Ryder Teams With Bed, Bath & Beyond on Distribution Centers
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Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. is opening new distribution centers as part of a $300 million push to improve its supply chain and keep shelves stocked as retailers grapple with product shortages.
The home-goods chain will partner with logistics specialist Ryder System Inc. to develop two facilities, one in Pennsylvania slated to open this year and one in California next year. The effort is designed to cut replenishment times at Bed Bath & Beyond and Buybuy Baby stores to 10 days from the current 35.
Executives acknowledge that the existing fulfillment process can be cumbersome, with products moving from vendors to smaller facilities before eventually ending up at stores or in customers’ homes. The new, larger centers will help streamline the process.
A Bed, Bath & Beyond store in Springfield, Va., by Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg.
“We have to have the inventory in the right place at the right time,” Chief Operating Officer John Hartmann said. “We haven’t because of this inefficient system. It’s a critical part of this reinvention of the company to have a supply chain that meets the customer where she is.”
This is the latest step in an ongoing turnaround effort for Bed Bath & Beyond, which struggled for years with weak sales and rising competition. Under CEO Mark Tritton, who took the helm in 2019, the company has sold assets and cut costs while pursuing store renovations and technology improvements. The chain recently unveiled its redesigned New York City flagship and has been introducing private-label brands.
Ryder will run the new distribution centers, and each location is expected to create 300 jobs. The Miami-based firm uses the help of robotics and analytics to store and move product through distribution centers.
READ MORE: Ryder Expands Last-Mile Delivery Network
“This is going to be a highly automated facility,” said Steve Sensing, Ryder’s president of global supply chain solutions. He noted that tens of thousands of cartons with items will be moving through Bed Bath & Beyond’s facilities on a daily basis.
In the next couple of years, Bed Bath & Beyond plans to build four or five regional distribution centers, Hartmann said.
Ryder Supply Chain Solutions ranks No. 11 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of for-hire carriers in North America and No. 11 on TT’s Top 50 list of the largest logistics companies.
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