Scott Swanson
Of The New Era
The building for the Lowe’s distribution center in Lebanon is well under way and the company is beginning to fill some positions for the some 500 workers it expects to employ once the facility is in full operation.
“Hiring is progressing,” said Regional General Manager Anthony “Andy” Johnson, 37, who is responsible for getting the operation off the ground. This is the third start-up for Johnson, who hails from Georgia and started working for Lowe’s as a team member 18 years ago, he said.
The massive building, located at 1001 Reeves Parkway, just south of Highway 20 and just west of Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital, is slated to be ready for incoming goods in May and to ship products to stores in June, Johnson said. It is one of 13 regional distribution centers and is the second largest in the country – the center in Rockford, Ill., is slightly larger, he said. Two more centers are in the planning stages for Lowe’s, which
“Everything’s going relatively good with the construction,” Johnson said as workers installed shelving and conveyor systems.
The 1.4 million-square-foot building, .982 miles in circumference, has 221 doors, 151 for receiving and 60 for shipping. At 1,787 feet long, it has 35 column lines supporting the giant roof.
It will eventually contain between 70,000 and 80,000 shelves for products, which will be collected with reach trucks, pallet jacks and hand trucks and, if possible, moved to conveyer belts where they will be collected and loaded on trucks. Nearly all the equipment used in the facility will be electric, he said, and much of the travel will be on foot.
The distribution center will service 21 stores initially, then gradually increase its operations until it services 69 stores.
“As the product is sold at the store site, the need (for replenishments) is communicated back to us,” he said. “Our job is to get the product back to the store, without blemish, quickly.
“When we’re going full blast, we’ll easily have 75 to 80 outbound trucks a day, and over 200 inbound,” Johnson said.
In addition to product, the building will also contain two stories of office space for management, human resources, planning and training, he said.
Johnson said prospective employees interested in jobs at the facility should visit Lowe’s Web site at http://www.lowes.com, click on the “careers” link at the bottom of the home page, then click on “join us” at the bottom of that page, and click on “distribution centers>tour” at the right to get to the job opportunities process for distribution centers.
Johnson wouldn’t give exact salary ranges, but said wages would be “competitive” and emphasized that Lowe’s offers a broad benefits package that, he said, needs to be calculated into the picture.
“We look at wages as one component of the compensation package,” he said., adding that pay may vary from shift to shift.
Johnson said he and other Lowe’s employees have been warmly welcomed by the community since he arrived in September. He, his wife, and two sons live in Albany.
“Everyone has been exceptional,” he said. “We’re proud to be here. We want to be a positive influence and we’ll work very hard to make sure we are.”