Press releases are provided by companies as is and have not been edited or checked for accuracy. Any queries should be directed to the company issuing the release.
Old Dominion Freight Line Grows Service Center Network with Nine New or Expanded Facilities
Leading LTL carrier adds capacity through capital expenditure investment to accommodate business growth in six new markets and three existing markets
THOMASVILLE, N.C. (Feb. 8, 2021) — Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc. (Nasdaq: ODFL) expands its network by adding nine service centers in new and existing markets. The steady growth brings the Company’s service center count to 245 and solidifies Old Dominion’s presence across the continental United States. The less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier’s new or improved facilities include Brooklyn, N.Y., Edinburgh, Ind., Grand Island, Neb., Louisville, Ky., Mansfield, Ohio, McDonough, Ga., Mesa, Ariz., Milton, Pa. and Olympia, Wash.
The nine new and renovated service centers are strategically placed for operational efficiency aligned with the Company’s long-term strategic plan. Old Dominion’s investment in each market will support capacity needs, improve shipping time and enhance delivery flexibility, allowing the Company to better serve customers as demand continues to grow amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Investment in our service center network is a hallmark of Old Dominion’s long-term strategic plan,” said Chip Overbey, senior vice president of strategic planning. “We measure capacity in three key areas: service centers, people and equipment. Each area is critically important to serve our customers and accommodate the growing demand for premium LTL services.”
Each service center is constructed with best-in-class facilities to improve operational efficiencies. Old Dominion’s recent investments in innovative technology, such as tools for real-time track and traceability, allow the Company to adapt to meet evolving customer needs while maintaining its premium service.
“Shippers can expect to see improved transit times, faster response times and adequate capacity to meet their transportation needs,” said Overbey. “In each of these nine markets, our team worked together with the common goal of wanting to serve our customer and community better.”
Old Dominion’s service center openings include:
• Brooklyn, N.Y. – The latest New York addition is strategically placed to provide easy access to the state’s major interstate I-495 and Route 278. The Brooklyn service center will cover multiple tri-state area markets including Jackson Heights, Queens, Long Island, and Flushing. This 30-door facility is supported by 21 local Old Dominion employees.
• Edinburgh, Ind. – The Edinburgh service center is positioned near two major highways, I-65 and Highway 31, to help support shippers in southern Indiana. This facility operates on 20.1 acres, with 63 doors and room to expand to a total of 120 doors in the future. Old Dominion hired 15 new employees to help serve Edinburgh.
• Grand Island, Neb. – Newly constructed and easily accessible to I-80, the Grand Island service center is a 34-door facility that sits on 9.3 acres. With room for future growth of up to 40 doors, this facility will improve operational efficiencies for the agriculturally-rich central Nebraska region. Two new employees were hired following the move.
• Louisville, Ky. – The Louisville service center was recently renovated to support growing capacity needs and sits on 9.8 acres, located off I-264 and near I-65, I-71 and I-64. Renovations to the facility added 37 doors, 4,000 square feet and a new office. The 96-door facility moves a variety of products across industries, including electronics, medical supplies, car parts, food and spirits, to name a few.
• Mansfield, Ohio – The Mansfield service center sits on 20 acres of land owned by Old Dominion. Sharing a fence line with the Ohio Air National Guard Base, the 62-door facility is strategically located in the middle of several industry- and manufacturing-rich communities. With only 10 of the 20 acres developed and room for 38 additional doors, this service center has room for future growth.
• McDonough, Ga. – The McDonough location is Old Dominion’s sixth service center in the Atlanta metro area, and the 27th in the Southern Region. Located in the McDonough Industrial Park, the 75-door service center sits in a prime location by I-75, Atlanta’s major interstate, near major retail distribution centers and industrial manufacturers.
• Mesa, Ariz. – Old Dominion is expanding its desert footprint with its new service center in Mesa, Ariz. Sitting on 10 acres, the 63-door facility has room to expand up to 60 more doors leaving plenty of room for future development to better support the East Valley. This service center brought 15 new jobs to the community. Old Dominion has four service centers across the state of Arizona.
• Milton, Pa. – The Milton location is a 22-door facility with the capacity to expand by an additional 20 doors. Located at the intersection of Route 80 West/East and 11/15 North/South, the service center moves freight such as food, warehouse inventory, and healthcare-related products. With the addition of this facility, Old Dominion is reducing response times by nearly two hours, drastically increasing the service center’s accessibility to shippers in northcentral Pennsylvania throughout the day.
