Following the fire at Sony DADC’s distribution centre in Enfield, North London, during the riots which resulted in the loss of the building, the company announced collaboration agreements with Cinram and Cert Octavian to accommodate its supply chain operations.

“Within an hour after the incident at Enfield, Sony DADC’s Disaster Recovery Plan was in place and enabled a crisis team to start action. As quickly as 9 August, we started to re-manufacture destroyed product and expanded Direct-to-Retail shipments from our Southwater production facility, which was not affected by the riots” explains Darren Houghton, Managing Director UK Distribution at Sony DADC.

Sony says that by utilizing a multi-site approach, it guaranteed that not a single order or EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) was lost, and all IT systems and services were up and running and not affected by the fires.

Two interim locations for warehousing solutions have been identified, operated by Cert Octavian and Cinram. 80% of the Enfield volume will now be managed out of Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, where Cert Octavian has offered Sony DADC use of storage and distribution facilities at their main hub, just 10 miles from Sony DADC’s Enfield distribution centre.

The agreement with Cinram, that makes up the other 20% of Enfield volume, provides for fully automated distribution services for Sony Pictures’ products, including pick, pack and ship services using pick-by-light technology and include value added services and returns. The service will be run from Cinram’s retail distribution warehouse in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, within reach of central London and the Midlands.

“Cinram has a large manufacturing and distribution footprint across Europe and we have reached out to our European facilities in order to support the home entertainment industry with as much capacity as possible,” said Mark O’Connor, Cinram’s UK Managing Director. “Cinram is making every effort to support sales of packaged media and help the industry bounce back from this incident. […]. Assisting in this way will ensure effective and efficient delivery to UK retailers and consumers. We continue to offer additional manufacturing and distribution services to Sony DADC as the need arises.”

“The level of support we have received from our customers, Sony affiliate companies, local distribution centres and other companies from within the industry has been remarkable,” comments Houghton. “Our staff members have been incredibly supportive, often working extended hours to make a fast contingency solution happen as quickly and smoothly as possible” he continues.

Three teenagers – two 17-year-old boys and one aged 18 – have been arrested by the police over the distribution facility fire which destroyed stocks from more than 150 record labels in addition to Sony’s own disc holdings. Initial estimates of the affected parties’ property destroyed by the fire are far in excess of £30m.

Story filed 24.08.11