AMS Fulfillment Inc., a third-party company for warehousing, assembly and order-fulfillment services, has opened a new headquarters and sixth warehouse. Located just down the street from its old headquarters, the new building is home to the firm’s suite of executive offices, reception area and a 120,000-square-foot warehouse. In this warehouse expansion, the executive suites and reception area account for 7,000 square feet on a mezzanine and second floor level of the warehouse. All properties are located within the Valencia Commerce Center.
“It feels great to be here,” said Jay Catlin, president and managing partner of AMS. “The warehouse expansion and new offices give us the same sort of close-knit feel, but we’re no longer on top of each other.”
Nonstop growth
AMS Fulfillment, a privately owned company, first launched its business operation in the business park in July 2002 in only 30,000 square feet of warehouse space. Today, the firm occupies six warehouses and nearly 500,000 square feet of space. The company manages inventory warehousing, tracking, customer-order fulfillment and shipping for name-brand product manufacturers, such as Toms Shoes, Umbro and Arbor Sports.
With Ken Wiseman, managing partner and CEO, Catlin manages tens of thousands of retail items, product orders and shipments for 40 active retail clients. Employing more than 175 permanent employees and about 50 regular temporary employees, AMS reported in May that business has grown so steadily it doubled the number of buildings it occupied in 2010 and doubled its revenue.
New digs
Although AMS moved into its new warehouse just last week, the company is already nearing capacity and shopping for a seventh warehouse. “We’re almost at capacity,” Catlin said. “We’re adding more racks within the next week.”
This may be good news for the business, but bad news for Marco Pelaez, vice president of operations. “It was a nightmare moving in,” Palaez joked. So many details had to be planned and executed, from a new phone center to a security system, phone and data systems, as well as installing all the inventory racks, he said. He worked 14 to 15 hours daily in the month leading up to the opening.
AMS shifted inventory from four clients out of over-crowded warehouses and into the new warehouse expansion. Those four clients nearly filled up the new headquarters, Catlin said. “We’re already at 80-percent capacity for all buildings,” Catlin said.
Shopping
Projecting future growth, Catlin said AMS already knows it needs additional warehouse space. In planning for new clients, the company is planning to grow, but grow smartly. “We’re looking at activity by client to strike a good balance in flow,” Catlin said. “But it feels great to be in this position.”
AMS is looking for more buildings in the area, Catlin said. Owners Catlin and Wiseman have one facility in mind that would give the company another 50,000 square feet next door to one of their other warehouses, giving them up to 90,000 square feet of space combined.
Despite the painstaking efforts AMS took to move to its new location, Palaez said he’s up to the task of doing it all over again. “I don’t think about what we have now,” said Palaez. “I see what we’ll have in the future and know it will be even better and more efficient.”
