TORONTO, Ont. – Paccar Parts held a grand opening for its new, $34-million state-of-the-art distribution center today.

The new center is 160,000 square feet and boasts three times the storage capacity of its previous Brampton location, and serves 65 prime dealership locations. The new facility was built for growth, according to executives, with 170% more pallet racking than its previous location and 17 total dock doors.

“The original 55,000 sq.-ft. Toronto distribution center was built in 1987 and served its purpose well for 30 years,” explained Tom Floyd, senior director of operations for Paccar Parts at the grand opening. “In 2016, Paccar Parts began analyzing its capacity in Eastern Canada. Warehouse storage capacity reached its maximum limits and many large parts…hoods, bumpers, fuel tanks…had to be stocked elsewhere. And because the distribution center sat on a small plot of land, there was limited space to expand in the Brampton location.”

And so, the decision was made to build a brand-new warehouse in Toronto from the ground up. Officially, the new location opened on October 22, 2018.

Fleet customers will no doubt be happy with the new location, as a bigger warehouse means increased uptime, explained David Danforth, general manager and PACCAR vice-president.

“Now, with the new location, we have everything for Eastern Canada here,” he said. “Whereas before, we had most of what we needed in Eastern Canada. We just didn’t have the room to house it. So big bulky items, like hoods and fuel tanks, we didn’t have them in Toronto. They would come from Illinois, which would add one extra day for customers.”

This wasn’t ideal for fleet customers, who wanted their broken-down trucks serviced quickly and seamlessly. So now, thanks to the new location, customers can expect their downtime minimized significantly.

“We do a tremendous amount of work now on supply chain as well,” he added. “So it’s not just that I have the part, it’s that the dealer has the part before the customer needs it. That’s the journey we’re on now. It also doesn’t matter if you have 10 parts and the dealer has eight…they need all the parts.”

The new location boasts some of the latest technologies in the supply chain world, like automatic banding conveyors, sleek stock-picking equipment with built-in scales, and automatic wrapping and packing equipment. It also features a 1,200 sq.-ft. training room, smart office lighting that dims and adjusts to the natural light coming through the windows, and other environmentally-sound details.

“In the next five years we plan to invest $160 million and add an additional 1.2 million square feet worldwide,” Danforth said. “World class customer support is driven by the current and future growth of our PDC network facilities such as this, demonstrates our commitment to customer uptime and global growth.”