For March Explorers’ Out and About, 23 people, a mixture of members and their guests, arrived at the Tesco Distribution Centre. We were all kitted out with high viz jackets and steel toe capped shoes. None of us felt that the luminous orange went well with our complexions but as Tesco take safety very seriously we were glad to wear them.
We were given a brief presentation about Tesco’s presence in Malaysia and the purpose of the distribution centre within its operation. The warehouse is enormous with fork lift trucks whizzing around in all directions, we walked 1.5 km just to get round the perimeter. There is metal shelving from floor to ceiling full of all types of ambient goods. Who knew there was so much going on behind the scenes just to get that packet of cereal from the manufacturer to the shelves in our local supermarket. It was fascinating to learn of the complex computer systems used to receive manufacturers’ products, allocate them a space within the centre, pick the correct number of boxes for each store, and then get them out to be sold as soon as possible.
After our tour we were treated to a lovely lunch, given a goodie bag full of delicious treats and a model Tesco lorry! Having seen how clean and efficient the operation is I’m off to do my online shopping with Tesco !
Written by Carolyn Ritchie
Pictures by TESCO