Major industry players, such as Loblaw/Provigo, Empire/Sobeys and Metro, have invested heavily in the middle mile (middle mile) during the last years. A highlight of this sector is the new Metro distribution center in Terrebonne, a real gem.
Logistics is often considered the backbone of our economy, a statement that is particularly true in today’s food and beverage industry. Discussions about supply chain efficiency often focus on the last mile, or the last mile as they say in English.
When it comes to the last mile, Amazon is often seen as the role model. The giant has mastered this critical phase that connects stores or distribution centers to consumers’ homes. To maintain its lead, Amazon optimizes its logistics using advanced technologies and automation, allowing efficient planning of delivery routes.
However, a significant trend is emerging in food distribution: the optimization of middle milethis intermediate segment which connects distribution centers to points of sale frequented by consumers.
While the often more expensive last mile improves service quality and fulfillment for consumers, the middle mile offers savings while increasing accessibility and diversity of products available.
Metro’s new centre, as big as 10 football fields with its 600,000 square feet and a height of 112 feet, serves 700 stores in Quebec. It is one of the largest and most modern food distribution centres in Canada. Recently inaugurated, it specializes in the management of frozen and fresh products. Capable of storing 40,000 pallets and equipped with 92 docks for trucks, this centre includes a frozen food area maintained at 28 degrees below zero and can manage more than 7,000 different products.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The new Metro centre, as big as 10 football fields with its 600,000 square feet and a height of 112 feet, serves 700 stores in Quebec.
For the comfort of employees, the center offers modern facilities such as a cafeteria, a training room and a daycare, creating an almost luxurious atmosphere, far from the typical image of an industrial distribution center.
With a $420 million investment, Metro is banking on a more efficient supply chain by working closely with its suppliers to develop better packaging adapted to the center’s automated system. Dimensions, shapes, labeling, everything must be adjusted to the nearest quarter turn in order to avoid bottlenecks and blockages in the chain. The entire industry, including Metro’s competitors, is modernizing, forcing processors to adapt to more efficient centers by adjusting the dimensions of products as well as the packaging used to accommodate them.
Well anchored in its Quebec and Ontario markets, Metro supports its suppliers in this adaptation process by transmitting information on market trends and consumer desires, despite high costs in a market with very tight profit margins, around 4 cents per dollar of sales.
For consumers, this means more resilient supply chains, fewer stockouts and a greater variety of products. A grocer with such infrastructure can offer a wider range of products.
Although invisible to consumers, the middle mile is crucially important. With possible deflation on the horizon, during which some prices could fall, grocers must remain competitive. Indeed, some prices will drop. They can offer attractive promotions and discounts, which is facilitated by mastering a highly efficient middle mile.
With recent investments in their productivity, Canadian distributors are no longer catching up; everyone, especially consumers, will benefit.