Not long ago packaging products supplier Intertape was clearly at a crossroads. Business was good and getting better. But it was also changing. Traditionally, the $650 million a year manufacturer sold its tape, plastic packaging and woven materials primarily to industrial distributors. Then it started to count retailers, including Wal-Mart, among its customers. That meant shipments from Intertape's five regional distribution centers were quite different. Full pallet loads and truckload shipments once dominated. But as retail orders increased, so did the vari- ety and frequency of shipments as order sizes declined. That new mix required Intertape to rethink not only its distribution network but also how orders are processed in a DC. Today, the company has a new 200,000 square foot DC just across the parking lot from its largest manufacturing plant in Danville, Va. This facility replaces a smaller DC that was in Danville, as well as regional centers in Chicago and Atlanta. And the achievements just six months after startup are impressive, says Jim Jackson, chief information officer. To begin, throughput has tripled to 30—50 truckloads a day without an increase in head count in Danville. Only 32 people work the two-shift, seven-day-a-week operation. Overall inventory levels have decreased with the consolidation. Meanwhile, inventory accuracy has increased from a low of 70% five years ago to 99.996% today. All of which earned the facility Modern Materials Handling's Productivity Achievement Award for Warehousing.
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