Sharing stock across our network

Three years ago, the storage and movement of CBH products and spares across the state looked very different.

Products and spares were delivered directly to sites – and with that came hefty delivery fees and zero visibility of what we owned and stored where.

Now the ordering and delivery of stock is managed through the Central Warehouse, which opened its doors in Canning Vale in 2018.

It is here that products and spares are now received, labelled, recorded and stored before being delivered to 14 Forward Stores (maintenance workshops) across the state.

A large portion of our materials are now recorded and catalogued, and any old or unused stock is put to good use, either by re-furbishing, recycling or selling it.

Spearheading the work is Warehouse Superintendent, Sogna Riley.

“We’ve come a really long way,” Sogna said. “We started with an empty warehouse and now there’s no free space during harvest.”

The benefits are huge

Sogna said the delivery of items from the Central Warehouse had streamlined the movement of stock and improved productivity.

“We despatch weekly to our forward stores, on pallets, which is more cost effective than having individual items couriered across the state,” she said.

“And if we receive the wrong product, we can sort that out at the warehouse before it reaches site.”

A safeguard during emergencies

A major benefit of having the stock recorded is the ability to share goods and equipment across our network.

Recently, this visibility allowed helped us replace emergency storage at our cyclone-affected sites ad had also helped us overcome supply issues caused by COVID-19, Suez Canal blockages and the China trade tensions.

“For example, we were able to get lights to Esperance from Kwinana and Albany when the vendor was out of stock,” she said.

“Instead of paying high vendor fees for a quick turnaround, we can source the equipment from our sites and re-stock from the vendor later.

“We can also forward-plan equipment purchases and essentially, buy bulk and save.”

What's next?

Over the next two to five years we hope to introduce barcoding to allow for further automation and work order staging.