Assembly and distribution operations for select Milestone AV Technologies brands will move to a new 240,000-square-foot location in Shakopee, Minnesota, in June. The new Minnesota Operations Center will house Chief Assembly Operations, SANUS Distribution, and some inventory for Da-Lite. The move will begin June 6 and should be completed without any significant disruptions to customer service or shipments.
The facility will host 126 team members in operations and distribution. The design test assurance lab will move from Milestone’s headquarters in Eden Prairie into an expanded space in the new facility. The new home is in the southwest Minneapolis/St. Paul metro region and within eight miles of the current locations.
“This brand-new, world-class assembly and distribution operation in Shakopee will allow us to grow with Chief and SANUS customers in an efficient and effective way for many years to come,” said Scott Gill, CEO.
“I am very excited about bringing this new facility online as it dovetails nicely into our continuous improvement journey for Milestone, and will be an asset to the Operations leadership team,” said Stu Horlak, EVP of Global Operations. “This next phase of our business is a testament to the strong history of the Chief and Sanus brands within Milestone along with the teams in our current Savage and Shakopee locations.”
As an organization, Milestone works to continuously improve footprint and areas of operations in Minnesota. Leases were set to expire this year at the current locations for Chief in Savage and SANUS in Shakopee. Combining the operations under one roof provides opportunities across the brands to manage costs and become more operationally efficient. The facility also can expand to 300,000 square feet when needed.
“Designing a facility, from the ground up, afforded the team the ability to overcome current limitations while providing leverage and flexibility to better support our employee and customer needs,” said Chris Mullin, project manager.
The transition is planned over the course of four weeks. Operational cells will be moved strategically in order to cover requirements on a daily basis. Milestone will provide updates on the status of the move to ensure seamless service. An open house ceremony will be held at a later date.
