Supply chain focus paying off for “Shipper of Choice” Home Depot

Store associates employed at the retailing powerhouse – which ranked 32 on the Forbes top 100 list of the world’s Most Valuable Brands in 2019 – number over 400,000, of whom more than 15,000 work in supply chain.

Livingstone pointed out that while the company’s five-year, $1.2 billion investment in equipment, technology and infrastructure across its supply chain network will “create the fastest, most efficient delivery in home improvement” it also exposes the carrier to another set of drivers as it moves aggressively into the same-day, last-mile space.

The Home Depot announced in September 2018 its partnership with startups Roadie and Deliv, along with its intention to add more than 100 new distribution centers to its supply chain so that it can store its inventory closer to final destination.

While Home Depot already uses trucks to deliver large items like building materials the same day they’re ordered, the new service focuses on consumer goods like power tools and home furnishing that can be delivered by car or van.

By the end of the second quarter of 2019, the company will have same- and next-day capability for small parcel items from stores for 50 percent of the U.S. population, according to Mark Holifield, The Home Depot’s executive vice president for supply chain and product development, speaking during the company’s first-quarter meeting in May.

When its supply chain initiative is completed, the company expects its expanded network to be able to provide same-day and next-day delivery capabilities for 90 percent of the U.S. population for both parcel and big, bulky products.

And with The Home Depot’s now-recognized commitment to its more traditional large-truck workforce, expectation is high that the company will be able to replicate that commitment to a new pool of last-mile “crowd-sourced” drivers.