t innovation, enhance staff retention, help to meet its sustainability goals, and pave the way for greater investment in artificial intelligence. Inside Retail: Tell me about Freedom’s new DC? Why did Freedom decide to make this investment, and how will the company benefit from it? Pascal Kouknas: We had been in our old DC in Knoxfield for a while. It was a pretty quiet place, and Covid-19 made it clear to us that it had some limitations we needed to address. At one stage during that period, we had five or six off-sites [other locations where Freedom performed logistical duties] So the business and I decided that we had to find something that was safer, gave customers better outcomes, and enabled greater efficiencies that we were looking to deliver for the business. We started the process in June 2022, and the project progressed rather quickly. We moved in – with practical completion – in August this year. IR: How will this new DC benefit customers? PK: In a variety of ways. Firstly, we will be a lot more efficient coming out of the DC, and we can turn products around much quicker than before. The process of a container arriving, to it being delivered to customers, could have taken many days in the old DC. In this new facility, we have been able to reduce this time significantly. We can unload five or six containers at a time, which we had never been able to do before. It also gives us the opportunity to have different storage options. For example, we brought in a new product range earlier this year, which involves a much heavier type of product. Here, we can move the products around more safely than in the past. IR: How will the new DC help to meet Freedom’s sustainability goals? PK: This is our first significant sustainability investment from a logistical perspective. There’s a variety of sustainability features in this location. It includes a 100-kilowatt solar power system, water-efficient rainwater harvesting, double glazed windows which bring in natural light, and foil-faced insulation throughout. The new DC also has LED lighting with motion sensors, vertical gardens in the reception area and the lunchroom, and enhanced air quality systems in place. All of this – in addition to end-of-trip facilities such as bike racks, lockers, and filtered water – lead to a better working environment for our staff. There are sustainability activities happening in other areas of the business, but from a logistics perspective – this is certainly the start of things to come. IR: Can you discuss how the current macroeconomic environment affected the move? Did it accelerate the transition to the new DC? PK: I think the lessons we learned through the Covid-19 period with the container and space shortages meant that we wanted to de-risk the business, and avoid some of these challenges – insomuch as what’s possible within our control – moving forward. For employees, the foremost thing about the new DC is the safety aspect. It’s a safer environment to work in with a lot more free and visible space. Moving equipment is significantly safer than what we’ve had in the past. Emphasising this was also paramount to the transition. IR: How competitive is the furniture industry with regard to logistics? Is that part of the reason why Freedom moved so quickly? PK: Customers have certain expectations regarding cost and product innovation, and Freedom wants to be able to meet and exceed that expectation. The facilities that we have can either create hurdles, or lead to greater opportunities – and we didn’t want our DC to be a hurdle. We wanted to allow our goods to flow through this place seamlessly. IR: What are Freedom’s logistics plans moving forward? PK: We have numerous initiatives underway. A lot of them are around simplification and removing the complexities that exist in our business. We’re starting to experiment with artificial intelligence and automation tools to enhance our efficiency – but it’s a long journey, requiring a multi-year investment. Regarding how we’ll deploy this technology – it won’t be specific to a particular area. Rather, Freedom is looking for opportunities where we can use AI and automation tools to make quick progress in our stock management, or in areas where we’re maturing, and are looking to extract that last extra bit.