Kirby Risk Connected Fall 2022

DID YOU KNOW?

DISTRIBUTION CENTER ADDRESSES SUPPLY CHAIN DEMANDS The Distribution Center is a 65,000-square-foot building located in Indianapolis. It’s more than just a shipping hub, it’s the heart of our operations. Our Distribution Center can single-handily provide products to all our customers and is a centralized resource for all Kirby Risk branches. NORMAL OPERATIONS Our Distribution Center processes, stores and ships nearly 90,000 top-quality products from more than 2,000 manufacturers. When an order is received, a team member will begin to fill the order by pulling the requested products then scan each item’s bar code with an RF scanner. This scanning system allows for our inventory to be ‘live’ and product availability will update automatically after the item has been scanned. Our system performs nearly 350 digital inventory cycle counts each day and mitigates the need for physical inventory checks. After items have been pulled, scanned and are ready for shipment, our own fleet of trucks and experienced drivers begin to make their nightly deliveries to all of our branch locations. This allows our customers to receive products the next day, and in some cases, same day shipping for emergency outage situations. NOT-SO NORMAL OPERATIONS Our Distribution Center was faced with a global problem that every business has experienced recently — supply chain issues. In past issues of Connected , we discussed how supply chain shortages have drastically impacted the industry, including how we were able to meet customer demands. As products became harder to obtain, communication became vital in maintaining our relationships with our customers. The Distribution Center team began to meet weekly with the Kirby Risk Operations team to solidify plans for completing customer orders with the level of inventory and incoming shipments. “By now, we have all dealt with supply chain issues. You see it at grocery stores and almost everywhere you go,” says Janette Woodside, Kirby Risk Distribution Center Operations Manager. “Our customers have been extremely patient, and they know we will do everything we can to get products on the shelf.”

The Kirby Risk Distribution Center quickly provides our customers with wire, conduit, cable trays, electrical receptacles, lighting and much more.

“We were struggling to get in vendor products,” Woodside continues. “Our backorders were nearing thousands and product deliveries would only range in the low hundreds or even less in some cases. This took intense strategic planning and communication between the sales team and Distribution Center to get supplies to customers based on timeline and critical needs.” A TEAM EFFORT During this time, management implemented a unique scheduling system to avoid overworked employees and to ensure customers were receiving orders as quickly as possible. The team of nearly 60 employees began creating their own schedules based on shift preferences, personal lives and outside commitments. This led to employees being allocated more evenly throughout shifts and resulted in a significant decrease in the need for temporary workers, overtime hours and employee turnover. To further support the distribution team, other team members came from surrounding branches to assist wherever needed.

“We are all working for the customer, not ourselves. This team has really gone above and beyond,” comments Woodside.

Our Distribution Center is committed to providing customers with the right products and services — at the right time. Although supply chain issues are now common, our team always finds a way to Make It Happen!

We provide accurate, consistent and high-quality electrical supply products and services. We specialize in next day demand that not only meets your requirements — but exceeds them. Connect with a Kirby Risk Account Manager today to learn more!

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