Cert drinks network has opened a new 235,000 sq ft bonded distribution centre in Lutterworth, Leicestershire. The new facility will act as a national hub for the delivery of leading drinks brands across the UK to the major retail outlets and wholesalers.
As well as storing drinks products for a range of customers, Lutterworth will operate as the central distribution point of the network’s consolidation delivery service which currently handles over 32 million cases of drinks per annum and makes more than 800 deliveries per day to end customers.
Shadow trade & industry minister, Alan Duncan MP, officially opened the site on 21 July 2006, said that the growth of the food and drink industry across the UK has meant drinks manufacturers require a highly responsive and on-demand supply chain to compete effectively in what is a highly lucrative marketplace.
Jeff Stanton, chief executive of the Cert group, said: “Lutterworth brings the Cert drinks network’s capacity in Leicestershire to over 500,000 sq ft of storage space and provides a modern, strategically located hub from which, in a highly pressurised trading environment, we can offer optimum speed to market for our customers’ goods.”
The Cert drinks network has recruited a team of 70 people to manage operations at the site. The Cert group says that it is looking to increase the volume of drinks it manages from 35m to 50m cases by the end of 2006, with the Cert drinks network aiming to handle some 40m cases by the end of the year end.
