New MoD Donnington hub: Supply site will drive £500m of spending

Defence Procurement Minister Harriett Baldwin unveiled a plaque to mark the completion of work on the new Defence Fulfilment Centre for the Ministry of Defence in Donnington.

American company Leidos was awarded a 13-year contract worth about £6.7 billion to run the Ministry of Defence's storage, distribution and commodity buying operations in April 2015.

The first turf was cut on the state-of-the-art logistics warehouse off Hortonwood 50 later that year, and the Minister visited to mark the end of work on the two cavernous warehouses.

She said: "This means we are bringing 21st century logistics into 21st century military campaigns.

"There has been no military campaign in history that hasn't been won based on how well we supply an armed force.

"It's an incredibly important hub. Leidos have done a lot of analysis which shows it is a great location. We want to ensure the supply lines are short and efficient and we have an automated process that picks things quickly and ensures the armed forces get what they need very quickly."

She added that the savings generated via the site, which will employ about 200 people and will use automated systems to deliver goods to the front-line, will be reinvested in the UK military.

"We expect this to lead to savings of £500 million in terms of logistics costs in the next decade," Ms Baldwin said.

"People should notice things coming through more quickly, and more efficiently, and they should notice that the process of asking for those things is more straightforward and that they are being equipped with more equipment because the savings generated are being invested in more ships, more vehicles, more planes for our armed forces."

She added: "Obviously for the local area there has been economic benefit in the jobs created in building this facility.

"Now that it has been completed it will also bring jobs, with people relocated from other parts of the supply chain for the armed forces, moving to Team Leidos as part of this.

"That brings new people to the area, their families, their spending, their salaries. It's good for this part of the world, but this is also good for our armed forces."

The 80,000 sq ft centre is the size of 10 football pitches, and came to Telford after a significant campaign by Telford & Wrekin Council. The storage and retrieval system put in place is able to pick more than 1,000 items per hour from the huge racking around the warehouses.

The site is likely to employ about 200 people at the site itself – a figure which could increase over time. It will be managed by Kuehne + Nagel(, the logistics company, on behalf of Leidos.

While the majority of staff are either existing Donnington workers or relocating from other parts of the country, it is expected that vacancies will come up in the next few years which will create opportunities for people in Shropshire.

General Paul Jaques, the chief of material (land) in the MoD's Defence Equipment and Support operation, said: "It will improve what we can do to support the Army, Navy and Air Force. It's a very important element of being able to support all our armed forces.

"It's modern, new and efficient and it's the cornerstone of starting to make efficiencies and spending less tax payers' money on supporting logistics.

"There will be in the order of 200 jobs operating across the warehouse. It brings security to the people working here at the moment and I believe we will see an overall growth in employment."

Roger West, director of logistics delivery for DE&S, added: "We have seen a lot of interest from other countries' logistics people in what we are doing here in terms of making a fundamental change to the way the military does logistics."

"One of the great facts of this programme is it we have been able to transfer a significant element of the MoD workforce into Team Leidos. These are people who have supported the MoD for many years and are now bringing that experience to bear in working alongside the innovations of Khuene and Nagel and other partners.

"We are lucky in that regard, but without being rude our workforce is slightly ageing, and many will want to retire and that brings opportunities to bring on local employees to make good that shortfall.

"It's an incredible day for all of us and all our partners. So many people put such hard work and long hours into making this programme a reality and it's a day for all of them to sit back and think about what they have been able to do."

Angie Heise, president of the civil group in Leidos, said: "For the group this is a first step in our overall transformation of the logistics programme for the UK armed forces.

"I'm particularly proud of the team for driving this facility in a matter of 12 months, on time and on budget."