As part of a plan to transform its supply chain, the Home Depot unveiled a new retail distribution center in Topeka, KS, last week. The facility, which is called a rapid deployment center, will service the home improvement products retailer’s stores in the area.
The distribution center will receive about 75 trucks daily of inbound freight, which will have already been totally allocated to Home Depot retail locations. The inbound freight will then be turned around as outbound freight within three days.
The 465,000-sq.-ft. distribution center was built on about 40 acres; construction on the facility started last March. The DC, which created about 200 warehouse and office jobs, will handle fulfillment for 98 stores in nine states — Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming and Minnesota.
Home Depot operates 2,245 stores in the U.S, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, 10 Canadian provinces, Mexico and China. The Atlanta-based reported sales of $71.3 billion for fiscal 2008.