Good Distribution is Always in Fashion: Urban Outfitters Gets a Stylish New DC
To accelerate its distribution process, Urban Outfitters brought outsourced logistics into its new Reno distribution center. The result: faster turnaround times and lower operating costs.
Bob Trebilcock, Editor at Large, Modern Materials Handling, April 2008
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As a retailer, Urban Outfitters made its name with apparel, accessories and home and dorm furnishings for college students and young adults that sometimes went against the grain. That includes books with titles like “101 things to do before you’re old and boring” and “Hillary is my Homegirl” T-shirts.
UO, as it’s known to its fans, is taking that same against-the-grain approach to distribution with a new 175,500 square foot facility in Reno, Nev. At a time when many retailers and manufacturers are outsourcing order fulfillment and logistics operations to third-party logistics providers (3PLs), Urban Outfitters ended a long-standing 3PL relationship to bring its western distribution operations back in-house.
Why the change? “The simple answer is that we outgrew the 3PL relationship,” says Ken McKinney, Urban’s director of distribution. The longer answer is that as Urban has expanded its stores and brands, it needed to accelerate its supply chain. That was best done in-house”, says McKinney.
The new facility features a high-speed conveyor and sliding shoe sortation system as well as a pack-to-light system, where associates pick inventory from a conveyor directly into a shipping carton, for filling orders from back stock. The facility averages 100,000 units a day and has shipped as many as 600,000 in a week.
Even though the DC has been live for less than a year, the new operation is already delivering results: a 30% reduction in the operating cost per unit and a 40% improvement in turn time.
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