Munro Footwear Group has committed to a new $50 million distribution centre in the $600 million MidWest Logistics hub in Truganina, Victoria.
The site is owned by Charter Hall’s flagship $8.3 billion Charter Hall Prime Industrial Fund (CPIF) and is located at Founders Place in Melbourne's west.
The move comes after Munro and supply chain and property consultancy TMX undertook a comprehensive review of its warehouse and distribution functions.
The move to the Truganina site from its current space in Thornbury will see Munro optimise, integrate and consolidate its domestic supply chain into a new purpose-built 26,354 sqm national DC for its in-store and online operations, on a total site area of 49,815 sqm.
"We are on a strong growth trajectory and have made a major investment in optimising our supply chain operations to support our increasing in-store and online sales," Munro Footwear Group (MFG) chief operating officer Marcus Bartlett said.
"This new facility is a key initiative in our multi-year growth plan to expand our business, optimise our customer experience and strengthen our distribution capability, particularly to support online sales," he said.
The new site will feature Autonomous Mobile Robot (AMR) solutions with a capacity to store over 1.2 million units.
The AMRs will allow MFG to absorb volumes currently supported by external third-party logistics providers.
The AMRs will also increase picking speed and accuracy, streamlining productivity and efficiency in operations, while reducing lead times to customers.
The new facility will assist in optimising inventory levels, integration with transport carriers and enhancing customer experience across the group’s 260 stores and the 11 eCommerce sites, which MFG states have been growing at 25% per annum.
The site has also been designed to achieve a minimum five-star Green Star rating.
Charter Hall head of development, industrial and logistics Andrew Simons welcomed MFG to the portfolio.
"We are pleased to welcome the Munro Footwear team to our growing portfolio, securing for them an outstanding new facility that provides premium access to distribution channels including the Port of Melbourne.
"The integration of leading-edge technology and AMR solutions will ensure the facility delivers exceptional supply chain efficiencies and productivity for Munro’s customers," he said.
MFG will join existing tenant customers including Coles, Uniqlo, Toll, Ingham’s, Encore Tissue and Bridgestone at MidWest Logistics Hub.
TMX director Sam Dellios added that MFG's new site will greatly benefit the business' retail and eCommerce operations.
"This new facility will have one of the largest AMR goods-to-person deployments in Australia and is an exciting milestone for Munro.
"Munro has gone through a major boost in sales from the recent retail explosion, so our team has designed this new facility to flexibly support Munro’s dynamic growth from both in-store and online sales," he said.
The site is expected to be operational in the second half of 2022.