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Supply Chain Central
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hen companies are looking to right-shore operations, manage costs and bring balance to a tangled global supply chain, there’s no more central place than Kansas. But companies have known that for far by A D A M longer than the most recent crunch. Over the past three years, Site Selection magazine’s Conway Projects Database has tracked more than 40 new investments in logistics facilities in the Sunflower State. How important is the industry? Among other indicators, logistics and distribution employees in Kansas have been considered essential workers as federal CARES Act funding was distributed. The sector is also essential to the state’s record-breaking economic development success, as Governor Laura Kelly announced in December 2021 that her administration had closed 312 private-sector economic development projects representing more than $3.69 billion in investments and more than 12,000 jobs.
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KANSAS: TO THE STARS
The logistics projects on that list help keep global commerce afloat. Walmart’s $200 million, 300-job fulfillment center is ramping up at Kanza Fire Commerce Park in Topeka. The company picked the site in 2019, two years after BRUNS its corporate PR staff blogged about Topeka in showcasing the retail giant’s support of U.S. manufacturing at the Mars Wrigley plant in the state capital. The project was supported by $150 million in industrial revenue bonds approved by Shawnee County commissioners. The facility is one of four Walmart DCs in the state (the others are in Ottawa, Edgerton and Kansas City, Kansas). Its 1.8-million-sq.-ft. footprint makes it the largest in the state. That’s even larger than the three facilities Amazon announced in 2020 in Park City, Wichita and Kansas City, Kansas (the e-commerce giant’s second facility in that municipality). Since 2010, Amazon has created more than 4,500 jobs in Kansas and invested more than $2.9 billion across the state, including infrastructure and compensation to employees.
