Ryder opens 1 million square foot DC for Lexmark in Indiana

Supply chain solutions provider Ryder System Inc. has opened a one-million-square-foot North American distribution center in Indiana for Lexmark, a global imaging and internet of things (IoT) tech vendor, the company said Tuesday.

The new, purpose-built facility consolidates two Lexmark operations into one, streamlining the receiving and shipping of printers and copiers, toner cartridges, and spare parts for a more efficient customer order fulfillment process.

Located in Jeffersonville, Indiana – just across the river from Louisville, Kentucky, a crossroads of river, road, rail, and runway – the facility enables 99% same-day shipping and 99% midnight parcel pick-up with next-day air service. Among the services that Ryder provides there are: distribution management; returns handling; equipment restoration and redistribution, including repairing returned hardware, recertifying it, and returning it to stock; bundling hardware and supplies; and customization, such as adding options, software updates, and customer-setting configurations.

“Lexmark’s business is time critical, so equipment handling and transit time is a primary concern, as is keeping costs competitive,” Norm Brouillette, senior vice president of supply chain for Ryder, said in a release. “With that in mind, we conducted a network analysis considering markets served, shipping volumes and times, transport costs, nearby ports, real estate prices, and the labor market. It pointed to one ideal location that would provide Lexmark with both a reduction in total outbound shipping cost and an improvement in two-day transit – not to mention the added ability to provide same-day shipping and next-day air.”