HAPPY 10th anniversary 10 Years of Sheetz Distribution Services


In the 10 years since our Sheetz Distribution Center (DC) made its first store deliv- eries, one of the most significant signs of its success is how, in one way, its perfor- mance has fallen off the radar. The higher service levels that were once hoped for are now expected. “Personally, one of the things I’m most proud of is something Steve


Sheetz said when we were debating whether to do the bakery/commissary,” said Ray Ryan, executive vice president (EVP) of distribution services. “He said with the DC, he doesn’t even think about product supply much at all anymore. It’s off his radar. He always knows if our stores need something, we’re going to get it to them.” It wasn’t always this way. In the days before the Sheetz DC, supply


chain disruptions were common, with continued out-of-stocks, especially cigarettes and foodservice, hurting our business. The flexibility we enjoy today wasn’t there, either. Forget rapid response to extreme weather situations or getting an emergency delivery! These factors, combined with our steady growth and plans for continued expansion, made creating our own distribution system the natural evolution of the business.


Taking the plunge


Preparing to take on a project of this magnitude required an enormous commit- ment from nearly every department in the company. The $30 million, 260,000 (390,000 today) square-foot facility created 240 new jobs, many of which were filled with Sheetz employees looking for a new challenge. Ray was the first employee hired, and as EVP of the DC had the pleasure of


overseeing the whole endeavor. At one point his monster list of projects included 1,500 major tasks! After assembling a top-notch team in areas like IT, personnel, purchasing, customer service, operations and transportation, the DC staff set up temporary headquarters and regularly worked 16- to 18-hour days in order to bring the project in on time and under budget. Getting the DC open for business was only the beginning, however. Getting our


state-of-the-art technology and material handling systems right took additional time. Initially, a problem with just one system could throw off operations for an entire day. And with about 20 major systems interfacing over a 24-hour period to complete all steps of a store delivery successfully, there were lots of opportunities for long delays. Ray said it took close to two years before DC staff were working normal hours. “It took four months to get all the stores on the schedule, then we had to go


through a cycle of having them all on during all four seasons to see the fluctuations that causes. It took around 18 months to get the system stability we wanted.”


Adding new services


With everything running smoothly, and with a continued emphasis on driving efficiencies, the DC gradually achieved the 99.8 percent in-stock performance that has Steve not worrying so much about supply chain issues. That success is what gave us the confidence to expand our distribution services,


first with Sheetz Bros. Kitchen and soon with “South Park,” our upcoming southern DC/Kitchen facility. “Sheetz Bros. Kitchen: we did that using a lot of the same people who


pioneered the DC,” Ray said. “It’s been great to create opportunities for advancement for people, to see leads at the DC become supervisors in the kitchen, and supervisors in the warehouse to become managers in the kitchen. Watching our staff continue to develop has been very rewarding.” With South Park, as they work to narrow down a location for the new


facility, Ray says Sheetz people will once again be the key to another suc- cessful expansion of DC Services. “I have full confidence we’ll find a good management team to put in place


down there (which is our top priority), and our current management team will assist and contribute as much as we can on an ongoing basis.” When the person is chosen to lead South Park (Ray says the job will be


posted early 2012, and they hope to fill the role by Summer 2012.), they’ll have a great blueprint to use for making the new facility and operation a big success.


6 Family Matters JANUARY


All drivers worked at stores when they first started so they could experience the store environment firsthand. Brian Baldinger (above) is still employed with the company.


Darrin Pohar (left) selects the order for the first store delivery.


We’d like to give a shout out to the following employees who have worked at the DC since it opened in 2001:


Thomas Alec Gary Allison Brad Bartley Ellis L. Berkebile, Jr.


Rodney Bollman David Burger Richard Cascio Mary Claar


Troy Claar Matthew Colyer Gary Defibaugh Arthur Devlin


Bonnie Diehl Gavin Diehl John DiVito Rebecca Dodson


Check out those gas prices! This is the first training class of DC team members: Shelly Wilson, Jason Stern, Jim Moore, Jeanne Schobel, Laura Bacco, Brian


Lasher, Blair Musselman, Shelly Stiver, John Casner, Zelda Allen (retired), Bonnie Locker, Wilda Heiss (retired) and Michele McGinnis.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16