ALLENTOWN, Pa. — The initial capital outlay and potential downtime (in sales and productivity) of an entire relocation can be a daunting thought for any facility manager. But when Premier Equipment Elmira, a leading John Deere dealer in Ontario, Canada, was looking to update their facility, the decision was made to move to a new facility — a process that required the complete relocation of their parts, service and equipment departments.

How Did They Do It?

After final building plans of the new dealership were complete, Leon Brubacher, Premier Equipment parts manager, worked directly with Brent Mitchell, Vidmar territory sales manager, to design and outfit its interior with storage solutions that would save space, save time, and be scalable with business growth.

“Vidmar’s service and expertise made it easy for me to make a decision. Brent provided surveys, drawings of our location, and storage solutions that fit our exact measurements,” says Brubacher. “Once we assessed all of the options it was clear that Vidmar was the best choice.”

The project started with Mitchell drawing the planned cabinet installation into the new facility’s blueprints in order for Brubacher to visualize the exact setup. The team established that the installation required flexibility to arrange drawers of various sizes, and the ability to custom-configure cabinet designs based on different departments’ diverse needs and size requirements.

Vidmar standard cabinets and overhead storage, along with Premier’s existing shelving, was all that was needed to complete the entire solution.

The purchase of the Vidmar cabinets was strategically made prior to the relocation. This allowed the cabinets to be pre-organized and inventoried before the move, a step that was critical to eliminate unnecessary downtime. Vidmar’s cabinets were pre-loaded with transferred inventory, and bin locations were updated, making the transition to the new facility very smooth.

“Ordering and pre-loading the cabinets before we moved was the key to a speedy and seamless move. One person worked for about three months to do the rebinning, and then in one evening we moved and placed about 50 cabinets in the new location,” said Brubacher. “It was so simple to pick up and move. We were done with the entire move in 2 days.”

The Results

Not only did pre-loading the cabinets save time, but there were additional benefits as a byproduct of the decision:

• Inventory bin locations were all corrected.
• Inventory cycle counting was done while inventory was transferred.
• The opportunity to purge dead stock eliminated unnecessary “clutter.”
• Parts were always easily locatable throughout the move rather than strewn in a box.
• The parts and service departments still functioned efficiently while the move was in process.

The result was a professional, well-organized environment that consolidated inventory into a smaller footprint with less aisles. The new dealership provides ample room to grow, more efficient parts-picking due to less walking between aisles, and a neater system of binning and labeling for larger products.