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INDUSTRY TRENDS
from BPD July 2021
Orgill’s new DC in NY to benefi t entire distribution network
In the fastest start-to-fi nish completion of a ground-up distribution center in the company’s modern history, Orgill has announced that its new Rome, N.Y., facility is now fully operational and has begun servicing customers in an eightstate region in the coming weeks.
The Rome site is Orgill’s eighth distribution center, joining existing facilities in Tifton, Ga.; Inwood, W.V.; Sikeston, Mo.; Kilgore, Tx.; Post Falls, Id.; Hurricane, Ut.; and London, Ont.
The new facility serves dealers in New York, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and northeastern Pennsylvania. It eff ectively doubles Orgill’s distribution capacity in the region.
“We are extremely pleased that our Rome distribution center is now online to provide even better service, speed and responsiveness to our customers,” said president/CEO Boyden Moore.
“We broke ground on the facility in April 2020, just as the COVID-19 pandemic was hitting, nevertheless we were able to push through and get the facility built in record time,” Moore added. “We are truly appreciative of our amazing team in Rome, our construction partners and the local offi cials who helped us in this process and whose efforts will result in improved service to our customers.”
Plans for the 780,000-sq. ft. facility were fi rst announced in the spring of 2019 as a way to better accommodate Orgill’s growth throughout the Northeast and mid-Atlantic regions. However, the impact of the new DC will be felt beyond its immediate service area.
“Adding the Rome distribution center to our network will undoubtedly help us provide more effi cient service to the customers in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic areas, but adding a large facility like this also has a ripple eff ect on the other distribution centers in our network,” said Randy Williams, executive VP of distribution. “In reality, Rome will create greater capacity at almost all of our DCs and allow us to better service our growing customer base across much of our service areas.”
Williams said the Rome facility will serve as a proving ground for new distribution and logistics best practices that Orgill can learn from and roll out to other DCs in the future.
For example, the DC was designed using what’s known as a very-narrowaisle (VNA) layout. As the name suggests, this uses aisles that are more narrowly spaced and special equipment to navigate those aisles. The narrower aisle spacing allows for more merchandise to be stocked in less space.
The VNA layout is just one example of Orgill’s commitment to leading-edge distribution practices and technology to better service its customers, according to Mark Scanlon, VP of Northeast distribution. “In addition to the VNA layout, the Rome facility also takes advantage of features such as utilizing a multi-tiered conveyor system instead of the traditional spiral conveyor. The multi-tiered system is more effi cient and helps reduce any unwanted slowdowns if there are any issues with the conveyor. The DC was also designed with receiving docks on one side of the main aisle and shipping docks on the other side. This will reduce congestion and create a more natural product fl ow.”
Another fi rst for the Rome DC is the hiring of an employee who will serve in a tech support role dedicated to ensuring the facility fi nds ways to use technology to enhance the overall operations and interactions with customers.
“The creation of this position is an important step for us as we continue to look for ways we can harness technology through all aspects of our operation to create effi ciencies, improve customer service and better fulfi ll our mission,” Williams said. “We will defi nitely learn from this new addition to the team and use those lessons to see how we can improve our entire distribution operation.”
Orgill has not fi nished growing. Its next move is to nearly double the size of its Utah distribution center, adding more than 425,000 sq. ft. of under-roof storage at the facility as well as new systems to improve workfl ow.
“Eff ective and effi cient distribution of products is at the heart of what we do and it is core to how we ensure that our customers can manage and run their businesses profi tably,” Moore said. “Just because we have one of the most modern distribution networks in the industry doesn’t mean we are going to shy away from making investments and incremental improvements wherever possible.”
THE POSSIBILITIES KEEP GROWING:
Nature’s majestic pillars.
