BRASELTON, Ga. — In April 2014, Mizuno USA began transforming an old tractor supply building in Braselton into the company’s largest distribution center in the world.
Five hundred twenty-seven thousand square feet and $32 million later, the state of the art facility can turn around orders in a day and ship to anywhere in the United States and Canada.
“We have all of our distribution for every sports division,” said Curtis Brown, Mizuno’s Director of Manufacturing. “Golf, the diamond sports, which are baseball, softball and volleyball, running and apparel. Every division that we have is distributed here.”
Mizuno USA has a 10-year lease plan to support the business through the next decade, and the streamline approach to distributing their products is the key.
Thirty different scanners make sure the process runs smoothly and efficiently.
The expansion created jobs. In all, 160 people work in the building, which had to add an extra shift to keep up with demand. “We start at six in the morning and run until about 10:30 at night,” said Brown. “We created some jobs locally and were fortunate to have the entire golf assembly crew come with us from Norcross.”
Fifty individuals work in the golf assembly part of the building, and with Mizuno’s new line of MP-5 and MP-25 irons, and S5 wedges set to hit this market this month, they will be busy.
“We can do, right now with the staffing, about 5,000 sticks today,” said Brown. “We are able to assemble up to 2 million clubs a year, so we have that capacity and equipment now to do that.”
Mizuno’s irons win “best of” on a yearly basis, and Brown knows why.
“The skilled labor force we have. Again, 50 people working the golf assembly area with an average tenure around 17 years, so we are able to bring that knowledge and keep that knowledge with us,” Brown said.
Mizuno USA could have set up shop anywhere in the country, but Brown says the new facility could not have found a more perfect home.
“The infrastructure in the Atlanta area, plus the world's busiest airport and the Port of Savannah what they are doing in Savannah, has been huge for us,” he said.