Completed in early 2020, Sweetwater Sound‘s state-of-the-art distribution center acts as the core of the company’s lauded music gear shopping experience. Upon making a strategic decision to keep transport logistics based in its Fort Wayne, IN headquarters, the online retailer chose Weigand to manage the construction process while Design Collaborative oversaw architecture and floor planning. Our team kept the construction schedule on track despite significant timeline, material, and staffing constraints posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring the project was delivered on time.
The facility dwarfs Sweetwater’s former warehouse, sitting at 480,000 square feet, about four times the size of the initial fulfillment center. Record growth and mounting demand for instruments and music equipment created a need for additional space and capacity to process orders at a much faster rate. With a substantially larger storage area and specialized, in-house sorting and picking technology systems, warehouse staff can pick, transport, package, and ship tens of thousands of same-day customer orders with incredible efficiency. Even with significantly increased throughput, the distribution center maintains a 99.9% shipment accuracy rating.
Along with more room for packing and delivery operations, the distribution center serves as a space to house other functions including:
These features have provided practical avenues for Sweetwater to sustain and supply audio gear to its growing customer base, building critical solutions into their supply chain network and infrastructure for future expansion.
