Europe’s most advanced book distribution centre opens!

In 2015 Hachette UK announced its plan to build a state-of-the-art book distribution centre, representing a major investment in printed books. On April 9, 2019, the Hely Hutchinson Centre, is officially opened by Tim Hely Hutchinson, Ex-CEO of Hachette UK.

The centre represents a substantial investment programme by Hachette’s parent company, Hachette Livre, including the replacement of Hachette’s Vista warehouse management and sales order processing systems, with modern, market-leading software solutions from suppliers including SAP and JDA. Combining leading edge technology with great vision and a wealth of experience in distribution, building work began on the centre, the most advanced of its kind in Europe, in 2016. The first publisher – Octopus Publishing Group – moved in in August 2018.  All the publishers within the Hachette UK group and the third-party publishers distributed by Hachette will be distributed from the site by the end of the second quarter of 2019.

Bookpoint, Hachette’s distribution centre close-by in Didcot, will remain in service as a bulk storage area for the Hely Hutchinson Centre.

At the occasion, David Shelley, CEO of Hachette UK said, “The Hely Hutchinson Centre is a sign of Hachette’s present and future commitment to great service and of our ambition to become an even bigger player in print distribution than we already are. Our aim is to become the UK’s centre of excellence for distributing Hachette’s books all over the world as well as those of our very valued third-party publishing clients – and we hope many more clients who are yet to join us.  Our ambition is to deliver one in every two books sold in the UK because, quite simply, we have the best site, the best technology and the best people working with us.”

While, Chris Emerson, COO of Hachette UK, said, “The challenges of our changing market and shifting retail landscape means that our customers want a faster, more complex, bespoke distribution service.  Our response to this challenge has been to build the most advanced book distribution supply chain in Europe. The scale, design and creation of the Hely Hutchinson Centre and the systems within it is statement to the ambition of our business.”

“The centre provides an unrivalled, world class service for our publishers, authors and customers now and in the future. We are enormously proud of the cutting-edge systems and technology and the amazingly talented and knowledgeable team that deliver this,” said Joanne Westbrook, COO of Hachette UK Distribution.