PepsiCo's newest central warehouse located in the P3 Mszczonów park is not only the largest warehouse of the PepsiCo’s distribution network but also the largest facility of this type completed in Poland in Q1 2020. The cubic capacity of the warehouse is so large that if one wanted to fill the building up with cans of the brand's flagship drink, as many as 2 billion of them would be needed. The area of the facility is in excess of 58,000 m2 which enables storing about 60,000 pallets at any one time. Each day, about 5,000 pallets are moved out of the building and the same many pallets get moved in, arriving from the company's production facilities. After the consolidation of logistics processes, which used to be carried out in a few scattered locations, PepsiCo's central warehouse in P3 Mszczonów is already operating in full swing.
Pawel Poniedzielnik, Senior Logistics Manager at PepsiCo: "Over the course of the last few years, the implementation of the new central warehouse has been our strategic project, and a pivotal element of the modernisation of the finished product storage system in Poland. Thanks to the fact that the P3 park handed the facility over to us within the framework of the agreed timetable, we had enough time to move to it the pre planned scale of our operations and to be able to operate effectively and without interruptions in the difficult time of the pandemic. Currently, as much as over 85% of the target operations are already conducted in Mszczonów. The consolidation of various processes, which until recently were carried out in other dispersed facilities, has proven an excellent decision, and also a great success in this demanding time.”
The construction process of the PepsiCo's central warehouse began in May 2019 and lasted eight months. The height of the building right up to the base of the roof structure is 12 m, which enables easy storage of goods whose height is up to 11.5 m. The P3 park has comprehensively adapted the building to the client's needs and its logistics operations. The building has got 103 docks for loading/unloading of goods, including four "zero ramps”, and has got a 24-meter-deep column-free side zone which provides a good space for manoeuvres during loading or unloading operations. Additionally, the facility has been equipped with a QLoader system, which allows for automatic loading and unloading of pallets and thus significantly reduces the process time and minimizes the costs. Moreover, a number of innovative solutions have been applied inside the warehouse, including a fully automated device which enables foiling of post-production pallets as well as mobile and stationary wrapping machines to secure the stored goods.
Bartłomiej Hofman, Managing Director at P3 Logistic Parks in Poland: "For us as the developer, the implementation of the strategic PepsiCo’s warehouse has been a key investment, too. The unique scale of the project and its timetable were both demanding. However, thanks to the excellent cooperation of all the teams involved In the implementation of the facility, that is on the part of: P3, the general contractor - Kajima Poland, and our client, we have managed to hand over the warehouse for use as planned. We are so satisfied that the facility which we have enabled has passed the hard operational test in this extremely demanding time. Also, the fact that it was also the largest project in Poland to be completed in the first three months of this year is an additional reason for us to feel satisfied."
In its every project and at all stages of the supply chain, PepsiCo prioritises environmental aspects and aims to reduce the project’s carbon footprint. These values are also kept in high regard by P3 and have been important in the construction of the warehouse for PepsiCo at the P3 Mszczonów park. The construction of the facility uses panels with a PIR core, which provide the building with a more effective insulation from external factors. Also, solar panels for heating technical water have been installed on the roof of the warehouse, energy-saving LED lighting has been put in the building, and a fleet of almost 100 forklifts uses lithium-ion batteries which are “greener” than traditional acid batteries. In order to keep up with the PepsiCo's "zero waste" policy, all warehouse’s waste is segregated and the cleaning agents which are used are certified and environmentally friendly.
The operational processes in the PepsiCo’s warehouse in Mszczonów are managed by ID Logistics, that is an international operator which specializes in contract logistics.
Piotr Krasoń, Project Manager at the ID Logistics: "As a logistics operator, we are constantly seeking new technologies and solutions in order to support operations for our customers. We were involved in the design and construction phases of the PepsiCo’s central warehouse, which enabled designing it in such a way as to provide great flexibility and to implement new technologies. These solutions are, for example a fleet of forklifts which use lithium-ion batteries, autonomous forklifts, as well as those which use the so called "put to light" system, which relies on traffic lights to indicate places where the goods are stored. We have also implemented a voice picking system, and systems for delivery advice, dock management, and vehicle traffic management in the car park and the yard.”
Despite the high level of automation of the logistic processes, there is still a great number of them which, combined with the size of the facility, results in as many as 230 people employed in the warehouse. 52% of them are warehousemen, while 27% are forklift operators. The rest are those employed in administration and as supervisors. However, the dynamic development of the logistics centre and the constant increase in the number of logistic operations require further expanding of the staff numbers and hiring new employees.
P3 Mszczonów Park is located only 50 km away from Warsaw, direction south-west along the S8 expressway which leads from the capital city to the south of Poland. The A2 motorway, which connects the western and the eastern part of Poland, is also near, as is the A1 motorway running from south to north. The park's location on the S8 expressway enables reaching the centre of Warsaw in less than 40 minutes. The P3 park has got even more land, thus allowing a further expansion of the park by over 100,000 m2 of rentable space.