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Distributor Expanding Capacity
from RV News Feb 2022
by ⌘ ⇧ ⌥
An artist’s rendition of Northern Wholesale Supply’s 110,000-square-foot warehouse. The warehouse is opening this spring.
Northern Wholesale Supply adds a 110,000-square-foot warehouse in 2022 to get more products to dealers more quickly.
By RV News Staff
Northern Wholesale Supply entered growth mode in 2022. On the heels of its 35th annual RV Super Show in Welch, Minnesota, the regional distributor is opening an additional 110,000-square-foot warehouse within a mile of its current facility.
Th e distributor is adding inventory and capacity to meet dealers’ increasing need for products, said Dean Kruchten, company director of sales and marketing. In addition to securing more total products, Northern Wholesale is adding more variety to increase the depth of its inventory, he said.
“We are laser focused on providing the best fi ll rate we can,” Kruchten said.
Operations in the new plant begin soon, with shipping from the warehouse scheduled to start in April. At that time, Northern Wholesale Supply will operate from three facilities, but Kruchten said the two main warehouses’ proximity will provide additional outbound capacity.
“Our customers are excited,” he said. “Th e speed and effi ciency in which we can pick and get orders to them is one of the biggest wins for us. Most important is that added inventory. We were bursting at the seams.”
Soaring demand and supply-chain constraints proved challenging in 2021. To meet the headwinds, Northern Wholesale implemented a new demand
planning system and software to prioritize deliveries. The company also invested by adding purchasing staff and logistics personnel.
The products the distributor manages are primarily from domestic suppliers, leading the company to invest in its outbound logistics more heavily than the inbound side. Investments were made to improve lead times, Kruchten said, as well as boost inventory levels.
“Our true logistics improvements have been outbound and in our outbound deliveries. That’s where we’ve focused on getting more efficient,” he said.
The changes will increase routes and deliveries to dealers as well as delivery capacity on each route. Due to finite truck space, Kruchten said expanding capacity will mean hiring more drivers, even as driver shortages make the process more challenging.
“Truly, some of the most critical positions in our company are the drivers,” he said. “They are acting and working with our customers every day of the week. They are in talking with them. They really are the face of Northern Wholesale Supply to our customers in many cases.”
The distributor’s December show generated voluminous orders. Dealers looked at their annual future needs during the show, Kruchten said, and placed orders with the expectation that the distributor would quickly fulfill them.
“Once we’ve taken all these orders, the challenge is to make sure to fulfill the dealers’ expectations,” he said.
The second challenge, he said, is ensuring Northern Wholesale Supply retains the inventory and capacity to fill orders as necessary throughout the year.
– Dean Kruchten
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