Facility Tour - Monday, 4:15pm

Southern Wine & Spirits’ Lakeland, FL, Distribution Center

A true highlight of the conference, attendees will experience the Southern Wine & Spirits’ Distribution Center up close and personal. This state-of-the-art beverage operation is the largest wine and spirits wholesale facility in the U.S., at 650,000 square feet. Opened in November 2005, the facility features the latest in distribution and material handling technology andprocesses, all to support next-day service to 12,500 retail establishments each week.

Founded in Miami, FL, in 1968, Southern Wine & Spirits of America is the leading alcohol beverage wholesale distributor in the U.S. with more than $7 billion in annual sales and operations in 27 states.

Features of the Southern Wine & Spirits Lakeland, FL Distribution Center:

• 650,000 square feet and 1.8 million case capacity under roof
• 13,000 SKUs managed
• 10,000 cases per hour throughput capacity
• 30,000 cases and 50,000 bottles shipped to service 130 routes each night
• 101 dock doors (32 receiving, 32 shipping, three rail, 16 conveyor, eight returns and 10 designated for future use)
• Three miles of conveyor
• A state-of –the-art Warehouse Management System (WMS) provides 99.9 percent inventory accuracy
• A fork-lift mounted RF system helps provide real-time inventory visibility
• A 11 language pick-to-voice system that has nearly doubled picking rates for single bottles with a less than 1 percent error rate
• A Control Center that monitors distribution center activities via some 300 cameras and sensors throughout the plant
• An imaging and barcode reader system that monitors how and when orders are loaded into the truck
• A GPS tracking system on all delivery vehicles that provides real-time delivery data  to the sales force and customer