Hermes, the consumer delivery specialist, has significantly boosted its capacity for the upcoming peak season after completing the construction of a third sortation tier at its fully-automated Midlands Super Hub in Rugby. The £16m project enhances existing output by 40% with the capability to process 1.35 million parcels each day.
Located at the Rugby Gateway, the 270,000 square foot Midlands Super Hub officially opened in August 2017 featuring two original sortation tiers. The £31m development, the most substantial investment in Hermes’ history to date, remains the biggest of its kind in Europe.
The installation of the high specification sortation tier – manufactured by Beumer – has taken place over the past 12 months, overseen by the company’s in house engineering team who ensured that the hub has remained fully operational. The new tier can sort 22,973 items per hour which increases the hub’s hourly total to 68,919 items per hour. It measures over 1.1kms in length, incorporates 480 tonnes of steelwork, features 1,942 trays, and is powered by 41kms of electrical wiring. Scales measure the dimension and check the weight of every parcel whilst also checking for any damages.
Commenting on the completion of the third tier, Martijn de Lange, CEO of Hermes UK, said: “For the last few years we have witnessed double-digit growth due to our commitment to invest in our world-class network and infrastructure, our innovative fleet and our industry-leading portfolio of services solutions. In addition, our in-house engineering team is constantly optimising our equipment to ensure it is best in class and we will soon be introducing further automation to support our returns process in the coming months.”
“Last year, we enjoyed our most effective and busiest peak season to date, whilst, at the same time, achieving record service levels and I’m absolutely confident the third sortation tier in Rugby will put us in the strongest possible position to further support the retail industry over the coming years.”
