Barrus have officially opened their new garden tools distribution centre at Bicester.

The £2.5m  facility was opened by Gabriella Hart and Olivia Newall, granddaughters of EP Barrus chairman Robert Glen, who is the grandson of the company’s founder.

The new building houses six new computer-controlled parts picking machines and other upgrades to the production and servicing areas.

The 8000sq ft. centre is a clear span building to maximise floor space and provides dedicated storage for WOLF-Garten garden hand and powered tools and Wilkinson Sword garden tools. It services more than 1500 outlets including garden centres, garden machinery specialist dealers and major national retailers, with over 400 individual product lines available. Barrus are aiming to have 70% of all orders processed electronically by the latter part of the 2014 season.

The Kardex Shuttles, the latest technology in automated high bay storage and handling systems, are capable of carrying more than 22,000 product lines with a combined capacity of around 17 tonnes. The main distribution facility has moved from Bicester Garrison to the former RAF/USAF base at Upper Heyford providing a combined facility of more than 2 million cubic feet of warehousing.

MD Robert Muir said: “The garden tool business has gone from strength to strength for Barrus since the introduction of the WOLF-Garten brand in 2009 and Wilkinson Sword in 2010.

“Our modern, new facility and the investment in spare parts systems will assist in increasing our efficiencies and more importantly the service we provide to all our customers.”