Iowa 80 Truckstop expansion delivers new distribution center

WALCOTT, Iowa – The World’s Largest Truckstop just got bigger with the opening of a new distribution center for storing and shipping out the hundreds of thousands of trucking accessories and other products sold by the Iowa 80 Truckstop.  Known as the Iowa80.Com Distribution Center — for its e-commerce store name — the building sits at 510 Sterling Drive, Suite A, on the truck stop’s 220-acre site. The precast concrete structure was built, company leaders said, to accommodate the truck stop’s growing retail business — and its vast inventory — as well as to improve efficiency in their distribution.

“During the pandemic, America remembered how important trucking was to our economy,” said Deanna Slack, the general manager of Iowa80.Com. “And during the pandemic, drivers needed stuff for their trucks.”  An increase in sales as well as a desire to modernize operations drove the lengthy construction project. The warehouse provides ample space to store and fulfill orders for customers of Iowa80.Com as well as fulfillment for Iowa 80’s own stores in Walcott, Iowa; Kenly, North Carolina; and Joplin, Missouri, and its CAT Scale Company locations.    Ryan Foley, manager of the distribution center (DC), said the new warehouse replaces an existing building on-site. Its future use is unknown. While the new DC spans 250,000 square feet, he said Iowa 80 only occupies a 117,000-square-foot portion for its operations. The previous facility “was less than half of what we occupy here,” he said, adding that space was at such a premium “25% of our inventory had to be held off site at one time at a third-party.”  Through the design and construction process, he said Iowa 80 was able to improve processes by planning for better product movement and storage, add new equipment and build in new amenities with employee safety and comfort in mind.  Topping that list, he said, was making the warehouse completely air-conditioned and including a break room complete with windows. “Sunlight might seem like a minor thing,” but it’s a welcomed addition for employees who work inside all day, he said. The space also now provides comfortable space to hold all-staff meetings.

Inside the sprawling warehouse, DC employees are responsible for receiving products, stocking and picking inventory, and packing and shipping orders.  Mr. Foley estimated that Iowa80.Com sells as many as 10,000 different items – big and small. “We have millions of pieces of inventory and ship two million-plus items a year,” he said.  Construction began in November 2022 with Davenport-based Russell and Shive-Hattery Inc., Bettendorf, on the project team.  Iowa 80 employees began moving inventory and equipment from the original warehouse into the new facility during the major snowstorm in January.  

Modern technologies  

Looking to streamline the inventory process, Mr. Foley said the company invested in a pair of massive Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (ASRS), produced by Kardex.  The vertical lift modules, known as the Kardex Shuttle, stretch almost to the building’s 32-foot clearance height. Inside each are 67 shelves that eventually will be packed full of stock and work much like a product vending machine.   “We wanted to find a way to be more compact,” he said, adding “The picking process is (normally) a manual process and walking the aisles (to find items) can take a lot of time.” But with the ASRS, he said “the Kardex machine brings the products to the person rather than the person walking to the product. This should increase our picking efficiency at least by 30%.” Mr. Foley said each shelf inside the units can hold a maximum of 800 pounds. “It will do a couple great things for us. It will save us in picking efficiency – so do more with less people – and it also saves us in storage space,” he added. “It’s a denser way of storing smaller items rather than sticking them on a static shelf.”

Iowa 80 has targeted March 4 as the first day the Kardex machines will be operational – after materials are loaded and staff is trained. According to Ms. Slack, the new DC was designed to possibly hold two more of the storage and retrieval units.  

