Medline announced yesterday that it opened five newly constructed distribution centers this year and plans to complete two more in 2022.
Northfield, Illinois-based Medline opened the latest LEED-certified distribution center — set to be fully operational in the first quarter of 2022 — in Richmond Hill, Georgia as part of its healthcare resilience initiative, a national expenditure campaign including $1.5 billion in new distribution centers, manufacturing capabilities and IT upgrades.
According to a news release, Medline’s healthcare resilience initiative has delivered approximately 8,500 new jobs, eight new distribution centers, nearly 150 manufacturing expansion projects and a new global digital customer ordering platform since 2018.
Medline’s Richmond Hill center, located less than 30 miles from the Port of Savannah, which the company touts as the single largest and fastest-growing container terminal in the U.S., provides more options to support customers in key cities throughout the southeast and midwest while allowing Medline to triple its import volume into the region.
“There has been a lot of talk about how supply chain shortages are impacting the retail industry, but you aren’t hearing as much about the risk they place on the healthcare industry,” Medline President of Operations Bill Abington said in the release. “The reality is, hospitals, surgery centers, nursing homes, and providers across the entire continuum of care are feeling these disruptions, and Medline is continuing to invest to mitigate any impacts felt today and ensure product availability for the long-term.”
The Richmond Hill facility adds 1.2 million square feet of space for stockpiling supplies for customer distribution centers, bringing Medline’s total medical-grade U.S. warehousing footprint to more than 27 million square feet. A portion of the center will be leased to FedEx Ground to enable deliveries to regional customer distribution centers and provide direct access to two Class I railroads for intermodal cargo.
Medline said it plans to make additional investments in 2022 as part of its healthcare resilience initiative, including work on distribution center projects already underway, supply-and-demand planning technology and additional manufacturing expansions and upgrades.