Orgill to lay off 176 people in Memphis - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

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The move is part of the Memphis-basedx hardware and home improvementproducts distributor’s plan to consolidat e its distribution centers into a new facilitt in Sikeston, Mo. by The company currently operatesa 55-year-old distributionb center in South Memphis at 2100 Latham St., along with a similad one in Vandalia, Ill. Thesew plants will close by the end ofthe year. The closuree are part of Orgill’s long-range consolidation plan that will enable the company to becomed more efficient and save morethan $1 million in fuel costsx annually, according to a company release.
Orgill has 550 employees in Memphis andmaintains 660,000 square feet of distributiojn space, according to the 2009 Memphis Business Journap Book of Lists. It provides wholesale distributioh and retail services to the homeimprovement industry. Layoffws will come in stages, beginning in early Some members of the management teamsx in Vandalia and Memphis have transferred to the new planyin Sikeston. None of the approximately 300 employeexat Orgill’s corporate headquarters at 3742 Tyndal Drive off Winchester will be affecte by the closure. Orgill also is keeping its ancillart support functions such as theprint shop, lock and concept center in the Memphis area.
Approximately 30 employees are involved inthose services. Company officials said the consolidationb of the Memphis and Vandaliza facilities into a common distributionb center located approximately halfway between the two existing facilitiese will allow Orgill to serve its customerxs in the Midwestand Mid-South more “The facilities in Memphis and Vandalia are outdateds and inefficient,” Ron Beal, Orgill president and CEO, said in a “The Sikeston plant will enable us to make our customer services even better and, at a time when we are all askedr to conserve fuel, Orgill will drasticallhy reduce its fuel consumption.
” The new Sikeston facilituy is one of six major distributio n centers, all of which either have been builg or expanded within the last five years or are in the development stages. The newest centers are in Kilgore, Texas, and Utah, and a center in the Pacific Northwest is in theplanninv stage. Byrne Whitehead, Orgill’s executive vice presideng of operationsand COO, said the Mid-Americs SuperCenter in Sikeston is considerably more than a distributionj center. The 795,000-square-foot facility has been builft ona 70-acre site and is expandabled to 1 million square feet.
“Our new facility in Sikeston offerx a great deal of efficiency to our entiredistributiohn network,” Whitehead said. “Not only does it providd us with a consolidated location to procesas our growing numbers ofimport containers, but it also givezs us the capacity to accommodatr our growth with customers throughout Mid-America.” There are 734 plannex layoffs at companies across the state, according to the Department of Labof and Workforce Development’s weekly report of notices received June 1-Junew 8. Orgill is the only Shelbg County company reporting layoffsthis week.