Emphasis on fire protection

Another new technology the newly built warehouse made possible was construction of a 9,400-square-foot fireproof room to safely store all the items Iowa 80 sells that are considered hazardous, such as chemicals, fluids and other flammable or combustible materials.  “Because of the size of the building and being new construction, we fell under different building codes,” Mr. Foley said.  The room — a first for the company — is filled with floor-to-ceiling racks with each rack equipped with an inline sprinkler system, he said. Unlike the rest of the building, which is protected by water sprinklers, this room has a fire foam suppression system. In the case of a fire, the doors to the room would close automatically and the room has a fire rating of three hours, meaning it would be protected that long during an active fire.  Throughout the enclosed room are special floor grates in case of a hazardous spill. “If everything in here poured out (of its containers), these grates would open and the liquid would flow in there,” he added.  The safety foam tank even has its own storage room, Ms. Slack said, adding “We learned a lot about fire protection during the planning.”  Connor Hemmingson, the assistant DC manager, said much of the plant’s design and layout centered around ensuring safety and improving workflow efficiency. Some of the amenities include a new state-of-the-art paging system, security keycard access, a new payroll/time clock system and 85 cameras mounted throughout the warehouse for security and safety reasons, he said.   Another new amenity will be a solar panel farm to be installed in March. The warehouse also is awaiting the arrival of more equipment including forklifts and lifts to reach the higher racking already installed, he said.  

Added capacity 

With 10 docks available for semi-trucks to be unloaded and loaded, Mr. Hemmingson said the operation has been streamlined and made more efficient by dividing the inbound and outbound shipments into their own dedicated areas. Each dock also was equipped with a hydraulic lift to make the job safer.  All the changes, he said, “makes dock to stock pretty quick.”   Storage capacity also was boosted with a total of 33,371 linear feet of racking systems and 345 linear feet of rollers that move product throughout the warehouse.  “We were just cramped in the old space, we only had one dock,” Mr. Foley said. That often created a choke point in the distribution process. “We could only have one truck being unloaded at a time and often had two trucks waiting.”  In fact, Ms. Slack said on the first day of operations employees marveled as four trucks were being unloaded at the same time.  The shipping department also expanded from a single shipping station to four stations where employees sort orders, package them for shipping and send them off.  Iowa 80 expanded into the retail business initially in 1997 with the introduction of its then catalog. As technology improved and shopping habits began to change, the company launched the Iowa80.Com online store in 2000.  The business provides premier trucking accessories for professional drivers and other customers alike.  With thousands of products available, customers can shop 24/7 and will find an exhaustive list of inventory — specifically for truckers — including everything from chrome trim, visors, bumpers, cargo control, exhaust stacks, LED lights, radios, GPS units, fenders, steering wheels, mattresses, pillows and much more. Shoppers also will find other daily essentials and household items including cleaning supplies, refrigerators, as well as personal hygiene items.  

Tenant opportunities 

On a recent tour with the QCBJ, the Iowa 80 leadership discussed the opportunities the oversized warehouse creates – not only for future growth but also for new tenants.   The DC itself occupies less than half of the warehouse’s 250,000 square feet and the remainder of the space “could have a renter or a third-party logistics company. It’s a great location for logistics,” Ms. Slack said.  The additional warehouse space has been left as a shell right now “so they (a future tenant) can customize the space,” she added.   In fact, the DC is only the latest development for the Iowa 80 Group, which is marking its 60th anniversary this year. (See related story page 10) The sprawling truck stop, located at Exit 284 along Interstate 80, opened a new headquarters office building in 2020 near the recently opened DC. Then in 2023, the third addition of the Iowa 80 Trucking Museum was completed. “We have the desire to keep growing,” Ms. Slack said.  

AT A GLANCE: Iowa 80 Truckstop’s new distribution center

What: Iowa80.Com Distribution Center (DC). Where: 510 Sterling Drive, Suite A, Walcott, Iowa. Owner: Iowa 80 Group, Walcott. Opened: The new DC shipped out its first packages Tuesday, Jan. 16. Workforce: 24-26 employees (DC only). Construction team: Russell, Davenport, and Shive-Hattery Inc., Bettendorf. Square footage: 117,180 SF (Iowa80.Com DC only); 250,000 SF (entire building). dock doors: 10. Linear feet of racking: 33,371. Clearance height: 32 feet. Grand opening: Iowa 80 will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the DC at 1:30 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 27, with the Quad Cities Chamber of Commerce and Walcott city officials. The public is welcome to join in the festivities including warehouse tours and a reception. Source: Iowa 80 Truckstop