BLAKESLEE, Pa. — American Tire Distributors Inc. plans to open a million-sq.-ft. mixing warehouse in Blakeslee early in the third quarter of 2018.
The state-of-the-art facility will streamline the flow of inventory and enhance the breadth of offering from ATD's suppliers to serve its customer base better in the northeast U.S. and Eastern Canada, ATD said.
The facility in Pennslvania's Pocono region is the latest phase in a multi-step strategy to increase efficiencies within its hub-and-spoke networks, the Huntersville, N.C.-based distributor said.
ATD opened a 1-million-sq.-ft. mixing warehouse in Shafter, Calif., in 2015 and a 756,000-sq.-ft. mixing center in Alliance, Texas, in May.
The Pocono mixing warehouse will be able to house nearly 1 million tires at any given time, with roughly 100 tire loads moving in and out weekly, the company said.
The facility is expected to alleviate pressure on the Maiden, N.C., mixing warehouse, as ATD customer need has shifted demand to the Eastern seaboard, the company said.
In addition, the opening of the facility will coincide with the closure of a smaller, 400,000-sq.-ft. mixing warehouse in Findlay, Ohio. ATD said it is working to offer Findlay employees positions at the Pocono mixing warehouse, or at any other of its more than 120 U.S. facilities.
"Our goal is to be the most customer-centric distributor the tire industry as ever seen," said David Dickey, chief supply chain officer for ATD.
"Every move we make as a company aims to better align ATD with our suppliers and support future growth, so we can continue to reinvest in our employees."