Abbyson Opens New Flagship Distribution Center

August 14, 2019  by Laurie Northington in Business Strategy, Designer Weekly, Industry   

The new distribution center is centrally located to major shipping hubs in the Los Angeles area including ports, freeways and third-party carriers, making it an ideal location for optimal distribution.

“Investing in our supply chain and this new mega-distribution center will allow us to significantly increase our efficiency in every aspect of our company; from nearly doubling our inventory capacity to optimizing order processing and decreasing shipping times,” said Doddy Rafieha, EVP.

The new distribution center will be designed to stock more than 2 million cubic feet of expansive product staging areas and is equipped with 75 shipping and receiving docks, 36-foot rack heights and an expansive 50,000 pallet positions, giving the company nearly triple its previous storage footprint.

Abbyson has additionally invested in advanced equipment such as electric pallet jacks which will quickly move high volumes of product and Turret forklifts which allow for operation in 6-foot narrow aisles, significantly decreasing the space needed between aisles of product than those needed for standard forklifts. Technologies such as Infolink will also give the ability to autopilot forklifts to picking locations and reduce picking errors, thus reducing labor and returns. With the increased equipment and technologies will come the investment in a TMS system which will link with third party carriers to provide up to date tracking for customers and a more streamlined internal fulfilment process.

Abbyson has plans to process and fulfill orders twice as quickly, increasing the percentage of same day shipping, with the overall goal of 24 to 48-hour shipments. Along with the increase in warehousing efficiency, the company plans to operate their distribution center on two shifts, expanding their hours of operation to significantly increase productivity.

“We had outgrown our current warehouse facility,” said Rafieha. “Rather than adding additional warehousing facilities, we invested in one large distribution center that not only combines all of our West Coast inventory under one roof but allows for further expansion and improves our entire business model.”

The Redlands location will also be a multi-purpose facility that will include showroom and office space, a full-sized product photography studio, the headquarters for their Ace Home Delivery final mile service, as well as serve as their West Coast flagship distribution center.