Schluter-Systems opened a new distribution center, office and training facility in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, on Sept 1. The 500,000-sq.-ft. center will carry the majority of Schluter’s 8,000 SKUs available in North America. This will significantly enhance service levels especially in the central and southern U.S. states.
“The location of this warehouse, office and training center was chosen very strategically,” said Marco Ludwig, Schluter-Systems NA president and CEO. “We already have warehouses in Plattsburgh, NY and Reno, NV, so adding this third facility in the major hub of Dallas-Fort Worth will drastically improve our service levels and shipping times to our customers.
“We are proud and honored to be able to make this investment for our North American customers. In addition to further improving fast and reliable accessibility to Schluter products, this facility will act as another central, convenient, and attractive training location for our customers including both the architectural and installation communities.”
This DFW facility is the global leader in implementing a completely new, leading-edge warehouse management system. This new system will be used to optimize all warehouse and distribution processes, making the picking and packing procedures considerably more efficient.
“We anticipate a very quick turnaround on all orders in this region, which will help Schluter products reach the end user much quicker,” stated Henry DeGooyer, Schluter-Systems U.S. senior vice president of sales.
Rebecca Packwood, project manager & process change manager, worked closely with company leaders in North America and Germany to ensure the system can be integrated into all Schluter-Systems operations.
“While in the midst of this complex project we had to overcome many unusual challenges because of the rising pandemic,” she said. “We weren’t able to physically visit the site as much as we wanted, but despite the obstacles, our team adapted and successfully achieved all milestones. We started receiving inventory in May and expect to be at full capacity by October.”
As an example, Schluter-Systems decided to install DITRA-HEAT-DUO membrane with a built-in thermal break over the concrete slab with more than 15 miles of Schluter heating cables. This DITRA-HEAT system is more than 25,000 square feet and managed by 140 thermostats and power modules and warms both the porcelain tile and LVT floors, making it presumably the largest project of electrical floor warming in the world.
“We want to make our warehouse staff, office employees and customers comfortable at this facility and enjoy the experience,” explained Ludwig.
Schluter also invested in a cutting edge, energy efficient, lighting system that is highly adaptable to the ever changing business needs and floor space utilization.
