Procter & Gamble started work this week on a China distribution center the consumer products giant said would be the largest in Asia and an anchor of P&G’s goal to expand domestic and international distribution through China.

P&G, the world’s largest consumer goods company, is building the $100 million facility jointly with the local government in Guangzhou, the city about 80 miles north of Hong Kong that is a center of industrial manufacturing in Southern China.

The company did not provide details about the site, but published reports in the region said the distribution center would be highly automated and include a real-time transportation management system.

The work on the distribution center follows P&G’s announcement last month that it plans to invest $1 billion in China in the next five years, with the focus on manufacturing and research and development. The result will be more sales within China and greater international distribution out of the country.

“China is the P&G’s second-largest consumer market in the world following the United States, but per capita consumption is still far less than that of the U.S.,” P&G Chairman and CEO Bob McDonald told the China Daily last month.

            Source: JOC