Discount Retail Chain Lidl Spain has inaugurated a new logistics DC in Escúzar (Granada) with which it doubles its logistics capacity in Andalusia from 60,000 m2 to 125,000 m2 of surface, and with which it has created 250 new direct jobs. The warehouse is built on a plot of more than 132,000 m2 in the Industrial, Technological and Innovation Area (CITAI) – the former Metropolitan Industrial and Technological Park of Granada.
The new DC, with more than 65,000 m2 of surface, is now the largest logistics center of the company in Andalusia and the second in the whole country, has involved a total investment of 88 million euros.
It has 139 loading and unloading docks, with the capacity to store up to 50,000 pallets simultaneously or manage 1.3 million pallets per year. In addition, it reaches 6,000 order picking points and has more than 240 parking spaces for vehicles in general and another around 90 specifically for trucks.
In terms of sustainability, this new logistics center has international certifications such as BREEAM, sustainable construction, or ISO 50.001, energy efficiency; an installation of around 6,700 m2 of photovoltaic panels, capable of covering up to 30% of all the energy required by this logistics platform in one year; a recycling area, expressly designed to give a second life to the surpluses generated both in the warehouse itself and in points of sale; and a dozen parking spaces reserved for electric vehicles.
Commitment to Andalusia
The company thus adds a third logistics center in Andalusia, already has in Malaga and Dos Hermanas (Seville). In the short term, the company plans to progressively supply from here a network of more than 60 stores in two phases: this month to those in eastern Andalusia (Granada, Almería, Jaén and Córdoba) and in July to those in the southwest of Castilla-La Mancha (Ciudad Real and Toledo).
Carlos Martínez, regional director of Lidl in Andalusia, comments: "Having our warehouse in Escúzar already operational allows us to adapt our logistics resources to the development we have been experiencing in recent years in southern Spain, where we work every day to consolidate our position as one of the main drivers of its economy and its labor market. We are firmly committed to employment in Andalusia and specifically Granada province, and proof of this is that the local factor has been decisive to configure a workforce that, for the most part, has an indefinite contract: almost all the people hired are from Granada province, one in four is from Granada capital, a dozen from Escúzar and another from Las Gabias, and the rest comes from nearby towns such as La Malahá, Churriana de la Vega, Santa Fe or Albolote".
Lidl currently has a network of more than 120 stores and a team of about 3,400 people in Andalusia, where it plays a fundamental role as a reference partner of the agri-food industry buying product worth more than 1,550 million euros per year from more than 80 suppliers – exporting up to 82% to some thirty countries. Thanks to all its activity in this autonomous community, the company is already responsible for some 33,900 direct, indirect and induced jobs (1.08% of the total) and already contributes about 1,600 million euros per year to GDP (1.09% of the total).
Commitment to Spain
With the aim of guaranteeing its sustainable expansion throughout the territory, it will expand in the coming years its current network of 12 logistics platforms with four warehouse projects in Martorell (Barcelona), Parla (Madrid), Constantí (Tarragona) and Villadangos del Páramo (León).
