Osprey, a world leader in backpacks for camping, hiking, biking and hydration, has headquarters in Cortez, Colorado. Osprey has been supplying the industry with highly innovative products for over 40 years.

As the success of their product line grew, so did the challenges and constraints with the logistics of warehouse size, shipping routes and delivery times. It was decided that Ogden, Utah would better serve as a distribution hub due to proximity to ports and major transportation routes. Osprey reached out to HOJ Innovations to provide the design engineering and data analysis to validate the size of the distribution center with its associated growth plans. Over a two-month period HOJ Innovations and Osprey worked together to design the new distribution center. This engagement started with an extensive site visit in Cortez to review and document the warehouse cube and processes in each of the four currently operated warehouses. The Osprey operations team was very engaged in this process. David Dunn, Director of Facilities, Larry Bratton, Warehouse Operations Manager and Kenny Ballard, COO all participated to create a collaborative design atmosphere. When layout and design engineering and operations take the time to work together, we see the best results.

The site visit and data analysis of the prior year warehouse transaction became the baseline of strategy for the HOJ Innovations design team. Growth rates and cubic storage for this product became the key driver for the size of building needed today, and five years into the future. The next question to answer was what the clear height of the building needed to be. The ideal pallet height (or heights) were created and then stacked to determine the best recommended building height. The Osprey warehouse picked full case and split order cases, so an additional hand pick shelf was inserted to create room for this type of pick. This added to the overall height of the building, so early specification requirements were communicated to the architect and contractor to ensure the right building was getting built.

Osprey worked with Rusty Bollow at Commerce Real Estate Solutions, a member of Cushman Wakefield Alliance, to find the right building for Osprey. They decided on a new building that was to be built for in the Business Depot Ogden. Tom Stuart Construction was selected as a contractor to build the new building, and in six months from start, Osprey was moving into the facility to prepare for the season receipt of new product for the marketplace.

HOJ Innovations supplied the Mecalux storage racking, with accessory Mallard carton flow and seismic compliant design for permitting with Ogden City. Orders are now being packed on HOJ Innovations packing tables and shipped on Hytrol conveyors. Unicarrier / Nissan Forklifts handle truck unloading and narrow aisle racking loading / unloading. HOJ provided Lantech stretch wrappers, and SERCO HVLS fans. David Dunn commented “The HOJ team has been Bomber throughout this project.” Larry Bratton comments are highlighted in our big picture video that can be seen on our Youtube channel here.