Rostec opening a logo centre in Zelenodolsk: POZIS to acquire a consolidated warehouse
Rostec will build a 15,000-square-metre logistics centre for 300 million rubles near Kazan next year
Zelenodolsk is turning into a logistics springboard not only for large marketplace. Following OZON and Wildberries online retailers, Rostec Group has announced the start of the construction of its own logic complex in the suburbs of Kazan. Its logistics centre with an area of 15,000 square metres will be located on the territory of the subsidiary plant POZIS. According to POZIS Marketing Director Bulat Khasanov, a consolidated warehouse complex will appear as a result of the redevelopment of the production area of the plant, on which 300 million rubles will be spent. Experts interviewed by Realnoe Vremya explain the boom in warehouse real estate by that big businesses are shifting to personalized warehouses due to a lack of attractive industrial offers.
Rostec is closing the route of POZIS at 18 points
Rostec has announced the construction of a logistics centre on the basis of the leading Russian manufacturer of “white equipment” — POZIS company (part of Tecmash concern). As follows from the official statement of the state corporation, the total area of the warehouse complex will be 15,000 square metres. This will enable the Zelenodolsk enterprise to store simultaneously 35,000 assembled refrigerators at the single warehouse site.
Until now, the Tatarstan manufacturer has kept the equipment released from the assembly line in different places, which led to significant transport costs when it was shipped to distributors. As the enterprise informed Realnoe Vremya, today on the territory of the plant, there are 18 points — storage facilities, from where the ordered equipment is taken out and collected in a “single package” at the request of sellers. There is no large central warehouse for storing refrigerators of different sizes and modifications.
The disjointed location scheme ceased to suit Rostec, including due to the complexity of digital sales accounting. The state сorporation decided to close the unprofitable route of collecting equipment at 18 points and to build a single site so that refrigeration equipment is delivered from the conveyor to the warehouse in the automated unloading zone.
“The logistics centre will optimize cargo flows, thereby reducing the time of shipment of refrigeration products to customers and improve the quality of warehouse accounting,” Rostec said in a statement. “Rational use of loading equipment and storage equipment will reduce operating costs.”
Having assembled the manufactured equipment in one place, Rostec expects to reduce significant costs. The exact amount of losses is undisclosed. “We expect an increase in labour productivity by 20-30%,” Sergey Abramov, Rostec's industrial director, said in a press release. Besides, in the new logistics centre, all equipment will be under automatic control: “A separate stage will be the introduction of WMS — warehouse management system designed to automate warehouse accounting and optimize all business processes.”
Production redevelopment for 300 million
The warehouse complex will be built on the empty territory of the plant, which has been in excess at almost every defence enterprise since Soviet times. Historically, the land for military plants was given to grow, but after the reduction of the state defenсe order in the 1990s, not everyone managed to load them. Almost every enterprise has a few hectares that remain unused on the balance sheet.
“The construction of the logistics centre is carried out within the framework of the investment programme ‘The integrated development of the production of household appliances and medical refrigeration equipment on the basis of high-tech equipment and advanced technologies at POZIS JSC, approved by the state corporation Rostec,” the press service of Tecmash Research Development Corporation told Realnoe Vremya. “The project is carried out in cooperation with the Industrial Development Foundation and Novikombank JSCB JSC and involves the reconstruction of buildings for the production of refrigeration equipment with an increase in their capacity by 40%.”
Renovation for 2 billion rubles
Let us remind that last August Rostec announced plans to invest 2 billion rubles in the renewal of the plant in order to double the production of refrigerators by 2021. “Rostec Group is implementing an investment project at POZIS enterprise, part of Tecmash concern, providing for technical re-equipment and increasing the production of household refrigeration equipment twofold — up to 600,000 items annually. The total investment in the production of household and medical refrigeration equipment will be about 2 billion rubles until 2021. The project provides for the technical re-equipment of the enterprise and the construction of a modern warehouse for storing finished refrigeration products. The new production and storage facilities will enable the company to increase revenue from sales of civilian products to 17,5 billion rubles by 2025,” the state corporation said in a statement.
Thus, we can say that the first tranche was made to establish the operational shipment of products and strengthen control over it. According to Bulat Khasanov, the logistics complex is to be commissioned next year.
The warehouse capital city
Meanwhile, on 11 November, the start to the construction of distribution centres of Wildberries and OZON online retailers was given in Zelenodolsk, also on this day and in the same city there was opened the mega warehouse of Pyaterochka.
OZON is the first such facility outside Moscow Oblast. Its area will be 38,000 square metres, and taking into account the second stage — 74,000 square metres. The first OZON complex opens in the third quarter of 2020. The data were announced at the ceremony on 11 November. Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov personally gave a start to the construction of Ozon logistics hub. In his welcoming speech, OZON CEO Alexander Shulgin noted that the platform would give equal opportunities for entry to both large companies and local manufacturers. Total investments will exceed 2 billion rubles.
According to Alexander Shulgin, the regional hub will enable to store and process 7 million goods and deliver them to the residents of the republic on a same day basis or the next day. However, the interest in e-commerce cannot be considered as high as in e-trading. “The penetration of e-commerce in Russia and Tatarstan does not exceed 4-6%, but the market potential is very large — for example, our sales in the republic have increased by more than 110% compared to last year. It is the development of logistics infrastructure that is the key driver for market growth,” Shulgin said. He said that an ecosystem will grow around the hub for the successful development of commodity producers and the growth of their online sales, as well as a new market for last mile delivery services, will develop.
Wildberries has aimed at even more significant areas — 100,000 square metres in two stages, investments in the project will amount to 5,5 billion rubles.
Rostec’s is cheaper
The participants of the logistics market notice that distribution centres of online retailers and Rostec’s warehouse are built on the principle of built-to-suit, i.e. the construction to a tenant's exact specification.
“By and large, OZON is an online store, so I assume that the management system in it will be configured for automatic distribution of customer orders,” says Yury Chikirov. “This is a warehouse for a specific customer. It is difficult to find a ready-made warehouse on the market, it will require repurposing. Therefore, it is easier to build a warehouse for yourself. Regarding Rostec, I assume that the complex will not be used for POZIS alone but will also for some other special needs. After all, Rostec is tied more to the military direction. Therefore, they have their own requirements for the premises, for their security and access system, etc. Therefore, their association ‘under a common roof’ would initially be impossible and wrong.”
Why Zelenodolsk? “OZON has announced that this is the first complex outside of Moscow and Moscow Oblast. I believe they want an adapted experience of regional development. In general, this is a good location in terms of logistics — M7 highway is nearby. This contributes to the convenient transit of goods on the highway as the most cost-effective for manufacturers and sellers.”