August 28, 2001 Graybar (www.graybar.com) opened its eleventh regional distribution center—this one in Charlotte, NC—on August 20. The company says it will use the 158,000-square-foot facility to provide next-day service to customers in North and South Carolina. The new facility employs 44 people.
Sales and customer-service functions, as well as counter and will-call service, continue to be handled out of Graybar's eight branches in the Carolinas region.
Each of Graybar's regional distribution centers maintains inventory of electrical, communications, and data supplies and equipment. The centers serve as replenishment and shipping facilities for the company's 292 branches. When Graybar's logistics network is complete next year, the distributor will have 16 regional zone warehouses nationwide. It says that at that time, it will be able to ship orders to 98% of its customers within 24 hours.
The ten other distribution centers that Graybar has opened are located in Dallas, TX; Atlanta, GA; Chicago, IL; Fresno, CA; Cranbury, NJ; Stafford, TX; Taunton, MA; Youngstown, OH; Puyallup, WA; and Rogers, MN.
Graybar uses a paperless Warehouse Management System from Provia in its regional zone warehouses. "This system helps us increase inventory and shipping accuracy, increase order-fill rates, and gives us greater flexibility to serve our internal and external customers," states Jerry Hoffman, Charlotte zone manager.
