Third-party logistics provider (3PL) Quiet Logistics Inc. has opened its first fulfillment center in the greater Los Angeles area, expanding the firm's geography and applying the leverage of its new corporate parents just four months after the firm was acquired.
Founded as a sister company of Wilmington, Mass.-based warehouse automation vendor Locus Robotics, Devens, Mass.-based Quiet Logistics was purchased in March for an unspecified amount through a joint acquisition by Related Companies LP, a real estate and lifestyle company, and Greenfield Partners, a property investment and logistics specialist.
At the time, the firms said the deal was an effort to capture a greater slice of the expanding e-commerce market for both digital native and brick-and-mortar brands. Quiet Logistics provides expedited delivery service for premium fashion and lifestyle brands through a nationwide network of third-party fulfillment sites.
That vision is now reaching greater maturity with the opening of the new unit in La Palma, Calif., which becomes Quiet Logistics' fifth facility in part of a planned expansion to operate 10 to 12 facilities in North America by 2022.
The La Palma fulfillment center is a 440,000 square foot facility that will be powered at full capacity by a staff of approximately 500 full-time warehouse employees, working alongside collaborative, autonomous mobile robots to ensure maximum productivity and accuracy, Quiet Logistics said.
"Efficient shipping and delivery options are critical to the success of retail brands today," Quiet Logistics Founder and CEO Bruce Welty said in a release. "With our West Coast presence, we are able to cost-effectively reach a large population of urban customers, bringing us closer to our goal of reaching 99 percent of our brands' customers with 2-day ground shipping, and over 65 percent with next-day ground."
The site is now open and fulfilling orders on behalf of an unnamed "new, digitally native customer."
"This new facility marks an important first step towards Quiet Logistics' expansion, both nationally and globally," Kate Terry, Chief Revenue Officer at Quiet Logistics, said in a release. "We look forward to continuing to build out Quiet's network of urban fulfillment centers throughout the U.S. and abroad, which will enable us to provide faster delivery direct to consumer, as well as seamless omnichannel fulfillment services to our retail partners around the world."
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Gartner, Inc.