Rimi Lietuva has entered into a partnership agreement with the real estate development company Darnu Group for a new logistics centre in the Baltic States.
Rimi Lietuva is part of Rimi Baltic, a subsidiary of Sweden's ICA Gruppen, and operates more than 80 stores and e-shops in Lithuania.
The logistics centre, comprising a 40,000-square-metre building, will be built close to the Vilnius-Kaunas motorway near Elektrėnai, Lithuania.
Vaidas Lukoševičius, CEO of Rimi Lietuva, said, "It is crucial for the successful and efficient operation of a growing retail chain to have the necessary infrastructure, and we are, therefore, pleased to start the design work for the new logistics centre."
"It will not only enable us to deliver increasing volumes of goods to our stores, but also to achieve greater efficiency and improve the quality of our supply operations," Lukoševičius added.
Storage And Distribution
The facility will have provisions for storing and distributing groceries, fresh food, fruit and vegetables, as well as frozen and non-food products.
Out of the approximately 31,000 square metres of storage space for food and other goods, about 2,000 square metres will be used for office functions.
One fifth of the total area (around 7,500 square metres) will house one of the largest Rimi kitchens in the Baltic States.
Rimi Lietuva claims it will be more than three times larger than a similar kitchen in Latvia.
The retailer plans to automate some of the kitchen's processes, with frozen goods sorted by robots.
Elektrėnai is home to around 14,000 people, and the new Rimi Lietuva logistics centre is likely to create 800 new jobs.
The retailer plans to incorporate recreation areas, a terrace, smart ventilation and lighting systems in the new facility as it seeks to offer a modern working environment.
"With the help of smart applications, we identified the location from which all Rimi stores could be served most conveniently and with the least time and cost spent on transporting goods to the stores," added Lukoševičius.
© 2023 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest supply chain news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