• Olympia, Wash. – Relocated from a 20-door facility, the Olympia service center now has 55 doors, allowing Old Dominion to increase capacity and ability to add 92 doors in the future. The service center sits on nearly 16 acres and is located a quarter-mile from I-5. Seven new employees were hired to support the Olympia service center.
For more information about Old Dominion, visit www.odfl.com or call (800) 432-6335. On Twitter: @ODFL_Inc and Facebook: Old Dominion Freight Line Inc.
Grocery shoppers in Australia will soon be able to zip in and out of the store in record time, bypassing the lines for cashiers or self-checkout kiosks altogether. They can just walk in, make their selections, and walk out with their bags in hand.
The secret to this express shopping experience is the “Caper Cart,” an AI (artificial intelligence)-powered smart trolley from San Francisco-based Instacart. In its first deployment in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region, the system is being tested by Coles Supermarkets, a food and beverage retailer with more than 1,800 grocery and liquor stores throughout the country.
To get started, customers simply grab a grocery cart-sized smart trolley at the store’s entrance and begin shopping, depositing the items directly into shopping bags as they go. The Caper Carts use onboard AI, cameras, and a built-in scale to automatically recognize items as they’re added to the trolley. Customers can watch their running total display on a screen—just as if they were shopping online—then swipe their credit card on the trolley’s payment terminal to complete the purchase.
“As the first retailer in Australia to introduce AI-powered trolleys, we’re excited to offer our customers a convenient and engaging way to shop in-store, helping them save time, manage their budget, and check out faster—or at their own pace,” Coles’ chief digital officer, Ben Hassing, said in a release. “The Coles smart trolley illustrates our omnichannel approach, leveraging digital capabilities to enrich the in-store experience.”
If you’re looking to make the packaging process more eco-friendly, the obvious place to start is with the box itself. And that’s exactly what Salt Lake City-based Packsize did when it made its initial foray into sustainable packaging back in 2002. That year, the company launched its first product, an innovative on-demand packaging system designed to reduce cardboard waste (and the need for filler material) by creating a right-sized box for each shipment.
Now the company is ready for the next step: greening up the glue.
According to Packsize, 300 billion boxes around the globe are sealed using 500,000 tons of hot-melt adhesive every year, contributing significantly to global emissions generated by the paper-based packaging industry. In a bid to cut those emissions, Packsize recently teamed up with Henkel Adhesive Technologies, a unit of the German chemical and consumer goods company Henkel, to launch Eco-Pax, a bio-based hot-melt adhesive designed to lower carbon footprints without sacrificing performance.
Eco-Pax is made from bio-based raw materials, forgoing traditional fossil-based ingredients. The adhesive will soon be used on more than 340 million boxes produced annually using Packsize’s right-sized packaging machines. That single change is expected to reduce Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi)-relevant greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions up to 32%, which is equivalent to the burning of 1.75 million pounds of coal, the partners said.
“Partnering with an innovative leader like Packsize to launch a bio-based adhesive solution is a big step toward building a more sustainable packaging value chain,” Kevin Heffernan, head of business development, North America, consumer goods adhesives, Henkel Adhesives Technologies, said in a release. “Together, we’re setting a new standard for sustainability in packaging while delivering the high-performance brands and consumers trust.”
MOORESTOWN, NJ (December 18, 2024) OPEX® Corporation, a global leader in Next Generation Automation providing solutions for document, mail, and warehouse automation, has been selected as a finalist in the 2024 NED (New Equipment Digest) Innovation Awards, which celebrates innovations in industrial technology, tools, and equipment that empower businesses to work faster, better, and more cost-effectively.
Introduced in March 2024, Sure Sort X with Xtract is a fully adaptable, turnkey offering designed to automate multiple manual tasks with a simple, one-touch solution.
The technology handles nearly 100% of customer-sortable items weighing up to 20 pounds and sorts items into a configurable array of mixed bin sizes and types, all while maintaining a consistent throughput of up to 2,100 items per hour.
“We are excited to once again receive this recognition, which honors our warehouse automation solutions that clients around the globe count on, as well as our culture of innovation,” said Alex Stevens, President, OPEX Warehouse Automation. “Sure Sort has long been a preferred warehouse automation solution for distribution centers and third-party logistics companies. Sure Sort X paired with Xtract has been developed to meet the evolving demands of the marketplace to deliver one integrated solution that automates the sort and order takeaway process.”
