Kyocera Document Solutions America Inc. has announced the opening of its new, state-of-the-art distribution center in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania. The inauguration of this new facility will streamline order fulfillment and strategically positions the company for sustained growth while ensuring it continues serving the needs of its partners and customers.

This move comes after the company outgrew its previous eastern facilities, necessitating expanded capacity to meet current business needs and accommodate future growth. The new distribution center in Elizabethtown solidifies Kyocera's supply chain and logistics network for its partners.

"We are extremely excited to open our newest distribution center in Elizabethtown," said Frank Zupa, senior vice president of operations. "This has been a 14-month project that has involved dozens of employees to model, plan and execute the opening of this location, which is now our largest distribution center and will process approximately 70% of our outbound shipments in the U.S."

He also commended Christian Mannino, director of logistics operations, and his team for designing the workflow of this distribution center (DC) to maximize efficiency and space utilization.

"Their workflow design incorporates many new technologies that make it easier and faster to get shipments outbound to our customers while eliminating the chance to make common shipping errors during the outbound process," Zupa said. "We plan to bring these logistic solutions to our other DCs as well."

The Elizabethtown distribution center, strategically located along major shipping corridors, boasts important features to increase Kyocera's service capacity while optimizing order fulfillment and transit rates to customers. The new distribution center features:

• Pallet flow pick faces for fast-moving items: These enable increasing efficiencies in order fulfillment and reducing lead times from order receipt to ship.
• Automated pallet dimensioning system: Processing 35 to 45 pallets per hour, this system streamlines the processing of freight shipments and ensures the accurate capture of weights and dimensions. The system also captures high-definition photos of each pallet, facilitating smoother resolutions for freight claims and dealer inquiries.
• More than 60 dock doors: Inbound and outbound trucks can immediately be assigned to a dock door for unloading and loading shipments.
• Digital communication boards: These displays throughout the facility will be used to share live postings of operational metrics and goals, company announcements, and upcoming events.

Kyocera executives visited the new location last week to officially mark the opening of the distribution center.

"The opening of our new distribution center is an exciting milestone for our company and solidifies our position for growth in our industry," said Oscar Sanchez, president and CEO, Kyocera Document Solutions America, after visiting the new facility. "This launch is a reminder of our commitment to being a reliable, efficient and innovative partner. I extend my gratitude to everyone involved in bringing this project to completion."

"We were able to open this center on time and on budget because of the wonderful collaboration between operations, finance, HR, IT, legal and marketing," Zupa added. "It is a great example of what we can do as an organization when we maniacally focus on a common goal and communicate effectively with each other. This new distribution center represents a massive capital investment in our operations and our commitment to excellence as we aim to provide a superior customer experience for our partners and end customers."