José Manuel Poblador (Madrid, 1974) has been at HiperDino for 17 years and, since 2012, has held the position of director of the company’s Logistics Department. Among his tasks is directing the four logistics centers that the company has, in addition to controlling the supply of the 231 stores of the chain, the 34 DinoShop stores and the provisions to ships, through H & H Stock & Food. With a team of 705 people in charge of him, he works simultaneously on large-scale projects such as the automation of the Telde platform, in Gran Canaria, and the expansion of the Güímar platform, in Tenerife.
What is HiperDino’s day-to-day like in the field of logistics?
The first thing that comes to mind when I think about our day to day is that our work is very intense, since the logistics of this company are especially complex and very different from other chains in the same sector. Without a doubt, I would say that our day-to-day is dynamic and intense, but very rewarding, and the 705 people who work on the company’s platforms have a lot to do with it, as well as the collaboration with external companies that support us in supplying to more than 265 points of sale every day.
In this sense, what are the singularities that occur in the chain when developing the business in the Archipelago and how do they face them?
The singularities that we find have to do mainly with the characteristics of our store network, the breadth of our assortment and the effects of insularity. There is great diversity in terms of the characteristics and supply needs of our establishments, since none is the same as another, and we create a tailored service for each one of them. In addition, the fact of operating in the Canary Islands leads us to the need for maritime transport to get from one place to another, in addition to getting the merchandise to our logistics centers from different points of the national and international territory.
To all this we must add that the company is in a period of growth, both in sales and in the number of establishments, which means that we are having certain limitations, especially in what has to do with our facilities. That is why in the last two years we have been developing many large-scale projects and others in parallel, in which technology plays a fundamental role.
What is the volume of work they generate?
We have four own logistics centers distributed between Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Lanzarote and La Palma, which have a total area of 90,000 square meters and in which 705 people work. In addition, we have a logistics operator service. Every day we deliver an average of 200,000 boxes per day and, for example, in October alone we carried out 21,000 services to our stores, bp establishments and ship deliveries. In that month alone we distributed 6,200,000 boxes and moved 83,200 pallets.
What are the main challenges they face?
The main challenges we face in the Logistics Department of HiperDino have to do with the pace of business expansion, the growth in the number of references that we have in our supermarkets and the implementation of technology in all our processes. To this we must add that the transport sector is being seriously affected by the economic and health environment that we have been experiencing in recent years, which forces us to work with high levels of uncertainty unimaginable until now.
What are the lines of work in which the focus has been placed?
One of the main lines of work that has marked me has to do with promoting a cultural change within the Department itself, with the aim of being more efficient in all our processes. This will allow us to be even better in aspects as important as the quality of the work we do, in addition to the correct conservation of all products and the service we provide to stores.
Automation is one of its latest bets. At what point is it? What will favor?
The automation of part of our logistics center in Telde will soon be a reality and, among its main advantages, it will allow greater use of space. After investing seven million euros, this project is in the final stretch for its implementation, with the adaptation to the computer system, an aspect that requires hard work. We are confident that it will be fully operational in the first quarter of 2022.
In addition, other advantages that it will provide are related to the reduction of errors and more ergonomic workstations for workers.
What are the goals you have set for yourself in the short and long term?
In the short term we have set ourselves two large-scale projects: the automation of Telde and the expansion of more than 14,000 square meters of the Güímar logistics center, after buying a warehouse next to the current one.
These are two very important projects that we develop, in turn, with another ten additional microprojects, always supervising that our day to day continues to go in the best way.
The other smaller projects, but no less important for that, have to do with the digitization of our administrative processes and the consequent reduction of the paper we generate, as well as the real-time monitoring and control of our distribution channels, to guarantee the correct conservation of our products in all its stages until it reaches the final customer.
