All-West’s former headquarters in Seattle

Once All-West Components & Fasteners Inc. was having to unload pallets in the conference room, the need to move became obvious. CFO Bobby Thompson began what turned out to be a year of scouting for a new office / warehouse combination.  

An early step in the process of deciding where to relocate was a review of where employees were commuting from. CEO Rick Peterson said that showed all but a few were coming from suburbs to the southeast of the company’s current location. And employees were having trouble getting to work in Seattle traffic.

After 41 years in the Georgetown neighborhood south of downtown Seattle and north of Boeing Field, it made sense to move where employees could live.

Ultimately the move to the southeastern suburb of Auburn meant 20 employees gained easier commutes. Only three people were from North Seattle and provisions were made to allow certain work-from-home hours.

There were other factors in moving away from Georgetown, such as parking restrictions, truck noise and homeless vandalism. The homeless issue wasn’t just the tents on sidewalks, but physical damages. Homeless people punctured company propane tanks to refill their own tanks. “The City of Seattle would do nothing,” Peterson complained.

After moving to the southeast suburb, Thompson recalled the truck noise in Georgetown and described the new location as “like a library.”

There are tax advantages too: Auburn has no B&O tax.

The eventual location was among the early possibilities spotted by Thompson.

As All-West got serious about the location, there were details to check such as load beams and dock height.  

A flat floor was obviously necessary. And the Auburn warehouse space did have some uneven spots in the floor. That didn’t eliminate the location – it just meant some concrete grinding and adjustments to avoid shims.

Before signing a lease, Thompson checked with All-West’s insurance carrier: Is the new building ok? All-West knew the new location would have fewer walk-in customers, but All-West wasn’t retail-oriented anyway, Peterson pointed out. Instead All-West sells primarily “small expensive stuff,” to key customers.

Once the location was settled, there were many more details to consider, including creating a budget.

The biggest moving expense? Renting two 50-foot tractor trailers plus a 24-foot truck for the 19.5-mile move.  

There were endless details such as the city of Auburn needing to approve even the simplest of signage.

No surprise costs: Printing letterhead, business cards and checks.

Everyone needs to be notified from customers and suppliers to the Post Office and even the Internal Revenue Service.

Contracts had to be reviewed for details such as termination costs for janitorial service.

And before moving: A shredder truck to reduce paper to be moved.

Actual moving began the day after Thanksgiving 2018 with one team to load at the old warehouse and another to unload at the new facility.

Both Saturday and Sunday became full days of work at overtime rates.

All-West operates on system of the employees who put fasteners on the racks also then pick the product for shipping out. David Allen, VP of operations, said that meant “pickers were big players” in the move.

They stocked the 20 rows of new racks.

Even while in transit, All-West continued filling orders, Peterson said.

Moving into the office was relatively easy. They did repaint the 4,000 sq ft of offices and rekeyed all doors.

A staff safety meeting was held early in the process. Traditionally All-West holds a June safety meeting, but the new location required pointing out emergency exits and an assembly point. A neighboring company obliged to host in an emergency requiring All-West to evacuate.

The move was “under $30,000 with the tractor trailers being the biggest expense. Overtime cost $6,000.

“It was a cost effective move for us,” Allen calculates.

Though Peterson suggested the actual cost of his “sleepless nights” might increase the total.

All-West has branches in Spokane and Boise and the new headquarters is: 4510 B Street NW, Auburn, WA 98001. Tel: 206 762-1875 Email: sales@all-west.com Web: All-West.com