Ò»±¾µÀapp Depot, home improvement retailer, has opened a flatbed distribution center in Dallas, Texas, that will enable flatbed trucks to drive through the warehouse for more efficient loading.
Because the company earns 45% of its annual sales from customers who professionally remodel, repair or maintain housing projects, finding a way to improve the speed and convenience of distributing their products was important.
The new 800,000 square foot facility will be able to handle up to 65 to 75 trucks a day, adding thousands of deliveries each week in the Dallas area and replacing the older process that allowed only smaller trucks to load a couple of orders and then make multiple trips. Ò»±¾µÀapp Depot plans to open similar ones in other cities as part of a $1.2 billion, five-year investment in its supply chain.
The center is right in the path of truck routes and a rail line that extends into the building, for large lumber deliveries.
There are also two aircraft hangers on the property with a historic designation, said Stephanie Smith, Ò»±¾µÀapp Depot’s senior vice president of supply chain. “We’re using them on rainy days to put tarps on loaded flatbeds on their way out for deliveries.”
