[#100] Supply Chain in Numbers - Nov 8, 2021
Walmart is building a 720k sqft DC in SC, USPS is adding 45 new facilities, Some large importers will move containers at night from LA, AEO buys Quiet for $350MM, Trucking idle time is increasing.
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Welcome to “Supply Chain in Numbers.” This newsletter tracks significant digits from the world of the supply chain. Five prominent numbers are published every Monday. If you have any feedback, please send it to me.
720,000 sqft
Walmart announced plans to build a distribution center for fresh and frozen groceries in Spartanburg County, SC. Walmart will invest $450 million in the 720,000-plus, square-foot facility in Lyman and create more than 400 jobs with a combination of associates, automation technology, robotics, and machine learning to process grocery perishables. The new center is set to open in 2024. It will be built on a 201-acre site at the 750-acre Fort Prince Industrial Park. [GoUpstate]
45 new facilities
Some recipients waited on the U.S. Postal Service to deliver holiday gifts until well after decorations were taken down last year. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s answer to preventing a repeat this year is space — and lots of it. The Postal Service is adding 45 new facilities for the coming peak shipping season to handle spillover packages and extra shipping volume expected ahead of the holidays. That is in addition to adding 112 new machines to sort packages and hiring 40,000 seasonal workers. In all, the Postal Service says it can handle 50.1 million packages daily this peak season, up 35% from last year. [WSJ]
3,500 containers every week
Walmart, Target, and Home Depot are among the retailers that will take advantage of new, round-the-clock operations at the nation’s two busiest ports to move cargo faster and get it onto shelves in time for Christmas. The efforts are part of a plan that the Biden Administration will announce today to keep the port at Los Angeles operating 24/7, with the expanded hours meant to help alleviate a logjam that has caused delays and shortages of everything from toys and bicycles to appliances and furniture. Altogether, these companies will move another 3,500 containers at night every week through the end of the year, according to the administration. It’s often faster to move goods during off-peak hours. For instance, at the port in Los Angeles, goods move 25% faster at night than during the day. [Forbes]
$350 Million
American Eagle Outfitters Inc. is acquiring digital fulfillment operator Quiet Logistics Inc., in a $350 million cash deal as the apparel retailer looks to take greater control of its supply chain. The acquisition announced Tuesday is AEO’s second in the logistics arena this year and comes as retailers are struggling to get goods to stores to meet resurgent consumer demand and to adjust to the strong shift to e-commerce. Quiet Logistics, based in Devens, Mass., has eight fulfillment centers in six cities where workers aided by robots fulfill shipping orders for digital apparel and lifestyle brands such as Mack Weldon, Outdoor Voices, and Peloton. The acquisition, which is expected to close before the end of the year, also includes Quiet Logistics’ investments in an undisclosed logistics business and a robotics company. [WSJ]
50% increase
Trucking trips originating around the U.S.’s busiest ports are showing massive increases in idle time, another sign of the supply-chain logjams plaguing American transport hubs. From the start of 2018 through October this year, idle time per vehicle has increased by 50%, according to data compiled by Lytx Inc., a San Diego, California-based company whose telematics that monitor vehicles are used by 1.4 million drivers worldwide. [Bloomberg]