Last updated on March 25th, 2021
UNFI today revealed plans to optimize its distribution center network in the Pacific Northwest. As part of that optimization, UNFI says it will consolidate five distribution centers into a new 1.2 million-s.f. facility in Centralia, Washington, and a newly expanded, 800,000-s.f. facility in Ridgefield, Washington.
UNFI says the new facility and expansion will “enhance customer product offerings, create more efficient inventory management, streamline operations and incorporate best in class technology to deliver a better customer experience.”
This consolidation also will help deliver “meaningful synergies” as the result of UNFI’s acquisition of Supervalu in October 2018, the distributor says.
The company has entered into a long-term lease agreement with a developer to construct the new Centralia DC exclusively for UNFI on approximately 77 acres at 4002 Galvin Road. The facility will be in close proximity to two existing UNFI DCs in Tacoma and Portland.
UNFI will also expand its Ridgefield facility by 541,000 s.f. to provide capacity for its growing customer base in the natural, organic and specialty channel. This facility will deploy a warehouse automation solution that supports the company’s slow-moving SKU portfolio.
Today, UNFI operates five distribution centers in the Pacific Northwest, a 944,000-s.f. facility in Tacoma, Washington; a 323,000-s.f. warehouse in Auburn, Washington; 220,000-s.f. and 30,000-s.f. warehouses in Ridgefield, Washington; and a 923,000-s.f. warehouse in Portland, Oregon.
Once construction of the new Centralia DC is complete and the expansion of the Ridgefield DC is finished, UNFI plans to close its Tacoma, Portland and Auburn warehouses, as well as reduce its dependency on outside storage and third-party logistics services.
Both the Centralia and Ridgefield facilities are expected to be fully operational in the second half of 2019 with customer transition completed in early 2020.
“The construction of Centralia and expansion of our Ridgefield facility represents the first significant step in our optimization of UNFI’s DC network following the acquisition of Supervalu, allowing us to better serve all our customers throughout the Pacific Northwest,” said Steve Spinner, UNFI Chairman and CEO. “These are two tremendous facilities that, once complete, will provide a great working environment for our associates, an improved and efficient layout for inventory management, optimized logistics route planning, and an ability to help us deliver on the long-term synergy goals we outlined as a part of the Supervalu acquisition.”
ssdd, the continuing corporate take-over of what once was local economy. a twenty+ year on-going process, and no one notices except the stores going out of business. but, hey, we asked for it….