15^th June 2021

We’re making exciting changes to our North Island Distribution Centre - what you need to know

Our business has been growing and as a result during the last 18 months our North Island Distribution Centre, based in East Tamaki, Auckland has undergone extensive changes, with OfficeMax investing over $5 million to improve and future-proof our operational capability.

We have already undertaken significant changes to our picking conveyor system to provide increased capacity and efficiency, and the final phase of the project will begin later this week as we undertake the installation of two automated carton erectors.

This cutting edge technology will reduce our need to use packaging void fill (air pillows) by an estimated 90%, improve the efficiency of carton transportation and product security, and as a result reduce our carbon footprint! Sourced from local supplier Sealed Air each machine is capable of producing 24 cartons per minute.

We will also be installing upgraded and additional dispatch sort lanes – which will enable much faster sortation of cartons for delivery by our transport partners.

To facilitate this final phase we are making minor changes for this week only to order cut off times. Please note;

• Our order cut off time will be extended on Thursday 17^th June to 5pm
• On Friday 18^th June our order cut off time will be midday, orders placed after this time will be picked on Monday 21^st June.
• We will revert back to our usual order cut off time of 3pm on Monday 21^st June.

 
We encourage you to place orders as early as possible on Friday 18^th June, prior to 12pm, as delivery may take up to three days as we catch up on the backlog of orders.

To minimise disruption to deliveries during this change period we are adding extra staff resources, working additional shifts (including weekends) and working closely with our transport partners in order to manage your orders as efficiently as possible.

These changes are the last step in a major change programme which will ensure that our state-of-the art distribution centre will operate more efficiently and sustainably, enabling us to provide you with further enhanced and industry-leading service. Over the last year we have already;

• Expanded our distribution centre by 7,400m² to a total of 22,400m², and added a 6,300m² enclosed canopy to ensure we can continue to operate safely in all-weather conditions

• Replaced our entire mechanical handling equipment fleet with 30 new electric powered models, retiring all our old, less efficient gas and electric models
• Installed an extensive array of 792 solar panels which provide over 22.5% of the power we use on-site. 

If you have any questions regarding these changes please contact your usual OfficeMax Account Manager or our contact centre team on 0800 426 473.

We apologise for any short term inconvenience these final changes may cause and look forward to providing you with enhanced, more sustainable and efficient service in the very near future.

Kind regards,

Kevin Obern
Managing Director