system (WMS) to control the automation.

Jaycar said its automated warehouse solution is designed with optimum safety and ergonomics in mind.

“It was important to me that the solution came with ergonomic workstations, because comfortable workers are more productive — and it’s also the right thing to do, to take care of worker health and safety,” Mackedie said. “With an automated warehouse there are also less manual interactions between machines and people, which also reduces risks of injuries and other safety hazards.”