Written By Larry J. Mickartz
I
f you traveled south on Camino Arroyo in Gilroy and go
past Kohl’s, then Salvation Army, you will see this huge,
long building down the road…and you may wonder
what is that?
Well, the newly built very long building with all the truck
docks is UNFI, United Natural Foods Inc. UNFI is the largest
distributor of organic, natural and specialty products in the
U.S. and Canada, with 31 distribution centers that deliver
80,000+ products to 40,000+ customers. The history of UNFI
goes back to 1976 and a small operation distributing organic
produce. With growth and acquisitions UNFI is one of the
“big” boys now. UNFI offers natural food and products in every
category imaginable from produce, deli and meats, to bakery,
snacks and prepared foods. Some are delivered chilled; others
frozen. The big surprise is the number of natural personal care,
health and beauty products.
A look inside UNFI Gilroy reveals several things. This place
is big. There are 53 truck docks and an oversized staging area
inside the docks. The building is 425,600 square feet and has
room to grow. The stacks inside of each area are 39 feet tall.
The are significant spaces inside not in full use yet. While
UNFI Gilroy does not yet have all 80,000 products or SKU’s in
the UNFI repertoire, they are working on getting there. A SKU
is that combination of numbers and letters that gets scanned
at the checkout stand. SKU brings up the second observation.
UNFI is hyper automated. The SKU is at the heart of UNFI’s
unique and highly efficient delivery system. Thousands upon
thousands of bins hold products with unique SKU’s. Associates
with sophisticated head sets take orders, pull products by
their SKU, and prepare shipments. Some orders are for large
quantities but some orders are for small orders. UNFI can
handle both. One of the unique features of this operation is
that UNFI can package and ship small orders.
The operation has multiple temperature zones, from normal
to chilled to freezing. The zones operate from receiving, to
packaging to shipping. All forklifts are electric. The fork-lift
doors inside are automated for quick opening and closing. In
areas where the stacks are close together, floor sensors control
the forklifts, preventing bumps and scratches as the lifts move
to the top SKU bins. Sensors on the docks prevent accidental
openings. Everywhere around the operation are monitors
updating order processing, shipment preparation and loading
etc. Dock loading is staggered so as to avoid crowding out-
side and inside. Inside conveyor belts and screws move boxes
around, up and down.
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
A third observation is the friendly behavior of employees.
People seem happy here. Everyone wears the yellow vest but
everyone also seems to be in a good mood! People nod, say
hello, and smile. Of the current 210 employees about 37
percent are local hires. The Gilroy UNFI could grow to 500
employees. There is lots of talk about the UNFI family culture,
and there’s plenty of evidence to support it. Near the front
door is an employee store where many products are available
for employees. The store uses a self-checkout honor system!
Energetic Crystal Brennan, the UNFI General Manager and
the company’s first female GM, conveys that same friendliness.
She cannot talk about UNFI without dropping into the “we”
mode. She does see this as a big family!
In the future the Gilroy UNFI will install a 130,000
square feet of solar to reduce their energy consumption and
to acquire LEAD (Leadership in Energy and Environmental
Design) Gold certification. UNFI will continue to grow, adding
employees and filling some of the unused space. It is expected
that empty backhaul (returning) trucks will start picking up
produce from local growers, thus spurring growth in the local
organic business.
A LAST NOTE…the UNFI like many other specialized
industries has developed its own unique vocabulary from
backhauls and stacks to SKU’s. A favorite is the “penalty box”
which is where products go that arrived broken or damaged
or that had the wrong SKU…it was milk chocolate not dark
chocolate…there were only 10 in a box not 12. Items in
the penalty box stay there until they are resolved with the
supplier, or they might take a trip to the “company store.”
JULY / AUGUST 2016
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