The AB Group has officially launched its newest and largest investment to date – the Distribution Centre in Magnice near Wrocław. The leading distributor of IT solutions, household appliances and consumer electronics in Poland, as well as in the CEE region will now use the most innovative, state-of-the-art warehouse automation solutions.

“The modern distribution centre allows for further dynamic growth of the AB Group, the yearly revenues of which currently exceed 7 billion PLN. As a result, it is the AB Group that sets the course of development for the current distribution market, and the operational parameters of the Distribution Centre in Magnice are far higher than anything we have had before”, said Andrzej Przybyło, Chairman of the Board of AB S.A.

The investment in the Distribution Centre cost the AB Group almost 129 million PLN. The innovativeness of the project was appreciated, and thus it received 24.3 million PLN in subsidies from the European Regional Development Fund.

“The warehouse and shipping systems used in the facility are the most innovative solutions currently available on the market, and they fully satisfy the requirements of the most demanding markets, such as e-commerce, tenders and retail network markets.”, said Andrzej Przybyło.

The AB Group Distribution Centre is located in Magnice, near Wrocław, in the Kobierzyce municipality. The facility was built on a 15 ha lot – over eight times more than the area of the old warehouse in Wrocław. The new warehouse is located near the Wrocław Motorway Bypass, the national road no. 8 and close to the A4 motorway. The location of the warehouse allows for quick and efficient distribution of the entire range of 96 000 products in the AB Group’s offer not only to Poland and the CEE region, but also for deliveries to the countries of Western Europe. The AB Group serves its e-commerce clients in 22 countries. It has the largest product offer and operates the largest network of trading partners in the CEE region, with over 16000 entities.

The innovative Distribution Centre is an advanced system comprising a warehouse, a delivery zone, a shipping zone and warehouse automation. The warehouse houses over 16 kilometres of shelves, and the goods are transported on over 5 kilometres of roller conveyors. The warehouse automation includes an ultra-efficient sorter, capable of sorting 8000 containers per hour, as well as a four-storey mezzanine with conveyor systems, automatic packaging lines and order completion. The network of 85 kilometres of power cables runs around the facility, and the warehouse automation is powered by close to 3000 conveyor modules. All of this makes up the largest multi-storey warehouse construction in Central and Eastern Europe. The warehouse is capable of dispatching up to 120 000 shipments in a day.

“Safety is an integral part of the AB Group development strategy, which is why we are basing our success on a variety of business areas. We built ourselves strong foundations and gained know-how in order to grow on the European distribution market in the upcoming years. The lot in Magnice is only built up in 35%, and the volume of the new warehouse is already 5 times larger than our previous facility in Wrocław. Taking into consideration the most efficient warehouse automation solution, the new Distribution Centre opens new opportunities for the Group”, said Andrzej Przybyło, Chairman of the Board.

The efficient operations of the AB Group Distribution Centre in Magnice is ensured by an IT system (WMS – Warehouse Management System). The system is responsible for operating the automation, packing and circulation of shipments. The system automatically chooses the optimal realisation method, and thanks to the use of hybrid automation – a unique solution on the Polish market – it is possible to simultaneously fulfil hundreds of orders, from a single small product (such as a memory card) to a pallet of laptops or a truck with dozens of refrigerators.

“We serve our clients based on a business model, where the role of distributor in the manufacturer – customer chain is now significantly more important. The dynamic growth in on-line sales, combined with higher customer expectations regarding quality and speed of order fulfilment shortened the supply chain. The new Distribution Centre in Magnice gives us the advantage of being fully prepared and ready for sending higher volumes while increasing efficiency and quality, with constant monitoring and optimising of operational parameters and cost. It also complements our role as a distributor with added value”, Chairman of the Board, Andrzej Przybyło, emphasised.

The AB Group Distribution Centre in Magnice also uses the modern and green Building Management System (BMS). It allows for integrated management of all installations and systems, as well as reacting to changes in the external and internal environment. Because of that, the costs of operation and modernisation, as well as emissions of pollutants, were minimised. The system of reusing rainwater, solar installations, as well as selective waste management complemented the pro-ecological solutions used in the smart building of the new AB Group Distribution Centre in Magnice.

The AB company from Wrocław has made the decision to build the new distribution centre as part of the implementation of its long-term development strategy, which in an answer to the challenges posed by the market, such as having the broadest product offer, effective customer service, low lead times and being the leader in e-commerce solutions. The construction of the AB Group Distribution Centre in Magnice started in March 2014, and currently the smooth migration process from the old warehouse in Wrocław is taking place. The Distribution Centre in Magnice is ready for the growing business of AB Group. Thanks to the efforts of AB experts and the renowned suppliers of warehouse automation solutions, the Magnice facility can boast the best qualitative and quantitative parameters in the CEE region.

On the photograph, from the left: Piotr Kopeć (Deputy Administrator of the Kobierzyce Municipality), Adam Grehl (Deputy Mayor of Wrocław), Andrzej Przybyło (Chairman of the Board of AB), Paweł Chorąży (Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Development), Cezary Przybylski (Marshal of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship), Paweł Hreniak (Lower Silesian Voivode), Roman Potocki (Governor of Wrocław District).