Officials at Hanson Logistics have announced that the company is constructing a new 14.5 million-cubic-foot temperature-controlled Chicago consolidation center to support the growing demand for order mixing, freight consolidation and shared truckload delivery to retail and foodservice distribution centers. Construction will begin immediately with completion in late summer 2007.
The new facility will be constructed in three phases, with a total of 45,000 pallet positions ranging from deep frozen (-20 degrees Fahrenheit) for ice cream to frozen (-0 degrees) and cooler (32 degrees). Phase 1 will consist of 5 million cubic feet and 15,600 pallet positions. The facility is designed specifically for high-volume throughput, with a flexible racking design and layout, enabling Hanson to meet a variety of customer requirements, including case-pick consolidation and cross docking of temperature-controlled food products.
Transportation services will include shuttle service for food manufacturers requiring short-term production warehousing, nationwide full-truckload service and Hanson’s Velocities multivendor consolidation and delivery. Hanson operates Velocities from several other facilities and has a scheduled delivery service to key points in a 400-mile radius. As part of this Chicago initiative, the company expects to expand its truck fleet — with a majority of the units domiciled at the new facility — and offer clients rail service via the CN Railroad.
Hanson utilizes SSA Global’s Best in Class supply chain management system, which enables end-to-end fulfillment from order inception to order shipping, making it possible to fulfill the perfect order. The Chicago consolidation center is situated in the NorthWind Crossings Business Park, where Hanson Logistics has purchased additional acreage for future expansion. Phase 1 is expected to create up to 40 new jobs in the next 24 months, while also strengthening Northwest Indiana’s growing reputation as a logistics hub for serving the greater Chicago and Central states area.
“The I-80, I-94 and I-65 corridor in Northwest Indiana, specifically the area of Hobart, offers Hanson Logistics and its customers the optimum combination of location, business climate and robust infrastructure,” says Greg Hanson, president of St. Joseph, Mo.-based Hanson Logistics. “Our new logistics campus will be a model of logistics efficiency, as a consolidation center for our clients’ regional and national distribution. We believe it also underscores our commitment to providing world-class temperature-controlled logistics services.”
