Within its extensive range of storage facilities the MOD has DSDC Donnington, an automated store designed with 10 storage spurs to prevent major loss through fire. Since its opening in 1985 it has met its objectives but has not received any significant investment to adapt it to a changing role. The Logistics Business were asked to recommend the most appropriate long term strategy for this building’s development.

Holding over 97,000 pallets, it is served by automated cranes and AGVs, all of which were in good condition. However, the control systems had become expensive to support and restricted its flexibility. The aim given to The Logistics Business was to make it fully flexible and fully utilised.

With a potential product range drawn from a total of over two million SKUs, there were opportunities to match the product movement profiles to its capability, and to vary that capability. After extensive data analysis, a review of working methods and assessment of the impact that various external organizations had on the building’s activity, its limitations were defined. From these, six options were developed for improving the contribution of this building to the MOD’s Logistics capability.

Benefits were demonstrated in increasing the storage capacity, throughput, and flexibility in terms of what and how items were stored. These developments were linked to a range of investments that would enable the MOD to select what was regarded as the most suitable within a major review of all its storage facilities taking place at that time.