The Association for Operations Management held its international conference in Kansas City this year and arranged for several tours through various manufacturing and distribution center hosts.

Wagner Industries was honored to present a tour of its 490,000 sq ft distribution center and Home Office for a group of operations professionals from around the world.  The 55 attendees received a briefing from John Wagner Jr, President, about the 3PL industry and specifically how Wagner fits into the market with its service offerings.

Dave Creek, Vice President Logistics at Wagner discussed transportation and the range of service offerings from complete transportation management to lane by lane movements. 

Dan Nairn, Sr. Manager Packaging Solutions, displayed a number of items. These included a floor display end cap, fin seal packages, shrink wrap items, stand up pouches, volumetric filling and enclosure of primary packed items.  Discussions centered around component management and the importance of managing the process to meet deadlines for the customers.  

Dave Pfannerstill, Director Information Technology briefed the group on the Wagner technology platforms deployed and spoke about the services offered in a 3PL environment. EDI was discussed with the group exploring the various capabilities that exist within Wagner Industries.  Dave fielded many questions about Wagner’s distribution centers and visibility into inventory throughout the various stages of the supply chain.  

A facility and operational briefing was held for the attendees by Brian Smith, Director of Industrial Engineering followed by a tour of the distribution center.  The attendees saw both ends of the warehouse spectrum at Wagner.  First was a consumer packaged goods operation shipping to major retailers.  The second operation represented a high volume seasonal inner-pick operation with 118 order selectors. 

At the wrap up there were a number of questions and lively discussion concluding an exchange of information among professionals of both groups.

Figure 1 - APICS Professionals Learning 3PL

Figure 2- Fielding Questions

Figure 3- Touring Wagner 3PL Facility