Vauxhall's Luton Parts Distribution Centre Celebrates 50Th Birthday
September 26, 2017 by Vauxhall•Staff celebrate with a gold wrapped truck and a visit from England legend Bryan Robson •55,000 stocked parts and source warehouse for the Vivaro van plant in Luton •Output of 20,000 units per day, worth £1 million, to the UK, Ireland and Europe Luton – Employees at Vauxhall's Parts Distribution Centre in Luton, Bedfordshire celebrated the 50th anniversary of its opening with a specially-designed gold wrapped truck and a visit from England legend Bryan Robson. Situated on a 70 acre site in North Luton, the one million square foot facility was one of the largest in the UK when it opened in September 1967. Approximately 200 people are employed on site across two shifts. The warehouse holds 55,000 stocked parts and is the source warehouse for the Vivaro van that is built eight miles away, and all right hand drive specific parts. It also has access to a further 200,000 parts from the company's central warehouse in Bochum, Germany. On average, the Luton warehouse has an output of 20,000 units per day, worth £1 million, mainly to the UK and Ireland. There have been many changes since the warehouse opened 50 years ago. Back then stock was ordered by retailers on a weekly basis and took a week to deliver via van, truck, rail or even plane. Where rolls of paper and order tickets were used in the 1960's, warehouse operatives now use handheld computer units that interface with the warehouse management system SILO. An investment of £1.2 million was made by Vauxhall to develop SILO. It handles all in-bound orders, then creates workloads for the operatives. Only trucks are used now with stock being delivered as soon as the next day to 380 Vauxhall retailers nationwide and in Ireland. European export accounts for 5 per cent of orders.
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The warehouse is much leaner than in the 1960's with less stock and a smaller workforce that is much more efficient. Fast moving parts are grouped together so operatives and fork lift truck drivers can pick them quickly. One of the biggest transformations in the last 50 years is the new A5-M1 link road (Dunstable northern bypass) and new M1 junction 11A that the warehouse has direct access to, helping further speed up delivery times. Vauxhall/Opel also opened the doors to its new pan-European Customer Contact Centre on the same site last year, creating 300 new jobs in Luton and the surrounding area and raising the bar for customer service and retailer support. It supports 33 countries with state-of-the-art facilities, enabling agents to deliver a world-class service to customers. For Vauxhall retailers, advisers offer advice about vehicle diagnosis, field reports and order tracking. 'It's always been a secure, reliable job and you get to work alongside a fantastic set of colleagues,' said warehouse operative Colin Frasi who has over 40 years' service at the distribution centre. 'You could say the workforce is almost like a family and in some respects, it is – my father worked here before I did and I know other colleagues have family with them too. 'During the 40 odd years I've worked at the warehouse, I'd say the more long-lasting changes are in how everything within the site is laid out, with working areas in different places and racking having been moved around. 'Another difference is in the parts themselves. We used to do much more work surrounding commercial vehicles, for example Bedford trucks, whereas now it's a bit of everything.' Vauxhall marked the occasion with a gold wrapped truck in association with its logistics partner XPO Logistics and a visit from former England captain Bryan Robson. The Manchester United legend's visit was related to Vauxhall's Home Nations Football Sponsorship. Robson played 90 times for his country, scoring 26 goals. Employees celebrated with an extended lunch break and buffet. They were also provided with new work wear featuring a badge commemorating the 50th Anniversary. 'We are delighted to reach the 50 year milestone here at the Luton Distribution Centre,' said Peter Durham, Warehouse Operations Manager. 'Many of our employees have been with us for over 20 years and all bring key experience and insight every day, supporting our ambition to be the best warehouse in Europe for our new owners PSA.' 'We have a long standing relationship with the Vauxhall team, during which time we've been responsible for moving millions of car and van parts from Luton to hundreds of destinations across the UK,' said XPO's managing director transport Europe, Luis Gomez. 'We're delighted to participate in the celebrations with our bespoke gold truck, and extend our congratulations to the team in Luton on this significant anniversary.'
