Packages of ground beef, frozen pizzas and even pots of yogurt intended for Metro and Super C grocery stores in Quebec will now all leave the same place to go to stores. In operation for several weeks already, a brand new automated distribution center – an investment of around half a billion – located in Terrebonne supplies the group’s stores with frozen products and will do the same for fresh foods such as meat and produce. dairy in February 2024.
With the completion of this project, an investment of more than $420 million, customers who shop in Metro, Super C and Marché Richelieu stores in Quebec could see a greater variety of products appear in refrigerators and freezers. and new brands, according to Caroline Larocque, vice-president of logistics and distribution, interviewed by La Presse on the occasion of the official inauguration of the distribution center this Wednesday.
“With this center, we have given ourselves the capacity to expand our product offering. In our old centers, we no longer had the capacity to accept new products. » The brand new facility will be able to accommodate 7,000 fresh and frozen items. It will serve more than 700 stores throughout Quebec. Another similar center was built in Ontario.
Nearly 75% of operations at the distribution center are automated. From the reception of trucks from suppliers who come to leave their products there until the boxes leave for the stores, several operations are now carried out by machines. The presence of robots makes it possible to prepare between 400 and 500 cases per hour. These are then placed on pallets. An algorithm determines how to group the merchandise on each of them (frozen baked goods are placed together, for example). Each pallet is destined for a store. Automation also makes it possible to move full or empty pallets, as needed. In addition to a greater variety of products, all these new handlings reduce the risk of case breakage, underlines Yanick Blanchet, senior director of the supply chain.
Responsible for the visit, he already seems to know the center inside and out. The technology used at the center was developed by German company Witron, considered a leader in automation in the food distribution sector.
The distribution centers located in Montréal-Nord and Pointe-aux-Trembles, responsible for meats, frozen products and fish, will gradually cease their activities. They will all be repatriated to Terrebonne, just like the jobs. Metro assures that no employee will lose their job. The company expects 250 people to work in the distribution center and 500 in the administrative offices. In Quebec, the factory intended for fresh and frozen products remains open, but will be converted into a distribution center for grocery products (such as cans or biscuits).
The center, which began construction in March 2020, has a total area of ​​600,000 square feet, which is equivalent to 10 football fields. With a height equivalent to nine floors, it houses areas whose temperature can vary between 5°C (in the fresh products area) to -25°C (frozen products). In the coldest part, during our visit, wearing a coat, hat and gloves was more than necessary. The employees who work there are all dressed in appropriate clothing and take regular breaks, assures Caroline Larocque.