Ahold Delhaize hits 2021 target in shift to U.S. self-distribution

Ahold Delhaize USA has transitioned The Giant Company’s Carlisle, Pa., distribution center into its self-distributed network, raising self-managed center-store volume to 65%, its goal for this year.

ADUSA Supply Chain, the retailer’s distribution and logistics arm, announced the transition of the Carlisle DC yesterday. Under a three-year supply chain transformation unveiled in December 2019, Zaandam, Netherlands-based parent Ahold Delhaize plans more than 85% of its U.S. distribution network to be self-managed by the end of 2022.

Five more DCs are slated to be converted to self-management next year, raising the total number of integrated self-distribution facilities for store and e-commerce fulfillment to 25, up from 15 when the $480 million plan was announced.

“It has been a busy and exciting 2021,” ADUSA Supply Chain President Chris Lewis said in a statement. “Every day, I continue to be exceptionally proud of our team and partners who continue to deliver Ahold Delhaize USA companies’ supply chain transformation on schedule, despite unprecedented headwinds in the supply chain. We look forward to leveraging the learnings from the transitions completed in 2021 to bring five more distribution centers into the self-distributed network next year.”

Related:Ahold Delhaize USA opens new distribution center in Connecticut

ADUSA noted that Giant’s Carlisle DC marks the chain’s the first facility supporting the move to self-distribution, even though it was the final warehouse to be transitioned into the network this year. Owned and operated by Carlisle-based Giant, the 482,000-square-foot perishables DC serves all of the chain’s 187 Giant, Martin’s and Giant Heirloom Market stores in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia.

“Completing the transition of our Carlisle perishable distribution center is a significant milestone for The Giant Company as we continue to deploy our omnichannel strategy,” according to Glennis Harris, senior vice president of customer experience at Giant. “I’d like to thank the team at the facility, as well as our partners at ADUSA Supply Chain, for their support in moving to self-distribution, which will help us better serve our store teams and ultimately, millions of customers each week, through enhanced efficiency and effectiveness.”

ADUSA said it expects to finish the full network transition in 2023, as scheduled. Facilities making the shift in 2022 include DCs in Bethlehem and York, Pa.; Chester, N.Y.; and two fully automated frozen warehouses in Mountville, Pa., and Plainville, Conn., opening in partnership with cold storage provider Americold.

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In September, ADUSA opened a 1 million-square-foot distribution center in Manchester, Conn., to serve its Stop & Shop supermarket chain. The DC represented the first facility in the company’s network to carry the ADUSA Supply Chain brand.

Based in Scarborough, Maine, the ADUSA Supply Chain family of companies includes ADUSA Supply Chain Services, ADUSA Distribution, ADUSA Transportation and ADUSA Procurement. The network serves the 2,044 stores and e-commerce operations of Ahold Delhaize USA’s Stop & Shop, Giant Food, Giant/Martin’s, Food Lion and Hannaford grocery chains on the East Coast.