Foodstuffs South Island set to open new $28m automated frozen distribution centre
Foodstuffs South Island’s new $28m automated frozen distribution centre. Photo / George Heard
“It’s a giant pallet hotel,” says Foodstuffs South Island’s Kris Lancaster, entering the yet-to-be-chilled new $28 million automated frozen distribution centre at Hornby.
He is showing off the new, almost-finished frozen distribution centre, which is to increase capacity 222% from the existing 2800 pallets of food stored at the headquarters to a massive 6240 pallets.
Mainlanders’ ice cream, french fries, hash browns, frozen vegetables and berries will be housed here before being trucked to Pak’nSave, New World and Four Square supermarkets.
Pallets will be stacked 15m high in the 17.2m-high building designed and built by Apollo Projects on the wider 35ha site where the business has its South Island headquarters.
The quarter of a hectare or 2300sq m building off Hickory Pl is expected to meet the needs of Foodstuffs for frozen food for the next 25 to 30 years, Lancaster said.
“The frozen category is growing, particularly after Covid and with more innovation and finished meals,” he said.
But it’s not just today’s needs that are planned to be met.
“An expanded freezer capacity allows us to manage future business growth,” he said.
Foodstuffs South Island’s current frozen capacity at its existing Hornby warehouse is 2800 pallets, but the new centre will boost it to 6240 pallets.
Lancaster, general supply chain general manager, and inbound and cross dock manager Jarryn Wells took the Herald on a tour of the new warehouse, where racks are already installed and finishing works are underway.
Automation within the new centre is via a crane and shuttle technology and Lancaster said that at night, goods would continue to be moved around to make it easier to get items faster during the day.
Storage and retrieval of food has been designed to save space and time, and cut the number of staff needed in freezing conditions within the warehouse.
The crane and shuttle technology is from Italy and PHS Innovate installed it. Two automated cranes will store and fetch the many pallets.
Dedicated picking and staging zones have been designed to make moving all the goods easier.
The new warehouse will gradually be chilled to -22 degrees, ready for its August opening but protecting its big concrete floor means that has to happen over many days, Lancaster said.
Trucks will dock in a sealed area with airlocks to ensure windscreens do not suddenly ice up.
Oxygen levels in the warehouse will be lowered as a fire-prevention measure.
Fire sprinkler systems cannot operate in such cold buildings so a hypoxic solution has been designed to cut oxygen levels.
That is an attempt to proactively prevent fires because ignition is reduced when oxygen levels are lowered.
Four diesel generators have been installed in case of power cuts and 340 solar roof panels of 150kw will be installed to boost supply.
Capacity will be expanded so much that the warehouse will also be able to house frozen stock from exterior suppliers, which Lancaster referred to as third-party warehousing.
“This gives us the ability to increase vendor stock holding opportunities,” he said.
Foodstuffs South Island new frozen distribution centre
- Project started May 2023;
- Site works started last March 2024;
- Project value: $28m;
- Size of site: 2587sq m;
- Height of building: 17.2m;
- Current frozen capacity: 2800 pallets;
- New frozen capacity: 6240 pallets;
- Concrete slab: 2300sq m;
- Two automated cranes;
- 340 solar panels of 150kw
- Design and construction: Apollo Projects;
- Automation installation by PHS Innovate;
- Opens August 21.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 25 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas. She visited the warehouse courtesy of Foodstuffs South Island.