Diageo Australia, maker of well-known liquor brands such as Johnnie Walker and Bundaberg Rum, has unveiled a 26,000 pallet capacity warehouse in Sydney’s western suburbs.
Diageo’s Global Head of Supply, David Cutter officially opened the Huntingwood-based warehouse following a 20-month project, which saw the company invest $21.5 million in the new facility.
The warehouse is located alongside Diageo Australia’s primary manufacturing site in Huntingwood.
According to Diageo Australia Supply Director, Joe Russo the investment in the warehouse will deliver considerable cost savings to Diageo and cements Diageo’s commitment to manufacturing in Australia in the long term.
Prior to building the new warehouse, Diageo stored most of its inventory at a third party facility. With the new warehouse now on its doorstep, Diageo Australia will reduce its carbon emissions by 110 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide annually – the equivalent of taking 35 standard passenger vehicles off the road every year.
This carbon reduction will contribute to Diageo’s 2020 target of reducing absolute greenhouse gas emissions from direct operations by 50%, plus 30% across its total supply chain.
Cutter said Diageo’s recently announced 2020 Sustainability and Responsibility targets reflect the need to better manage water stewardship and carbon emissions across Diageo’s total supply chain.
“This forward thinking, holistic approach to sustainability means that we will work even harder with suppliers globally to decouple the growth of our business from our impact on the environment,” Cutter said.
Work on the facility began in May 2014. State-of-the-art technology allowed it to be built with a smaller than average footprint of 5,000m2