ADS Announces $2.5M Central Coast Investment to Secure Jobs and Meet Pandemic Book Sales Surge

Hachette Australia is delighted to announce a major infrastructure investment of $2.5M for Alliance Distribution Services (ADS), our book distribution hub at Tuggerah, NSW.

Our aim is to optimise our supply chain performance in a rapidly changing market - a market that is also surging as Australians turn to books for comfort, entertainment and company during these times of COVID restrictions.  The significant investment in induction, forward picking, receiving, replenishment and ultimately throughput will substantially improve productivity and service.

An additional 17,000 titles will be held at ADS giving booksellers better access, more quickly, to stock of books from the long tail.  Phase one of the work will be completed by mid-October, well ahead of the Christmas peak, and will give us an additional 30% forward picking capacity. Phase two is scheduled for implementation next April.

Phill Knight, ADS Distribution Director, explains: ‘We’ve already seen a massive spike in the number of lines and volumes processed daily as booksellers are submitting orders at pre-Christmas levels, and we expect this to increase substantially again before year end. Our pickers always get excited and the entire place starts to buzz when they are picking and packing books by big brand names such as Stephanie Meyer, Matthew Reilly, Peter FitzSimons and the Treehouse series. This year promises to be bigger than ever with many of our publishers stacking their biggest titles into Christmas. Investment in infrastructure and in our people will enable ADS to improve services levels for Hachette, our third-party publishers, and booksellers. Rapidly changing market conditions, with change accelerated by COVID-19, must be met with innovation, and we are pleased that our forward picking expansion plans have been so readily signed off by Hachette. It’s great news for everyone at ADS, and for booksellers who can expect better service.’

Louise Sherwin-Stark, Hachette ANZ CEO, says: ‘Speed to market and availability are key to meeting consumer demand for books in the Australian and New Zealand markets. With severe disruption to the supply chain due to soaring airfreight prices and lack of airfreight availability, it’s key that we invest in holding more stock on shore, not just now but into the future. This major investment at ADS signals our faith in the Australia book market and that high-quality distribution continues to be a major priority for our business.’

ADS is partnering with the Central Coast Training Group to take on a local trainee for a 12-month period. During this time, we will be able to provide valuable workplace experience in several disciplines from credit control, customer service, logistics administration and various related warehouse functions. This partnership will enable us to grow employment opportunities for the local community and ensure well trained and engaged staff flow into our business. ADS is proud to be a major employer on the NSW Central Coast.