Discounter Penny Italia has opened a new logistics platform in Cascine di Buti near Pisa, serving over 90 stores in Tuscany and central and northern Italy.
Construction work started in May 2021 and was completed just over a year and a half later, for an overall investment of €32 mln.
The 23,000 m2 distribution centre was built on an area of 86,000 m2 and will replace the Altopascio depot, which supplied about 60 shops.
The new structure will increase the stock capacity and make operations more efficient.
Gotthard Klingan, COO of Penny Italia, said: ‘We are in the process of renewing our logistical network as Italy is an important strategic market for Penny. This inauguration, which follows that of the logistics centre in Pantano d'Arci, in the Catania area, by a few years, is confirmation of this. We are flexible to the changes that the market and social, political and environmental events impose on us, optimising and increasing the efficiency of the sales network, which is the link with our customers.’
In line with the retailer’s green logistics policy, the logistics hub is energy efficient and entirely sustainable, resulting from the use of low environmental impact technologies.
The photovoltaic system, with a capacity of 400 kWh for self-consumption, is designed to meet about 35% of the processes' needs, heat pumps replace gas boilers, while natural refrigerants such as ammonia and Co2 are used for the refrigeration systems.
Thermal heat produced by the heating and hot water systems is recovered, as is the water from groundwater wells for the fire-fighting and irrigation systems.
In addition, more than 200 trees were planted and about 20,000 m2 of areas were landscaped.
