Sara Lee Branded Apparel (Winston-Salem, N.C.) opened its first distribution center on the West Coast in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. The facility will be managed by APL Logistics, a provider of logistics and supply chain services.
"Opening this facility on the West Coast offers increased flexibility to effectively distribute several of our product categories produced in Asia and Central America to our customers," said Lee Woodard, vice president of global logistics, Sara Lee Branded Apparel. "It is another step in our evolution to improve operating efficiencies and, more important, to reduce overall lead times and improve speed-to-market."
"Our arrangement with APL Logistics, who has a significant footprint in southern California, rapidly establishes our distribution capabilities near the port of Long Beach, in an environment that offers expansion within the same facility as growth dictates," said Woodard.The distribution center will initially be comprised of 250,000 sq. ft, will employ 150 people and will begin receiving product later this month.
Sara Lee Branded Apparel designs, manufactures, and sources a broad range of apparel. It generated $4.7 billion in net sales in fiscal 2005. The company is part of Sara Lee Corp., which in February 2005 announced plans to spin off its Branded Apparel Americas and Asia business into an independent, publicly traded company named Hanesbrands Inc. The spin off is expected to be complete by September of this year.
Source: Sara Lee Branded Apparel.