Feature Gowan Group moves to new headquarters

A strategic investment that sees it move its operations under one roof will enable the Gowan Group to create efficiencies all around the automotive company that has substantially expanded in recent years. As exclusive importer and distributor in Ireland of the Alfa Romeo, Citroen, DS, Fiat, Fiat Professional, Honda, Jeep, Opel and Peugeot brands, Gowan Group has completed works on an extensive new headquarters and parts warehousing facility located in Citywest, Dublin 24. Fully operational from the end of May and boasting a 110,000 sq. ft stackable capacity, the new warehouse will have 23,000 unique locations to stock the many different parts lines from the nine passenger and commercial vehicle brands.

The new warehouse is the first phase of the building to be fully functioning, with new office space, a new marketing showroom and a 10,000 sq.ft. training academy to follow.

On a guided tour of the new facility, John Donohoe, Gowan Group Logistics Manager outlined the rationale behind the project: “Owing to the recent expansion of the Group’s motor division and the acquisition of the Fiat Chrysler Automobile brands, our biggest priority has been to complete works on our new warehouse facility at our new headquarters. This will significantly increase capacity and result in an improved service to our dealers and end-customers. When fully operational we will be serving more than 130 individual Dealers nationwide. Each Dealer will receive an overnight delivery service, with three daily deliveries planned for all Dublin Dealers. In a bid to drive our customer satisfaction, a key objective [is that] we aim to deliver the right part, on time, every time.”

“Our new and larger warehouse capacity also allows us to ultimately deliver on our goal of reducing our environmental impact. Crucially, we aim to reduce, reuse and recycle where possible. We will reuse packaging from inbound goods and where that’s not possible, we will work with our environmental partners to ensure that any packaging waste is segregated and recycled in a professional and responsible way. All equipment from forklifts, to order pickers, to floor cleaning equipment, are all 100% electric and are charged on site with renewable energy. The very design of the warehouse has maximised natural lighting on each aisle for as long as possible throughout the day, to reduce our overall energy consumption. All lights fitted throughout the building are efficient LEDs.”

The new warehouse capacity lends itself to increased stock holding of larger parts items such as panels and glass. Complementing the brands’ replacement parts and accessories lines, Eurorepar multibrand spare parts will also be stocked. Future-proofing the business to allow for further growth, there is also an option to extend the 4m and 5m high storage racks upwards, to further increase capacity.

With 15 full time warehouse operatives, two teams function in tandem, with one team taking goods in, the other responsible for picking and dispatch. Emergency, or Vehicleoff-road (VOR) parts arriving in to the warehouse are directed straight to the packing and dispatch area, for onward delivery to the Dealer as quickly as possible. Parts for stock are brought to a sorting area within the warehouse, where they are sorted by aisle and put away into stock. The aisles in the low bay picking area are all wide aisles, allowing order pickers to safely pass each other or, to simultaneously pick from both sides of the aisle, for maximum efficiency.

Keyloop Technology has been installed with touchscreen interfaces built into each order picking machine, to guide warehouse operators via the optimal route to pick. The number of picks allocated to each operator is dependent upon the size and quantity of parts to be picked. With different order cut-off times for different parts of the country, the system can be changed to ensure that the correct parts for the correct Dealer are being picked, in order to meet cut-off and collection times.

Well known logistics provider, DSV is the chosen partner for onward delivery to the collective Dealer Network, to ensure that all customers receive their parts orders on time every time.

Gowan Group relocates headquarters to Dublin’s Citywest