Dive Brief:
- Marshalltown, a company that supplies tools and products for Lowe's and The Home Depot, is building a new $27 million distribution center in Kansas City, Kansas, according to an Aug. 30 press release.
- Rapid growth has pushed capacity at the company’s current facilities, COO Jack Murders told Supply Chain Dive in an email. The new center will provide a direct link with the company’s locations in Arkansas and Iowa and serve as a vital hub for its operations, he added.
- The Kansas center will include robotics and automation, setting a “new standard for their distribution operations” and enable efficient handling of products, according to the release.
Dive Insight:
The Kansas City has been a strategic choice when it comes to adding warehouse distribution services as it can reach the contiguous U.S. in two days or less by truck.
Kansas City, known as an industrial hub, boasts an inland waterway, four Class 1 rail lines and an airport terminal that can handle air cargo. In addition, the region has about 190,000 manufacturing and logistics employees, according to the press release.
The location will help “streamline our operations and shorten delivery times, giving us the agility we need to meet growing demand,” Murders said.
Marshalltown offers more than 9,000 products for a variety of construction and home improvement applications and currently operates facilities in Marshalltown, Iowa; Fayetteville and Walnut Ridge, Arkansas; and Bushnell, Illinois. Construction for the Kansas site is slated to start this week with plans to occupy the facility by the end of 2025.
Besides Marshalltown, several companies have established their supply chain in the area to take advantage of logistics and distribution benefits the state offers.
Ace Hardware and Urban Outfitters have distribution operations in Kansas, according to the release. Others such as Chick-fil-A Supply, Orange EV and Hill’s Pet Nutrition all at one point announced they were set to open or planned to open a facility in the area to enhance production operations and increase capacity.
This story was first published in our Operations Weekly newsletter. Sign up here.
