Ingram Content Group will open a new 96,000-sq.-ft. distribution facility in Milton Keynes, U.K., later this year, the company announced yesterday. According to the company, the site, which is located approximately two miles from the current Ingram-owned Lightning Source U.K. facility, will enable Ingram to better integrate its book distribution services, via National Book Network International (NBNi), with print-on-demand services, via Lightning Source.
Under the plan, NBNi, Ingram’s Plymouth-based global physical and digital book distributor, will move distribution operations to Milton Keynes. NBNi’s client services, publisher services, IT, and finance staff currently based in Plymouth will remain there. A staged transition will begin in the latter half of 2019 and be completed in early 2020, allowing the consolidation of all of Ingram’s U.K.-based book distribution services into one Ingram-owned location, Ingram said.
The new facility will also allow Ingram to move its full-service sales and distribution business, Ingram Publisher Services International, into the same location beginning in early 2020. IPS International currently uses Grantham Book Services to reach the U.K. and European markets.
“It has long been a goal of Ingram Publisher Services to have our own warehouse facility in the U.K. market,” IPS International v-p and general manager Sabrina McCarthy said in a statement. “This move enables us to provide truly integrated sales and inventory reporting for the U.S., U.K., and European markets, and a higher level of service for our distribution clients.”
