Fulfillment services provider Stord today announced it has acquired Pitney Bowes' e-commerce fulfillment business, expanding its Hebron, Kentucky, fulfillment center's network of commerce-enabling technology for omnichannel brands.
The news comes just four weeks after Stamford, Connecticut-based Pitney Bowes said Greg Zegras had stepped down as president of its global e-commerce division as part of an effort to “identify alternatives to address the division's ongoing losses.” The company also announced in May that it had named cost-reduction expert Lance Rosenzweig as interim CEO, replacing Jason Dice in the role.
The measures are part of a larger effort by Pitney Bowes to improve its balance sheet and cash management to target additional cost savings of $60 million to $100 million annually and speed up the repayment of higher-cost debt, the company said.
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
The 640,000-square-foot Kentucky facility, capable of shipping more than 5 million packages annually, will be the largest warehouse in Stord's network and will feature extensive temperature-controlled storage, a mezzanine for picking, pallet racking and robotic automation. It will also add single-node coverage in the mid-country, complementing Stord's Atlanta headquarters, the company said.
Stord said the center continues to invest in automation with robust transport flows, print-and-apply machines and robotic kit arms to improve efficiency and delivery speeds for brands.
“This new facility will be a driving force for our existing customers and enable the brand to scale rapidly. [their] “With 52 dock doors, 15,000 pallet positions and 136,000 cubic feet of bin shelving, Stord can serve omnichannel brands in all verticals, including consumer goods, health and beauty and other high-volume DTC and B2B products,” Kyle VanGosem, Stord's vice president of strategy and innovation, said in the release.
Today's announcement follows Stord's recent acquisition of ProPack Logistics and expansion into Europe with new centers in the U.K. and the Netherlands. The Kentucky location joins 10 other fulfillment centers across North America, including Seattle, Washington, Salt Lake City, Utah, Nashville, Tennessee, Vancouver, British Columbia, Mississauga, Ontario, Atlanta, Georgia, North Haven, Connecticut, Dallas, Texas, Reno, Nevada and Las Vegas, Nevada.
