As part of an ongoing national expansion plan, FedEx Ground has selected a 52-acre site in Norcross, Ga., to build a new distribution center that will complement the operations of three existing facilities in the Atlanta area. Site preparation has begun, and construction will begin shortly. The Norcross site was chosen because of its ease of access to major highways, its proximity to customers’ distribution centers and a strong local labor pool from which to recruit employees.
The 215,000-square-foot facility is being built on Atlantic Avenue near Jimmy Carter Boulevard and is estimated to cost about $55 million, including land, construction and material-handling equipment. Scheduled to open in fall 2012, the new facility will feature automated material-handling technology designed to process 15,000 packages per hour and will dispatch as many as 75 pickup and delivery vans each day. The initial work force for the new facility is projected to include 240 full-time and part-time employees and 75 independent contractor opportunities, all of which will transfer from existing Norcross-area facilities.
FedEx says the new facility is part of a nationwide network expansion to boost daily package volume capacity and further enhance the speed and service capabilities of the FedEx Ground network. Since embarking on the multiyear expansion program in 2002, FedEx Ground has opened 10 new hubs and nine automated pickup-and-delivery stations and has expanded or relocated more than 500 local facilities. Accompanying the growth in infrastructure, average daily package volumes in the FedEx Ground network have increased by more than 70 percent from 2.1 million in 2003 to more than 3.6 million today.
FedEx says the network enhancements have resulted in acceleration of ground service delivery by one day or more in most states. “Enhancing FedEx Ground’s distribution capability in the Southeast is critical to increasing the size, speed and efficiency of our network,” says Robert E. Holcombe, vice president of the southern region for FedEx Ground. “This new facility is evidence of the Southeast region’s increased presence in the distribution and logistics business, and the growing confidence of local shippers that we are their best choice for their ground shipping needs.”
