CHINA - Ikea Retail (Ingka Group) is opening a brand-new customer distribution center (CDC) in Tiajin, which is located outside Beijing, in China.

The distribution center is approximately 46,240 square meters in size, with a storage capacity of 25,000 cubic meters, and will house more than 9,500 Ikea products, ensuring more products are available to customers in the area.

The company’s objective is to get closer to the northern customers of Beijing, both physically with new customer meeting touchpoints and through online services, with convenient delivery options.

The customer distribution center will test several automation solutions that look to enhance operational efficiency, picking accuracy, and overall quality. The introduction of Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) into warehouse operations is an efficient transportation solution to reduce the need for manual picking and therefore significantly improves the working conditions for coworkers. Ikea is also testing an auto packing system at the Central Parcel Unit (CPU) in Shanghai. This aims to enhance packaging efficiency and further save on consumables filling materials for future parcels, a significant move towards a more environmental future.

Aligning with Ikea’s People and Planet Positive strategy and China’s sustainability development goals, the new CDC is working on deploying many sustainable features. This includes 100% lithium battery forklifts, an energy-efficient LED lighting system, and a roof solar system that is projected to reduce approximately 3312.94 tons of CO2 emissions annually, which is equivalent to planting 184,000 trees per year. Furthermore, the CDC features a rainwater collection pool that will result in annual water savings of around 2,000 tons, and as part of the global shift towards electric vehicles, the CDC also offers 12 charging points for electrical truck delivery vehicles.