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'Perl\ins (www.perkins1.com)
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is a distributor of food I

.service paper products, specialty . . . ., ..., and bakery foods, restaurant equipment, and sanitary supplies serving New England . .
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and the Mid-Atlantic.states. The company has just completed a 21/2 'year process of planning, building, and 'moving into . their new headquarters 'and distribution
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center.

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As the company grew' and acquired other companies, it wound UP operating out of six different location~. Over time' it became increas-' ingly apparent that this ~ollection of' facilities was not able to ettec..1 ' . . '.

tively support the business. Gary Perkins is the President and CEO while Larry Perkins is the company's ChiefOpcrating Officer (COO). Larry offercd,"We had duplicate inventory in these locations and " we had 'five trucks and five drivers whose sale activity was moving ... inventory around between these locations: We were becoming less profitable in terms of return on sales even though total revenues continued to go up. '
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"Growthof SKUs created bottlenecks in.the warehouse' at the, stor>ageand plcklng slots and at the loading docks. 'Introduction of new .oroductcategorleswas stymied. And'when we acqulred companies ,\ther~ w'as no opportunltv 'fold thekoperations into our existing , . facilities. This causedus to squander efflclency realization."
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:'P~ople/from,thecompanY.'.tra~/eiect~~d'~ visited, other best-in-class .: facilities'to' see.wh:atothe:r-comp~nI~~w~redoIng.They also hired' a consSlting fi'rm:th:~tspe8i~lizesjn'facilitiesPlanning"an'd design to . workwith them ~~th:~d~~ig~ofth~i:r:~~wlocation. There wer~three mai~ steps in th~>!pro~~s~:Th'e:fi~~t;step wasto figure, ba~ed on ifwentory requirements, the size

of the new facility they needed. The

.second step was to choose the. location for the facility and the last step was to-design the operating procedures and systems and the building itself.

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ESSENTIALS

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IN THE REAL WORLD

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They analyzed the business and created projections for the growth. of sales in each of their product categories. Design of the new build. ing was based on six-year projections. "This means one year to build . the building and five years of growth afterthat," saldLarry "We can
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go from a total of around 348,000 square feet now to 530,000 squareteettn the fLlture.We looked forproperty that would accornrnodate this~ize ofa facilityas'weJras provide us with space to expand later. We found theperfect location logistically but could not findthe right land-~owekePt needs, and our budget.
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looking In concentric circles out from

there until we found a property that fit our needs, our personnel's
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"Then we n~ededto decide what kin9 of warehouse operating pro-.. ceduresand<syst~rns touse: Different klnds of inventory and dif- . ferent product categories had different needs. In effect, what we did was to wrap the niew buiilding around the inventory. We designed five kinds of aisles-conventional aisles, very narrow aisles, two kinds of high velocity" storage aisles with a pick tunnel, and carousels. Each aisle has its owntypes of pallet positions and pick- . ing slots. The high velocity pick aisles accommodate' our fastest turning items. The conventional aisles 'are for the items that are picked' over 10 times per week and the very narrow aisles arc for items we pick 10 or less times a week. Th,ecarousels handle sm~11.. box items or broken cases." .. The oew facility was also designed to:accommodate other needs: i I:: .:. .': ... ::::. ::.... . ..... .: ... : ... '::.:;::::::<:.'.: . I: .:. < ... .:::. .... There are very deep loading docks toallowfast loading and unloading of trucks.The:::IOadingd()Cks<al~():aCC():nlrilodate cross docl\ing.> There. are. parts

of the

warellouse'\vhhdifferenftemperatures'-:

ambient room temperature, frozen temperature, and/ also' a cool , termperature area to support new product lines.
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A lot of thought went into the design of the adrnlnistratlve and trainIng areas of the facility and into an area to showcase equipment and supplies that the company sells. "We actually built these areas to

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THE REAL

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~:accolT1rnocJ(Jtc LOycarproiecticns."

said Larry. ;'Wc't,ave a mutt)

'Iar'ger auditorium for group meetings and presentations. And we )~dded atest kitchen to support in-house meals and "cuttings" of "'f~ods'being consldereo tor-stocking.The t~st kitchen also sh~w.cases.our.restaurant equipment offerings. The site layout, technical ... )~ .:;,::~c:a'pabilities, size, and design features make this one of the best :-c{{i:f()'odservi'ce distribution facilities in the country."
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move into the .newfacility, timing and coordination .~j~!kwere critical. "We moved our smaller locations into the building first. " ,!;\;':';'~~' 'j'" I'"~ .! " '. ,',".' . .', . . , ' ; .1;i).I(gave us time to tryout new procedures and debug them. We use '?_~1?::,;:::' ~r:W'>R F(~~diofrequency) and bar coding for receiving. drops, picking; and :>; :::):,;.,:. " ',:' . -: . . . .:t);:iriVentorycontrol. We use picking techniques like route picking and . @:\tfavepicking.We needed to train our people, tryout the technology, . ~:fand:make adjustments without disrupting our ongoing business."
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'iJhecost of building the new facility will be paid for by increased :toper~tingefficiencies lnthe next two to three years. Efficiencies will .
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'also be gained in reduced rent and utilities costs; lower inventory ':carryingcosts,' and reduced operating expenses. Larry pointed out ':::::<'~~.-:, -.::, ." :: '. , ::'. . . .' . some other significant benefits, "All my competitors have the same
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!p'roductsthat I do sol need to offer other capabilities to attract cus,tgmers. Nowwe can provide increased customer service levels and ':'~::Jange of other offerings to customers. This facility is also very, .. ...eneflclal inhelpingus to attrectandretalnrgoodpeopte. People-,: f:8:::'r;:~\:?~:{::,-:' :';:' >~,,:::.::::' ">' ',;:'.::;:::-::>=-:<: :':;' :': :':.:;"(:,::: '_::.,:.,:;';::::,:::::' :'. ::~:: :)/,:' ':::: :,,: .. :, .: .. ' .: 0.:like:to be associated with .success. '>':,': :": :.. :..... :. . .. .. ".
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A.~r~(company:.enters lnto.anewpriase.ot.lts growth; havmgtherlght .. '.. ,''(1:;.\;.'.:::::':':''',:: '. .... ..:.:- .' '.:."":"',' '.' .,''' ..... '>0:' -,:>:":.: :......... ':'.:::::'::.....'.... :,: ...: ..:......' ''. ::...,-.,.. ," ....... ;... :.' :' .' facilities to support that growth are key.to its continued success. ~arrY.:Perkins summed-up thecompany'smove
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:~ge:rn'entteamthe last few y~ars'haSbeenbUriedby ~\~mandsof just,running the business because

of the complexityof

the davto-dav

tiJ~)l~!\Now with this move 'we can get back to focusing on howto "a~e the business more efficient and looking into the more long ~Jr~rgr6wthand profit issues."," .' . . .
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