When Sure Sort X is paired with Xtract, totes are retrieved and their contents are transferred into shipping containers automatically, eliminating the need to manually sort and transfer boxes downstream. Xtract iBOTs can handle up to 200 extracted totes per hour.
The system can accommodate multiple market vertical workflows and greatly reduce the need for human interface. Installation can occur in as little as one week and return on investment can be realized within just two years.
For nearly five decades, OPEX has served as a trusted partner, collaborating closely with clients to develop customized, scalable solutions that transform how they conduct business.
About OPEX
OPEX Corporation is a global leader in Next Generation Automation, providing innovative, unique solutions for warehouse, document and mail automation. With headquarters in Moorestown, NJ, USA—and facilities in Pennsauken, NJ; Plano, TX; France; Germany; Switzerland; the United Kingdom; and Australia—OPEX has nearly 1,600 employees who are continuously reimagining and delivering customized, scalable technology solutions that solve the business challenges of today and in the future.
Columbus, OH – December 18, 2024 – Hy-Tek Intralogistics, a premier provider of software, systems and services for supply chain automation technology, has released an episode of its popular podcast Automation Insider that looks at warehousing trends for 2025.
Automation Insider is a podcast created for people interested in what is new and what is successful in logistics and automation technology across a wide range of industries.
“Warehousing is evolving faster than ever,” said Hy-Tek Intralogistics Solutions Design Lead and Automation Insider Host Joe McGrath. “Technology is no longer just a support tool—it’s becoming the driving force behind how we handle inventory, meet customer demands and tackle challenges like sustainability. As we move toward 2025, staying ahead means embracing the trends shaping the future of logistics.”
From smarter warehouses powered by AI to green logistics initiatives, Hy-Tek takes a look at the top trends transforming warehousing and why they matter for your business.
Fans of the podcast can contact show producer Amanda Powers at AutomationInsider@hy-tek.com to provide feedback and ideas for the podcast, or to become a guest on the show. You can also listen on Spotify, YouTube or Apple.
About Hy-Tek Intralogistics
Bringing unique solutions to material handling challenges, Hy-Tek is a leading end-to-end resource and automation technology integrator across a wide range of industries including manufacturing, distribution, retail, construction, food and beverage, pharmaceuticals, electronics and automotive that keep their supply chain moving seamlessly and efficiently.
Hy-Tek works with supply chain strategy and planning before integration and then leverages emerging technologies like the IntraOne® full stack software platform, robotics and traditional material handling automation to solve complex product and information flow inefficiencies. Through many hours of research, development and testing, Hy-Tek has created its Innovation Lab to present the future in motion and to show the new age of picking, transporting and storing of goods and equipment in real-time. With more than 425 employees, Hy-Tek serves customers in the United States, Canada and Mexico from offices in Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee. For more information, visit www.hy-tek.com
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. — Averitt has promoted David Fussell to vice president of dedicated sales, following the retirement of Walt Gray.
Fussell joined Averitt in 1991 and has held several key positions throughout his career. He served as a transportation sales specialist in Decatur and Nashville, later becoming service center director in Little Rock. In 2018, he transitioned to director of dedicated sales, working closely with Gray to expand the company’s dedicated accounts and deliver customized solutions to customers.
“David’s extensive experience and leadership have been instrumental in expanding our dedicated services,” said Kent Williams, executive vice president of sales and marketing at Averitt. “We look forward to seeing continued growth under his leadership in this role.” For more information about Averitt’s Dedicated solutions, visit Averitt.com/Dedicated.
About Averitt
Serving shippers for over 50 years, Averitt is a leading provider of freight transportation and supply chain management solutions with an international reach of over 100 countries. Averitt's “Power of One” service structure provides shippers access to LTL, Truckload, Dedicated, Distribution & Fulfillment, and Integrated services that cover every link in the supply chain. Averitt’s team has been awarded the highest honors in the industry in the past year, including three Quest for Quality Awards, numerous customer awards, and a top ranking in MASTIO & Company’s shipper survey. Averitt's 8,500+ associates are dedicated to delivering the most reliable services within the industry and promoting a company culture centered around people, communities, sustainability, and giving back. For more information, call 1-800-AVERITT (283-7488) or visit Averitt.com.