The UK MoD opened up a new military support hub last year to support UK force operations.
A recent article on the UK MoD website highlighted the development.
Defence Minister Stuart Andrew visited the £83 million Defence Fulfilment Centre (DFC) after touring the armoury and current logistic facilities on-site at MOD Donnington. The 80,000 square-metre centre, due to be fully operational in 2019, is the size of ten football pitches and will streamline distribution and storage.
It is set to deliver over £300 million worth of savings by 2028 by streamlining the way storage and distribution is delivered and restructuring the way contract negotiations are conducted for commodities.
With two warehouses and a support building, it will be a central hub for storage and distribution of defence’s £30 billion inventory, including spare parts, food, clothing, and medical supplies.
Defence Minister Stuart Andrew said:
“We’ve invested over £80m in this enormous Shropshire centre as we are determined to ensure our personnel have everything they need, from batteries to boots, wherever they are in the world. This hub will have a transformative impact on our troops once it is fully up and running next year, putting a truly state-of-the-art supply network at the fingertips of our brave men and women on the frontline.”
The DFC is part of the Logistics Commodities and Services Transformation programme. In April 2015 the MOD signed a 13-year contract, worth approximately £6.7 billion, with Team Leidos to run the storage, distribution and commodity procurement functions formerly performed by the Logistics Commodities and Services Operating Centre.
Alongside special environmental storage, the DFC’s automated storage and retrieval system will be capable of picking more than 1,000 items an hour.
Roger West, Director Logistics Delivery at DE&S, said:
“It was a privilege to welcome the Minister to MOD Donnington and accompany him on a tour of the site and the Defence Fulfilment Centre.
“The DFC will make a significant contribution to us providing better, more efficient, storage, distribution and commodity procurement services for our armed forces.
“The delivery of this facility is testament to the excellent relationship between DE&S and our delivery partner Team Leidos.”
DFC is managed by Kuehne + Nagel on behalf of Team Leidos, and will use new warehouse management systems to maximise value for money and manage the complex supply chains of the 21st Century seamlessly.
Matt Wiles, Vice President Leidos UK, said:
“It was an honour to welcome the Minister on behalf of Team Leidos to the Defence Fulfilment Centre (DFC).
“Following the DFC’s official opening in April 2017, we have successfully installed and integrated new information systems with the MOD’s and started an 18-month programme to re-locate much of the MOD’s stock holdings into the new facility.
“When fully operational, the DFC operated by Kuehne & Nagel on behalf of Team Leidos, will help deliver a modern agile, responsive and modern supply chain to the MOD at significantly better value for money.”
Further details were provided in a story published at the time of the opening of the hub in the Shropshire Star (April 5, 2017):
An £83 million supply centre in Telford has been opened, with ministers claiming it could help drive £500 million of military spending over the next decade.
Defence Procurement Minister Harriett Baldwin unveiled a plaque to mark the completion of work on the new Defence Fulfilment Centre for the Ministry of Defence in Donnington.
American company Leidos was awarded a 13-year contract worth about £6.7 billion to run the Ministry of Defence’s storage, distribution and commodity buying operations in April 2015.
The first turf was cut on the state-of-the-art logistics warehouse off Hortonwood 50 later that year, and the Minister visited to mark the end of work on the two cavernous warehouses.
She said: “This means we are bringing 21st century logistics into 21st century military campaigns.
“There has been no military campaign in history that hasn’t been won based on how well we supply an armed force.
“It’s an incredibly important hub. Leidos have done a lot of analysis which shows it is a great location. We want to ensure the supply lines are short and efficient and we have an automated process that picks things quickly and ensures the armed forces get what they need very quickly.”
She added that the savings generated via the site, which will employ about 200 people and will use automated systems to deliver goods to the front-line, will be reinvested in the UK military.
“We expect this to lead to savings of £500 million in terms of logistics costs in the next decade,” Ms Baldwin said.
“People should notice things coming through more quickly, and more efficiently, and they should notice that the process of asking for those things is more straightforward and that they are being equipped with more equipment because the savings generated are being invested in more ships, more vehicles, more planes for our armed forces.”
She added: “Obviously for the local area there has been economic benefit in the jobs created in building this facility.
“Now that it has been completed it will also bring jobs, with people relocated from other parts of the supply chain for the armed forces, moving to Team Leidos as part of this.
“That brings new people to the area, their families, their spending, their salaries. It’s good for this part of the world, but this is also good for our armed forces.”
The 80,000 sq ft centre is the size of 10 football pitches, and came to Telford after a significant campaign by Telford & Wrekin Council. The storage and retrieval system put in place is able to pick more than 1,000 items per hour from the huge racking around the warehouses…..