Santa Ana-based Ingram Micro Inc. generates the vast majority of its $35 billion in annual revenue shipping technology products to businesses, retailers and other distributors.
Its warehouses are filled with enough toys to make Santa Claus perk up this month, though. Aisle upon aisle is stacked with action figures, dolls, stuffed animals, apparel items and football-shaped popcorn holders.
“During the peak season, it’s a good portion of our business,” said Frank Ro, executive director of operations at the company’s Mira Loma distribution center-the largest of six Ingram Micro has in the U.S.
The Mira Loma center sounds like a locomotive chugging along during the busy season. Trucks enter the docking station as others leave in constant streams. The 1.2 million-square-foot operation, spread over four buildings, is running at full capacity as the last days to ship gifts and orders for a Christmas deadline dwindle.
A Scene
The scene looks like something from Willie Wonka’s chocolate factory, but instead of gumballs, giant lollipops and candy bars, boxes filled with tablets, big screen TVs and computer monitors zoom across conveyer belts, scanners and packaging areas.
Ingram Micro is the biggest distributor of computers, software and other technology products in the world, and the largest company in Orange County by revenue.
From Black Friday until “ground cutoff”-the last day to ship a product to receive it before Christmas-its six distribution centers in the U.S. run at full throttle.
“We’re doubling and tripling our volume,” said Ro on a visit last week.
The company will receive about 40,000 orders on this day and ship about 180,000 units that will be weighed, tested and packed before their final destination, most likely a residence or business somewhere in the U.S.
Black Friday saw the Mira Loma center ship more than 63,000 orders, or more than 200,000 units, a high for the year. It will average about 50 trailers of goods per day, and ship three times that amount during the holiday season. The products arrive through the ports, sent by manufacturers and wholesalers.
The center has more than 900 workers during peak season, with some temporary help on hand in three shifts around the clock. About 250 are on the job at any given time.
More than 120 pieces of heavy-duty equipment navigate the terrain, picking and moving products with pallet jacks, trucks geared to reach up to tall shelves and other vehicles in the mix.
An order’s lifespan is about 45 minutes once it gets into the system. From there it winds its way through some of the seven-mile tracks of conveyer belts until it’s packed up and loaded onto a truck. Emergency orders can be handled in minutes, according to Ro.
Speed, Efficiency
The labyrinth of belts criss-cross and travel from the ground floor to three stories high. The system limits walking and driving distances for workers. That brings speed and efficiency—driving down costs in the process.
“The conveyance gives us a lot of benefits,” Ro said.
Business is on par with last year, “but the season is not over yet,” he said.
The company will handle about 1.4 million shipments from Thanksgiving to the end of the season. Tablets, laptops and flat screen TVs are the hot-selling items this year, according to Ro.
Ingram Micro moved its logistics center from Fullerton to Mira Loma in 2002. Since then the company has made big infrastructure and technology investments to improve services.
“We continue to invest in systems,” Ro said.
New Services
The company continues to add new services for its customers as well, such as gift wrapping and gift cards.
The Mira Loma location and the other five centers in the U.S. are slated for a major systems overhaul in the next few years.
Ingram Micro has installed its new distribution program in seven countries and has 19 more on tap. It is designed to improve automation, operations and services for customers and vendors around the world.
The changeover went smoothly in Sing-apore, New Zealand, Chile, the Netherlands, Belgium and Indonesia but problems in Australia have dogged the company and hampered earnings throughout the year.
The U.S. market will be one of the last to undergo the changeover, executives have told the Business Journal.
