Unilever, one of the world’s leading suppliers of fast moving consumer goods in foods, householdand personal care products, has appointed Exel to be its partner in managing a custom
built multi-user ‘Chom Chao’ Distribution Centre (DC) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The ability tocreate this world-class facility is an important step in the development of Cambodia as Exel andUnilever will contribute to the creating local employment via the introduction of supply chainservices, solutions and industry knowledge.With a capacity to handle well over 1 million cartons of Unilever products in the first year ofoperations, this DC will help Unilever meet the growing demands for its brands more efficientlythrough increased stock availability and faster response to market requirements. Exel has beenestablished in Cambodia since 1998 and employs over 40 people. By currently operating more than 30distribution facilities for Unilever worldwide, this enables the company to leverage on globalresources, apply advanced technologies and industry-focused expertise. Exel will help Unileverachieve competitive advantage and manage change by improving the flow of materials, information andproducts across the supply chain. Exel will operate the DC and manage transportation operations,initially serving approximately 11 distributors in Cambodia. The ‘state-of–the-art’ facilitydeploys the most advanced storage and handling technologies. Exel has worked hard with Unilever todevelop the concept over the past nine months and construction was completed in record time of lessthan three months and within budget.
The facility is one of the largest and most modern DCs in Cambodia and is based on modernwarehousing techniques and features with its highest racking system in Cambodia for the storage ofproducts. Exel will need to use of special forklifts that are capable of lifting or retrievingproducts from a height of 10.6m which is a first for the Kingdom of Cambodia.
The growth in Unilever’s business and in the businesses of their partners, coupled with thestability of the country and its progressive economic policies, led to the formal launch ofUnilever (Cambodia) Limited in November 2003. This was a strong reflection of Unilever’s belief inand commitment to the progress and prosperity of the Kingdom of Cambodia. Through Unilever(Cambodia), the company has accelerated the investment behind their brands thereby giving directand indirect employment opportunities to the people of Cambodia.
