VF Corp.’s new 1.2 million-square-foot Ontario, Calif. distribution center is the largest and most efficient of the Denver company’s 46 DCs.
It features state-of-the-art automation supporting distribution for company-owned retail, wholesale customers and owned e-commerce.
The new facility was “designed with employee health and well-being in mind,” Jon Watschke, vice president, West Coast distribution center transition, said, adding that the DC includes EV charging stations, areas designed to support wellness, and a fitness center.
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The center has achieved Gold certification from LEED, the world’s most widely used green building rating system. The building employs efficient lighting, controls and metering to save VF 56 percent in annual energy costs. Nearly half (48 percent) of building materials include recycled content, and 98 percent of the construction components would otherwise have been landfilled. The building is on track to receive WELL Gold Certification, a performance-based standard focusing on enhancing health and wellness.
The center, which can ship up to 76 million units a year, will initially handle Vans and The North Face fulfillment, with other brands to follow. The DC employs a digital-first design to ship 485,000 units per day, double the processing capacity of a typical DC. Consumers in California, Nevada, Arizona and southern Utah can get their orders the next day.
“Servicing our consumers and customers is our number one focus and this facility allows us to get our product to our consumer faster using technologically advanced equipment, which results in reduced lead times and increased efficiency in meeting consumer demands,” Cameron Bailey, EVP global supply chain, said.
At VF’s Investor Day presentation last year, Bailey said the company’s other high-automation DC is a UK facility that opened in April 2021.
The new California center is already up and running with most roles filled after recruitment started earlier this year. It can employ 550 people during peak season. VF will onboard more operators as volume ramps up.
VF’s new DC represents its latest LEED-focused investment. The company in 2018 signed a 12-year lease to occupy the entire 10-story, 285,000-square-foot Denver building at 1551 Wewatta Street. The LEED Platinum certified headquarters building has been occupied by VF since 2020 when renovations were completed. Rapt Studio designed the office space, which also includes a gym, bouldering wall, a two-story climbing wall and an oxygen deprivation chamber that allows staff to train for high-altitude climbs.
Other environmental efforts include VF’s closing of a $529 million green bond to fund sustainability initiatives, regenerative wool investments, and Icebreaker working with Timberland eco-friendly performance fashion.
