Content about Distribution center

“The concept of consistent, incremental improvement applies to just about everything we do,” said Ron Beal, the CEO of Memphis, Tenn.-based distributor Orgill.


In that sentence, Beal captured the essence of the distributor’s spirit of improvement. There’s no single hero, no silver bullet and no rainmaker. Instead, Beal describes an environment of measuring, benchmarking and improving. And the results were impressive in 2010, a difficult year for home products. Orgill posted 2010 sales of $1.179 billion, up 9.3% over $1.079 billion in the prior year. 


LAKE PARK, Ga. —An automated, mechanized distribution center is an amazing spectacle. Products whiz around elaborate conveyor belts at 450 ft. per minute, as if each package had a mind of its own. Thanks to precision placement of laser scanners, sorting shoes will perfectly time their push across the conveyor, gently nudging the right product to the right chute, and hence, the right store.

When watched from above, the entire system takes on a kind of artificial intelligence.