Flaman Fitness Digital Marketer Paul Boechler discusses how the big new warehouse in Saskatoon with Flaman Fitness East Logistics Manager Justin Howe (centre) and Flaman Fitness East General Manager Shawn Klisowsky.
Flaman Fitness East has opened a big, new, enclosed and heated warehouse space for improved customer service and faster delivery times. This new warehouse, located in Saskatoon, will serve customers across Saskatchewan and east to Manitoba and Ontario. The first phase of expansion has already happened, with bigger plans in the near future.
How much bigger?
“Our old warehouse could stock around 6,000 to 7,000 square-feet of equipment,” says Justin Howe, Logistics Manager for Flaman Fitness East. “We are into over 8,000 here right now, and come January 1, we’ll move into just over 11,000 square feet.”
It's not just bigger, but warmer as well.
“We were in a cold shelter building with no heat before,” explains Shawn Klisowsky, General Manager Flaman Fitness East. Snow, wind, frigid temperatures and all the other obstacles a Saskatchewan winter could throw at Flaman’s hard-working staff hamstrung the order-picking and delivery processes. The enclosed warehouse eliminates many of those problems. “So now with us being in a warm building, we can get the product picked, put onto a truck, and get it out faster.”
Addressing a Global Delivery Slowdown
Of course, not all winter delays start at Flaman and neither did the global delivery problems that began with the onset of the COVID 19 pandemic – delays expected to become more of an issue thanks to the one-two punch of winter storms and the holiday buying spike.
“It's not just for us,” Klisowsky explains. The factors delaying receipt of products worldwide begin with the raw materials of which those products are made, and snowball during manufacturing and shipping. Flaman Fitness has little to no power over what happens with products before they reach our warehouses, but we’re assessing those realities and planning to do all we can to minimize the impact on our customers.
Better Delivery Times Ahead
This warehouse expansion is an excellent step in that direction – especially as the trend of increased purchasing of home fitness equipment promises to ramp up for the holiday season and post-feast fitness resolutions in the new year.
“Now the order pick times will be cut in half,” Howe says. “ When product comes in, we can pick it fast and get it out to that store as soon as we can within a day or two.”
One Win for the Coming Winter
It’s an interesting study on the principles of expansion and contraction. A bigger, warmer space at Flaman equals less waiting for customers. It’s a victory for both parties over expected, old adversaries and unexpected, new ones.
“We’re not controlled by the environment, “ Klisowsky explains. “But now we can control the environment so we can get it from the container into the warehouse, into the stores, and right to the customers’ homes.”