Interesting post from another forum about warehouse Distribution Centers

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hminsky

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I was looking at a thread on arf com about the distribution centers that supply the supermarkets. It was interesting to hear that they tend to cluster, and how vulnerable they are to breakdown if their power or fuel for equipment goes out.


If you think that a local store with virtually no back-stock is bad, wait until you get a close look at the supply chain....

My best friend (best man at my wedding, and constant hunt partner) manages maintenance for a Walmart distribution warehouse. These technically aren't "walmart" operations, since the name on the building is something else, but the only customer is Walmart. Furthermore, Walmart directly tells the distribution center what they are going to do, and when they are going to do it.

The distribution center is huge. I lost count, but it's something like 400 trailer bays. And they are expanding. Stuff gets pulled off a trailer, and it's back on a different trailer and out the door in no time. Yes, there is some stock on racks, but considering the volume of stuff moved, its not a lot. Much of it is apparently seasonal. Walmart doesn't want plastic lawn chairs and tiki torches on the floor in retail while they are still pushing winter stuff. No point in having Halloween and Thankgiving stuff in late July either, so seasonal gets accumulated and stored until its time, then shipped out. Generally speaking, it seems that stuff like Doritos, milk, and peanut butter aren't really shelved items,


These operations are huge. This DC stopped running battery forklifts years ago. They use hydrogen fuel cells. Its typical efficiency stuff: Instead of a lift driver waiting in line for a battery change they can work continuously until they pass a hydrogen fill station that isn't being used. Pull in, top up and get back on the hamster wheel. They have several hydrogen pumping stations that push and pressurized the hydrogen to fill stations through the building. Talk about supply chain dependency issues: If those hydrogen pump stations go down (there are only two), the operation STOPS. As in within hours. It's specialized equipment, and the number of people who can repair these things are extremely limited.

Where it gets really ugly is when you look at geography: Retailers like Walmart select geographic sites for various reasons, and transportation networks are a BIG factor. What appeals to Walmart also appeals to Target, Kmart, Kohls, whomever. Distribution centers tend to be clustered very close together. Take Northern Pennsylvania for example: There are a ton of DC's clustered in one area. One major extended power outage, one big flood, one huge storm on a relatively local level and the distribution network most chains for the entire north eastern USA is down and out. We're talking no stock on shelves, no stock in back, and none coming for weeks.

So, let me put it to you this way: The fella that effectively keeps the equipment up and running for one of these Distribution Centers has now become a prepper. He's know the system, lt's weaknesses, and he's stockpiling food and supplies.
Click to expand...
 
better start stocking up on tinfoil

this is nothing new. stores run lean. I worked at a supermarket and people were always asking me to "check out back" for more whatever. There's nothing out back. The stuff goes from the truck to the floor.

Distribution centers are the same way. A pallet of pickles comes in and they drop it in an over sized aisle. then someone picks a case or two from that to build a mixed pallet to send to a retailer.

do prep but this story is just one of a million reasons why you prep
 
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Another_David said:
better start stocking up on tinfoil

this is nothing new. stores run lean. I worked at a supermarket and people were always asking me to "check out back" for more whatever. There's nothing out back. The stuff goes from the truck to the floor.

Distribution centers are the same way. A pallet of pickles comes in and they drop it in an over sized aisle. then someone picks a case or two from that to build a mixed pallet to send to a retailer.

do prep but this story is just one of a million reasons why you prep
Click to expand...

More often than not, when I ask someone to check out back, they usually find what I'm looking for.
 
Bill Katt said:
More often than not, when I ask someone to check out back, they usually find what I'm looking for.
Click to expand...

well then you sir don't need to prep at all

store will over-stock some sale items but often they're going out back then out the door into the truck and climbing over pallets to find your case of whatever. then after 10 pm they roll them through the store and stock like crazy.
 
"Talk about supply chain dependency issues: If those hydrogen pump stations go down (there are only two), the operation STOPS. As in within hours. It's specialized equipment, and the number of people who can repair these things are extremely limited. "

At that point since Walmart is so big, they could just bring in battery operated fork lifts. I realize the DC isn't Walmart owned, but Walmart is gonna want their shit, and you're gonna want to give it to them.
 
Market Baskets have a SPOF, their disty in Tewksbury

Walmarts in the region, disty in Raymond, NH
 
Bill Katt said:
More often than not, when I ask someone to check out back, they usually find what I'm looking for.
Click to expand...

The point of the exercise is that when you talk about companies like Walmart that run 'lean' or just in time supply chains, it means that if the SHTF the stores will be out of stock after the initial run with no more coming. So if you're prepped, you'll have what you have(and hopefully need). If you are one of the folks who thinks you can go to Walmart to get what you need, you'll be sadly mistaken.

But like someone else said, none of this is new.

Heck, I'm amazed how often I go to the supermarket on Sunday morning and find they are out of stock on items at just went on special.
 
M1911 said:
Everyone is running a lean supply chain. It saves a ton of money.
Click to expand...

this. and it's really on everything. I'll purchase $50k worth of light fixtures for an office building, the Architects still don't realize this shit isn't sitting on the shelf at Bradlees. "why does it take 7 weeks?" "cause everything is made to order, no one keeps inventory, it costs too much"
 
Bill Katt said:
More often than not, when I ask someone to check out back, they usually find what I'm looking for.
Click to expand...

You must have some kind of charisma.

EVERY time I've asked somebody to check out back they say everything in stock is on the floor.

BULLSHIT

Lazy *******s...

(not you, the jack butts at CVS, Walmart, etc...)
 
namedpipes said:
You must have some kind of charisma.

EVERY time I've asked somebody to check out back they say everything in stock is on the floor.

BULLSHIT

Lazy *******s...

(not you, the jack butts at CVS, Walmart, etc...)
Click to expand...

You just need to learn how to talk to them nicely and not be your typical domineering self. [laugh]
 
One of my favorite parts of the last Holdng Thier Own book was that the local police took over a warehouse distribution center, moved their families in, and basically built a town inside.
 
I've read warnings about the JIT supply chain here in the US off and on for years now. It's probably even worse than you think - because a lot of the foodstuffs that we consume come from outside the country and are shipped in. So there's multiple places where the whole thing can fall apart and fall apart hard.

A lot of preppers talk about previous collapses and refer to places like Argentina and the Soviet Union. But -- for the Soviet Union especially I've seen a couple of accounts where basically what they said was that the Soviet Union was so close to collapse already - that as far as supplies go - it wasn't much of a disruption. The supply chain already sucked - so people were used to working around it. For food - an awful lot of people, even people in the cities - had small garden plots to grow more. For other items - the piss poor Soviet central planning actually helped them out because their lack of forecasting ability meant that there were warehouses full of stuff that hadn't been used yet. So even if things "collapsed" - there was likely already a 5 year supply of shoes on-hand sitting in a warehouse somewhere.

Efficiency isn't always the best thing to have.
 

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