The situation

 During COVID, demand surged as customers invested in their kitchens, and since then both the retail and online sides of the business have continued to expand rapidly.

To keep up, the company opened a 17,000m² national distribution centre in Epping, Melbourne. This facility now supports store replenishment, container unloads, and thousands of individual ecommerce orders every week.

The challenge

The scale of the Epping facility created immediate complexity. Kitchen Warehouse needed a system that could seamlessly support both carton picks for stores and small picks for individual online orders, without creating inefficiencies or inventory duplication.

As Troy Amos, Kitchen Warehouse’s Operations Manager, explains, “We’re running about 8,000 SKUs, with around 20% of those developed in-house. Plus, the warehouse has to serve both store replenishment and direct-to-customer orders, which means it’s really two businesses in one.”

Kitchen Warehouse had to manage:

• Dual functions: bulk replenishment for stores and individual ecommerce picks.
• Rapid peaks, with orders surging from 7,000 a week to four times that during Black Friday and Christmas.
• Growth pressure: a store network expected to double to 60 locations within a few years.

Initially, the operation relied heavily on paper-based processes, with long walking paths for pickers and high labour costs. “We were picking whole orders on paper, on a trolley, into a tote. It was just a huge undertaking.”

The business needed a warehouse management system that could intelligently coordinate retail and ecommerce flows, scale seamlessly, and reduce manual inefficiencies.

“Our products aren’t sold as kits. A customer might buy a dinner plate and a microwave oven together, so trying to do it by category didn’t make sense,” Troy said. “We had to completely rethink our pick and pack process once we moved in here. At this scale, what worked in a 2,000m² shed just didn’t translate to 17,000m².”

The solution

Kitchen Warehouse implemented Thomax .wms, tailored to the dual demands of its retail and ecommerce channels. The system introduced structured pick paths, zoning, and put walls to reduce walking distance and consolidate orders more efficiently.

“It’s a single system, but it caters for both,” Troy explained. “The ecommerce is based on pickfaces, while the store distribution is based on home bins for bulk quantities. But it’s all one lot of inventory, picked from the same warehouse.”

Thomax’s .wms also removed reliance on individual operator knowledge. Instead of paper runs and memorised stock locations, new staff could be onboarded within days. “For peak we’ll put on an extra hundred people,” Troy said. “They can come in with very little knowledge, and they can be up and running in a week because the system just leads them through it.”

Crucially, Thomax meets regularly with Kitchen Warehouse to refine pick paths, zoning, and processes.

“Almost monthly we’re changing things: pick paths, zoning, processes. It’s collaborative. We come to the table with ideas, and Thomax bring the experience of other warehouses. Together we’ve flipped our operations on their head in just three years.”

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The results

The new system has delivered dramatic improvements across efficiency, scalability, and cost:

• 40% reduction in initial site cost per fulfilment at the new facility.
• Faster picking and higher units per hour, with clear KPI improvements.
• Seamless scalability: The warehouse now handles seasonal surges of up to 28s,000 orders a day without bottlenecks.
• Error reduction: Automation of data, picking, and carton allocation reduces mistakes and improves customer satisfaction.
• Sustainability gains: Moving to paperless operations has saved thousands of sheets per week.

“WMS is rarely wrong. If there’s an error, it’s usually human data entry, and it’s easy to fix. The system is rock solid,” Troy says.

The system has proven critical for handling growth and peak periods. On a typical Monday, the team can clear 3,000 accumulated weekend orders, while during Christmas or Black Friday sales they can quadruple daily throughput. The WMS prioritises orders automatically, balancing express shipments, singles, and consolidated picks across different benches.

And because the system removes pauses and guesswork, scaling the workforce is far simpler. “Those little moments where people stop to think ‘what’s next’ – they’re gone. That’s money saved and orders out the door faster,” Troy said.

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Final thoughts

For Troy, Thomax .wms has been more than software, it’s been a foundation for growth.

“We’re still a relatively young facility, but already we know we’ll be at capacity within four years. Each time we hit a new growth point, we sit down with Thomax and work out how to do things differently. Scalability is everything. You don’t want to be reinventing the wheel every year. With .wms, the foundation is set, it just flexes as we do.”

With plans to double their store footprint and continue expanding online, Kitchen Warehouse is confident their warehouse operations can keep pace.

“Without the changes we’ve made with .wms, we simply couldn’t hit the numbers we do today,” Troy said. “It has allowed us to keep growing and keep customers happy.”