FedEx Ground, the small-package ground unit of FedEx Corp. today is celebrating the opening of a new $100-million major distribution hub in Kernersville, NC.
The 410,000 square-foot facility is located on a 125-acre site at Old Greensboro Road and West Market Street. The hub features the latest automated material handling technology that moves packages at 540 feet per minute along nearly 15 miles of conveyor belts, processing 15,000 packages per hour. With a projected future expansion, the hub could eventually process 45,000 packages per hour. The current workforce includes more than 550 full-time and part-time employees and about 200 independent contractor opportunities.
“We’re very excited to begin full operations at the new, fully automated Greensboro hub. This facility is an important milestone in FedEx Ground’s nationwide network expansion,” said John C. Payne, senior vice president of linehaul, maintenance and safety for FedEx Ground. “Enhancing our distribution capacity in the Southeast region is an important step in our ongoing efforts to increase the size, speed and efficiency of our network. The new facility will join existing hub facilities in Charlotte, Atlanta, Orlando and Nashville in serving the Southeast region and its expanding presence in the transportation and logistics businesses.”
The new FedEx Ground distribution center is part of an ongoing nationwide network expansion and transit time acceleration plan to boost daily package volume capacity and further enhance the speed and service capabilities of its network. It is the eleventh new hub opened since 2002 while more than 500 local facilities have been expanded or relocated.
The network enhancement plan has resulted in accelerating ground delivery service by one day or more in more than half of the United States. FedEx Ground now delivers more than 61 percent of packages in two days or less and more than 82% of packages in three days or less. Additionally, average daily package volume has more than doubled since 2002, from 1.75 million to more than 3.7 million today.
