7/19/2010
HEADLINES
Earnest Machine Moving Warehouses to Indianapolis
Office stays in Cleveland
Earnest Machine closed its warehouse in greater Cleveland but its office remains open.
Artist rendering of Earnest Machine Products headquarters from 1952 to 1977.
Earnest Machine Products Co. a Cleveland-based master distributor of fasteners since 1948, is closing warehouses in Cleveland and Davenport, Iowa, and centralizing in Indianapolis.
The corporate office will remain in Cleveland.
Earnest president Kirk Zehnder announced Earnest will consolidate those operations in a 90,000 sq ft building in Park 100 on the northwest side of Indianapolis.
Zehnder said the company chose Indianapolis due to the city’s central location.
“Indianapolis is a logistics hub for the Midwest that provides reliable and economical delivery options.”
In a letter on EarnestMachine.com, Zehnder compared the move to his youthful days playing Legos. After building one machine he took it apart to rebuilding something better. “Legos taught me to think big, be flexible and embrace new ideas.”
Zehnder has made numerous changes since taking over as the third generation leader in 2007.
Earnest, once well known for creative booths at industry trade shows, quit exhibiting to spend marketing money in other ways.
Last fall Earnest asked its distributors “what was needed to improve our service. We received great ideas, learned a great deal, and began developing a plan that would lead to better. That plan is underway and once again – the Legos are being transformed,” Zehnder wrote.
“When this transition is complete, our fill rate will increase, our inventory availability will improve, and our same day shipping capacity is expanded,” Zehnder wrote.
The new warehouse features automated material handling equipment and new IT systems to drive efficiency and expand capacity.
Inventory will be increased at Earnest’s Atlanta warehouse and equipment will be added for automated custom packaging.
Founded in 1948 by Paul Earnest Zehnder in his garage, the company published a history book to mark its 50th anniversary in 1998.
Earnest is currently located at 12502 Plaza Dr., Parma, OH 44130. ©2010 GlobalFastenerNews.com
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