Toshiba on the move

Number one notebook vendor Toshiba is mobilising its entire company as it shifts to new headquarters in North Ryde while relocating its warehouse and service centre to Homebush.

The new four-story head office at 12-24 Talavera Road opens its doors April 18 and is only a few blocks from the familiar two-story building which has been home to Toshiba’s Australian operations for some 20 years.

It will also bring together the company’s lesser-known electronic imaging and medical divisions along with the local R&D team, which were previously located at two separate North Ryde sites.

While the 350 staff from all four arms of Toshiba Australia settle into life under one roof, the company’s warehouse, spare parts division and MobileCare notebook service centre will move some 10km south-west to former Ford Motors factory at The Campus Business Park, 350 Parramatta Road, Homebush.

Mark Whittard, general manager of Toshiba ISD Australia, told CRN that the 6500 square metre Homebush hub was purpose-built to offer better facilities than the former 4500 square metre warehouse, as well as enjoying increased proximity to the airport and major traffic routes.

“We’ve gone from two loading bays to five, so we can move stuff in and out extremely quickly compared to today.”

Toshiba ISD currently process around 1200 orders each day, which Whittard says equates to 8000 items or 1,400kg on a daily basis.

“Towards the back end of the month is the busiest time, as well as key dates throughout the month when we have to match up with the drop dates for catalogues.

“The significantly greater capacity means greater stockholding, so our channel partners will enjoy a quicker turnaround. We’ve also got the ability to receive and dispatch very quickly. The new warehouse has state of the art storage technology, and we certainly have plans to implement Tablet PCs and RFID tags in the future”.

Locating the MobileCare notebook service centre at Homebush also made sense for customers, said Whittard. “It’s very central to all of Sydney and there’s much more parking than at North Ryde.”

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