One of the country’s largest paper suppliers is shipping its entire Los Angeles operation to its bigger and more modern La Palma warehouse.
Georgia-based Unisource Worldwide Inc. said it will be more efficient with its 420,000-square-foot La Palma building because much of its growth is happening within Orange County.
“We want to be a part of the growth in Orange County,” said Mitch Sagowitz, a vice president with the company, which had $5.8 billion in revenue in 2006 and runs some 20 warehouses in the state.
The expanding healthcare and education sectors have been a boon for the privately owned company’s business of shipping towels, toilet paper, tissue and garbage bags to hospitals and schools throughout Southern California, Sagowitz said.
When the move is completed by the end of the year, Unisource plans to have relocated 80 workers from its south Los Angeles building. It is also looking to add about seven people to its sales force. Some of the relocated workers already live in the county, Sagowitz said.
The company’s south Los Angeles site has about 140,000 square feet of industrial space and is only 18 miles from the La Palma location. But the 30-year old operation is considered outdated compared to the more sophisticated OC site, which was launched seven years ago, according to Sagowitz.
Competitors of Unisource are Indiana-based Grainger Industrial Supply Inc. and Ohio-based Xpedx.
In 2003, Unisource bought Aliso Viejo-based paper broker Graphic Communications Inc., which at the time had $500 million in yearly revenue.
Graphic Communications became part of the company’s Websource paper brokering division, and no longer exists in the county.
For more on this story, see the Dec. 10 edition of the Business Journal.
