Beauty retailer The Perfume Shop has deployed new packaging technology in its Dunstable warehouse.
By implementing a more automated packing machine in its supply chain, the retailer hopes to increase efficiency and ensure packaging is more tailored to the products it holds, therefore helping reduce unnecessary waste.
Today (8 January) managing director, Gill Smith, joined supply chain director, Sean Wallis, at the Dunstable site to cut the ribbon on the retailer’s new warehouse system.
It has been a two-year project to get the packaging technology installed and deployed, and it represents a £2.5 million investment – the largest-ever outlay the business has made in warehouse automation.
Smith and her team see the new system as critical to the overall business strategy, particular in terms of keeping up with growing online demand. However, it will also help support the organisation’s sustainability strategy.
The new packaging system installation is the result of work by the retailer’s own warehouse team and third-party supplier, Breathe Technologies.
Smith said the scale of the investment highlights how the retailer is focused on customers, communities, and colleagues.
“While we remain committed to delivering a brilliant customer shopping experience, we’re also seeing our e-commerce business move from strength-to-strength,” she explained.
“Investment into warehouse automation will ensure we’re keeping up with the increasing demands of our online business.”
Online titan Amazon invested in packaging technology last year, saying it is trialling new equipment to ensure it keeps parcel material waste to a minimum.
The machines are initially being used by Amazon in its sites in Mönchengladbach, Germany and Bristol, UK.
The tech builds “made-to-fit” paper bags around individual items on demand, utilising an in-built sensor to scan items such as video games, kitchen gadgets, sports equipment, and office supplies and wrap accordingly rather than putting them in general boxes and cardboard folders.
[Image credit: The Perfume Shop]
