Sainsbury’s has announced major plans to restructure its logistics operations in a move which will affect around 7,000 staff.
The big four supermarket chain said the decision, which come as part of a £220million investment over the next three years, would provide “better service and availability for customers”.
Sainsbury's also noted that no one would lose their job during the shakeup.
As part of the restructuring, Sainsbury's will stitch together multiple different logistics contracts into just three, each dealing with a different type of product by 2024.
These will be across transport, food and general merchandise, and clothing.
Previously Sainsbury's had different contracts for different products in different locations.
However, now the contracts with its three partners will be nationwide and these partners are: DHL, Wincanton and GXO Logistics.
The plan will see around 3,000 Sainsbury’s and Argos staff transfer to one of the three logistics companies.
An additional 4,000, who currently work for one of the three, will move to another one of the partner businesses.
The terms of the employment for staff affected are covered by TUPE regulations and Sainsbury's said "no one will have to move to a new place of work".
Employees were informed of the plans this morning and Sainsbury's said it would work closely with staff, unions and partners to support those impacted over the next 15 months.
Sainsbury's chief executive officer Simon Roberts said: "We know these are big, bold changes and we have invested a huge amount of time planning this transformation to make sure it is successful.
"We believe our logistics and fulfilment operation will be one of our key competitive advantages in the future and today's announcement will benefit our whole network through knowledge sharing and increased innovation.
"We're confident that these changes will help us continue to invest where it will make the most impact for customers, now and in the future.
Sainsbury's said that GXO had won the contract to help run several fresh and frozen food warehouses, while Wincanton will deal with the transport operations across most of the network.
DHL will deal with the general merchandise network, which includes Argos, Habitat and Tu Clothing.
This also includes its warehouses and transport for large general merchandise items for home delivery.
