Asda is planning a major restructure of its distribution management teams, which could affect more than 150 roles.
Under the proposals, which affect transport managers in all 21 of its depots, Asda plans to consolidate independent management teams into eight “regional control hubs”.
As the consultation is currently underway, Asda would not confirm how many jobs are potentially at risk. However The Telegraph, which first reported the restructure, said it could lead to more than 150 roles being cut.
Workers are being represented by the GMB Union, The Grocer understands.
Streamlining the structure of management teams would reduce duplication across its depots, as well as improve consistency and efficiency of service to stores, Asda said.
“We are proposing to introduce a new regional structure for our transport teams to simplify our distribution network and our deliveries to stores,” an Asda spokesman told The Grocer.
“This involves creating eight regional hubs with a regional transport office co-ordinating activity across each region. This approach would deliver several practical benefits, including reducing duplicated tasks, improving regional flexibility, creating more consistent ways of working, and lowering our reliance on agency and haulier support.”
Separately, Asda is also consulting with an unspecified number of colleagues ahead of proposed changes to its parcel delivery and collection network, following a new partnership with Evri announced in October.
Currently all 28 million annual parcels are processed through a single depot in Yorkshire. Bottlenecks meant it was no longer viable to meet customer demand for next-day delivery across all Asda stores, The Grocer understands.
To improve the system, and services offered to customers, Asda partnered with Evri to introduce parcel drop-off and collection points to all 1,200 Asda stores.
“We currently process over 28 million parcels a year through a network that was never designed for this level of demand,” the Asda spokesman said.
“As a result, fewer than half of our stores can offer next-day parcel collection – a service that customers now expect as standard from all major retailers. By partnering with Evri, all 1,200 Asda locations will be able to offer next-day collection and returns, providing customers with a quicker and more convenient service.”
Latest round of Asda job cuts as TDR cuts costs
The job cuts follow more than 200 redundancies from Asda’s IPL sourcing and logistics division as well as central office IT teams in March last year, as Asda’s private equity owner TDR continues to cut costs to pay off its £4bn debt pile and fund executive chairman Allan Leighton’s turnaround plan.
Asda is hoping to move on from what was nothing short of a disastrous Christmas, where it was the only major supermarket to lose sales. The downturn sparked a major sell-off of Asda bonds this week, with investors warning they are losing confidence in Asda’s turnaround plan.
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