Schneider Electric opens smart distribution center in Cavite

THE LOCAL unit of a French energy management and industrial automation company opened its smart distribution center in the Cavite Economic Zone on Wednesday.

“The growth that we’re seeing is more on the internal demand for our existing production, and since we’re one of the fastest growing across the region, our capacity can still sustain the growth projections globally,” said Ireen Catane, country president of Schneider Electric, at the inauguration of the new distribution center.

Spanning 4,200 square meters (sq.m.), the new distribution center is part of Schneider Electric Philippines, Inc.’s expansion plan to increase the total area of its distribution center in Cavite to 19,600 sq.m.

Ms. Catane said that the company’s investment in the expansion amounted to P86.5 million, covering the newly opened smart distribution center and its yet-to-open station to be used for consolidating containers.

“If you look at how much we have invested and automated the facility, the intent really is for us to strengthen our safety for our employees, as well as to automate our processes so that we become more efficient,” she said.

“In any logistics operation, efficiency is very important because when we are efficient, we are also fast, meaning we can deliver our items to the market faster than expected,” she added.

Schneider Electric Logistics Director Jordan Gansan said that the new facility will manage the distribution of UPS 3-phase equipment, mainly used in data centers, utilities, and power plants.

“We will also manage other hardware and accessories needed to accommodate and fulfill [our clients’] requests,” Mr. Gansan said.

He said that the 4,200-sq.m. distribution center will have over 2,000 pallet spaces and over 5,000 references to serve the local market, while the size of the container station will be around 2,200 sq.m.

“Pretty much, there’s just one more building that we’re finishing, which is our container station. That will go live at the end of May and will complete all our expansion,” he said.

“By the time we finish the P86.5-million investment… we will have increased and expanded our footprint by 55%,” he added.

The Cavite Smart Distribution Center is one of the French firm’s main distribution centers in the Asia Pacific and is one of its 17 smart distribution centers worldwide.

Aside from meeting the local requirements, the Cavite hub also manages the export and distribution of the company’s UPS 3 Phase equipment to Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, and South America. — Justine Irish D. Tabile