Deb Parme, Amway director of North America Logistics, and Brian Fojtik, regional manager of North America Logistics, in the new Midwest Regional Service Center.

Amway upgrades warehousing and distribution
Pete Daly

Ken Davis, vice president within the Access Business Group logistics division at Amway and an employee there for 31 years, reports his division has a lot of exciting things going on — perhaps more than he has seen in those three decades with the company.

On Oct. 17, Amway will celebrate the opening of its newly renovated, “state-of-the-art” warehouse in Ada, known as the Midwest Regional Service Center. It is a 214,000-square-foot space within the Amway manufacturing complex, with a new warehouse management system and enough capacity to ship half of all orders placed by Amway independent distributors in the United States, according to Davis.

“This year, we will probably do 5.6 million orders in the U.S. That’s about 10 million boxes, because there are a couple of boxes per order, on average. And 50 percent of that comes out of this new facility,” said Davis.

Amway’s top-selling consumer products are its Nutrilite vitamin, mineral and dietary supplements; Artistry skin care and cosmetics; and eSpring water treatment devices.

Amway also provides product development, manufacturing and logistics services to other companies through its Access Business Group.

About 300 people work in the MRSC, but Davis would not reveal how much Amway has invested in the new improvements there.

Dierdra Rembert, Amway distribution crew leader, at the B+ Carton Technology station in the new Midwest Regional Service Center.

The MRSC in Ada was the second Amway distribution center to be upgraded this year. First was the center in Sante Fe Springs, Calif., near Amway operations in Buena Park. Amway also has distribution facilities in Atlanta; Arlington, Texas; Kent, Wash.; and Honolulu.

New equipment for both the Sante Fe Springs and Ada distribution centers was supplied by Bastian Material Handling in Indianapolis and ASAP Automation, according to the Bastian website.

Red Prairie Warehouse Management System of Georgia supplied the electronic system that will increase efficiency and accuracy in filling orders. The system processes an order and produces a label for the shipping carton. Employees who pack the shipping cartons wear headsets and a “mini-terminal” on their wrist, and use what Davis called a “mini finger scanner.” In this “voice pick” technology, the system tells the employee exactly what to place in each carton, and the precise quantity.

“That technology provides for more efficient and accurate product selection (by employees),” Davis said.

A different part of the MRSC warehouse accommodates international shipping of Amway products manufactured in Ada.

In the “pick-pack” area serving U.S. Amway distributors, the center uses the latest shipping carton technology from B+ Equipment, a French firm that designs and builds automated equipment for order fulfillment processes. The machinery automatically compresses the sides of the open carton to the level of the goods inside and then closes it, reducing the volume of each carton and thereby lowering shipping costs. Previously, Amway used paper dunnage as packing material to provide a cushion in the unused space inside shipping cartons.

Davis said the MRSC was designed to accommodate increased sales at Amway. For now it will operate two shifts but could go to three, seven days a week, as the Amway sales volume grows in the U.S. — “which is up, by the way,” said Davis.