New facilities boost SDI Group’s expansion

Sep 22, 2013 Warehousing Ireland News Comments Off on New facilities boost SDI Group’s expansion

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SDI Group recently moved into new premises in Hinckley, Leicestershire – just round the corner from its previous site – to facilitate the company’s rapid expansion and exciting new business developments. The new 20,000 square feet facility gives SDI room to increase its manufacturing capability in the UK, which is great news for the country’s economic outlook.

“The new manufacturing plant provides an enhanced capability to manufacture mezzanine floors, sortation products, conveyor systems and structural components and will give us the ability to respond to customer demands in an even shorter timescale,” said Gordon Smith, CEO of SDI Group. “This is particularly important in the fast moving, multichannel fashion retail sector, which is a big customer base for our automated systems.”

The move follows the opening of new SDI Group facilities in Germany and a sales office in Switzerland, along with new staff being recruited throughout Europe. The company has increased core consultancy and design staff by around 25 per cent. It currently has a work force numbering 260 people across its European operations and 570 globally.

In the UK, SDI has recently added to its expertise with the recruitment of Matt Pedley and Robert Smith as Sales Engineers and Tony Kerr as a Project Engineer – all based at Hinckley – as well as Michael Roberts as Finance Assistant at its Royston office.

These developments combine to underline the impressive success being achieved by the rapidly growing UK-based global integrator of automated materials handling systems.

Over the last 30 years SDI has developed a broad range of innovative products and solutions for the leading brands in retail, wholesale, fulfilment and e-commerce. Today, the £30 million company has operations in the UK, US, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Poland and Chile.

SDI’s unparalleled customer base in multichannel retail apparel continues to grow. Enquiries for solutions for direct to consumer / ecommerce applications have been a particularly significant contributor to recent volume growth and the company is also branching out into new directions, such as sortation systems for the postal sector.

Commenting on the recent development of SDI Group, Gordon Smith said: “We will continue to manufacture both in Germany and the UK. With the volumes of work that we have, it is good to possess the flexibility provided by these two operations.”

These sites have a busy year ahead, as Smith added: “In addition to our current involvement in large, integrated distribution centre projects with Abercrombie and Fitch, Matalan, TK Maxx, Asda George, COOP Italia, QVC, Polish 3PL No Limit and a large German retailer, we also have a full order book for the next 12 months.”

Smith is particularly proud that this British company is doing so well on the international stage. He pointed out: “I toured a high profile distribution centre that recently opened in the UK and there was not one item of materials handling equipment sourced from this country. Yet there is a tremendous benefit from sourcing automated materials handling solutions from a local supplier – particularly in terms of customer support.” This is particularly pertinent during August when many Continental European countries effective shut down for holidays.

Smith concluded: “SDI Group is a great example of a successful UK engineering and manufacturing company providing many successful solutions globally. Add the tremendous experience that this endows us with to the increased manufacturing capability from our new Hinckley facilities, then this equates to great news for multichannel fashion retailers seeking automated solutions to make their supply chains more cost effective and efficient.”

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