DBL Distributing Moving to Multisite DC Model

DBL Distributing is moving its warehousing and shipping operations from its headquarters in Scottsdale, AZ, to larger facilities in California and Pennsylvania owned by its parent company Ingram Micro.

Ingram Micro bought DBL last June for $96 million.

In addition to the efficiencies to be gained by combining operations, the move will help facilitate the expansion of the products DBL carries and shorten shipping times to customers. The company recently added about 50 new product lines, including Apple, Honeywell, Marantz Professional, Vizio, Honeywell and Haier America. As a result, DBL has outgrown its current, 100,000 square foot warehouse.

The two new facilities, located in Mira Loma, CA, and Jonestown, PA, will bring DBL’s total warehouse space to more than 1 million square feet.

DBL president Henry Chiarelli said in a release that moving to a multisite DC model will help shorten shipment times to all customers to one to two days. That’s an improvement over the four to five days it took to ship products from Scottsdale to the East Coast. He said fill rates will also improve out of the two locations, “because if one doesn’t have it, the other will.”

With the closing of the Scottsdale DC, the company will lay off an estimated 200 employees, mainly those involved with shipping and receiving operations. All marketing, sales, merchandising and catalog operations will remain in the Scottsdale headquarters.

The company says the move should be completed by August. Product will be shipped from Scottsdale to the new locations over the next few months, and DBL will coordinate new product shipments with its manufacturer partners. The products will be added to Ingram Micro’s inventory management system.

“The biggest challenge will be transferring the product and filling up those two warehouses,” Chiarelli said.

DBL Distributing announced its distribution agreement to market and distribute Haier televisions in April. It also recently dropped its 2008 spring/summer catalog -- which at 1,344 pages is its largest ever -- to more than 90,000 retailers and e-tailers.