SUCCESS STORIES
Wallace Distribution believes, “Service is our finest product!” Founded in 1922, the company’s longevity and growth has been fueled by its focus on efficient, integrity-driven service that turns customers into business partners. Wallace has been family-owned and operated since inception. Each new generation introduces innovation, and as John Wallace stepped in the role of Director of Operations in 2018, he set his sights on modernizing Wallace’s warehouse to better sync with new customer needs.
Wallace distributes hardware, lumber and building materials to independent hardware stores, builders and MROs in 11 states from a 217,000-sq ft of warehouse space in Morristown, TN. As customer requirements evolved and new business models emerged (like e-commerce), the company found their operations were not equipped to meet them. However, the Wallace team wasn’t quite sure where to begin modernization, so they engaged with Alpine Supply Chain Solutions for a Best Practice Assessment (BPA). A BPA is an exercise that helps organizations uncover opportunities for improvement while benchmarking their operations against competitive operations.
The first step in establishing a new layout and determining storage options was performing a Storage Type Analysis (STA). This exercise assessed the ideal storage and location types required in the warehouse. To begin the process, Wallace collected SKU dimensions for all products in the warehouse. Often times, companies only focus on the fastest-moving goods during an STA, but because Wallace’s range of products was so vast (they distribute very small items, such as nuts and bolts and very large items, like water heaters), it was important to capture accurate dimensions for each SKU and case size.
Alpine presented multiple layout options for Wallace. All which will result in as much as a 30 percent increase in storage capacity and improved productivity. Wallace is currently gauging which layout will work best for them in terms of how they prefer product to flow through their facility, while considering GeekPlus solutions. Within the coming year, they will begin re-engineering their facility in preparation for another 100 years in business.
