Sobeys Completes New Automated Distribution Center

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Sobeys Incorporated (Stellarton, Nova Scotia), a subsidiary of Empire Company Limited (TSX:EMP.A) (Stellarton, Nova Scotia), has completed construction of a new state-of-the-art grocery distribution center in Vaughan, Ontario. The new facility will supply dry grocery products to the company's 343 stores and affiliates within the province when the plant becomes fully operational this summer.

With an estimated total investment value of more than $20 million, the new 500,000-square-foot center is fully automated. The automation and installation of material-handling equipment was performed by Witron Integrated Logistics (Arlington Heights, Illinois). Equipment includes 11 AS/RS pallet cranes that service 38,000 locations and 32 AS/RS mini-load cranes with access to 340,000 tray locations. Graham Construction and Engineering (Calgary, Alberta) was retained as the general contractor. Industrial Info Resources (IIR) detailed the scope of the project, tentative schedule and key contacts since the project's site-selection stage in early 2007.

Currently, the company operates at existing warehouses in Whitby and Milton, Ontario. Both centers, according to company's officials, will remain open, but a large number of jobs are expected to be lost among the 1,500 currently employed at these locations because of the major shift of operations to the new automated facility in Vaughan.

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