OHL Expands, Increases Hendricks County's Logistics Might

11/18/2008

OHL, a Tennessee-based third-party logistics provider, recently announced a significant expansion of its operations in Plainfield, creating about 120 jobs in the Hendricks County community. Despite a multitude of distribution facilities worldwide, OHL selected the Plainfield campus for the expansion because it's "a very friendly area for logistics," says OHL Regional Vice President of Operations Nathan Sanders. The expansion marks another victory for Hendricks County, which has seen tremendous growth in its distribution and logistics sector in recent years.

OHL provides transportation, warehousing and distribution services from its Plainfield location for about for 20 companies, taking advantage of Central Indiana being within a day's truck drive of two-thirds of the nation's population and businesses to serve customers ranging from consumer goods to healthcare product suppliers. Listen

"We are a multi-client campus environment, so our expansion is tied to our existing customers who are expanding product lines and launching new products," says Sanders. "We also have some unannounced new business that will expand on our campus."

In just three years, OHL's Plainfield campus has more than doubled in size, growing from about one million square feet to over three million square feet. Cinda Kelley, executive director of the Hendricks County Economic Development Partnership, says many logistics companies in the county have expanded in recent years.

"One of our most important jobs is to work with our existing industry to help them continue to grow and expand here in their current location," says Kelly. "[The OHL expansion] is significant because it demonstrates that the county works with our existing industries, we value them, and we see them as key to our continued economic strength."

That economic strength has certainly grown, mostly due to logistics and warehousing companies choosing to locate or expand existing operations in Hendricks County. It's creating a cluster that is making the county a logistics powerhouse for the state.

"We've seen amazing growth of the logistics industry in this area," says Kelley. "Since 2001, we've continued to see significant job growth and investment made in our area in logistics." In fact, Kelley describes the growth of logistics jobs in Hendricks County as "explosive," with about 9,000 new jobs being created in just the last seven years. Listen

"[The success of the logistics industry] is a combination of town officials who have committed to developers and brokers, and our office being responsive to companies' needs and working with those developers in the beginning process when they want to put up a spec building," says Kelley. "‘Build it and they will come' is part of that. With aggressive developers who are willing to put up the facilities, and an aggressive town council working with companies across the nation to show them [Hendricks County] is the best place for them to access their customers—it obviously makes for a successful end result." Listen

Kelley also credits infrastructure within the county—and state—as key to their success in logistics. Excellent interstate access, as well as the county's new interchange at I-74 and Ronald Reagan Parkway, allows for efficient and timely movement of goods. The county is also less than 10 minutes from the Indianapolis International Airport and the nation's second largest FedEx hub. Additionally, Hendricks County is increasing its use of rail, adding even more transportation options for logistics companies. In late September, Avon CSX and Union Pacific railroads started the first regular intermodal service from Los Angeles to CSX's Avon rail yards in Hendricks County. Previously, containers from Los Angeles diverted to Chicago, where they were unloaded and then trucked into Indiana.

"Rail is a cheaper mode for companies to use that really helps them cut down their costs," says Kelley. "In today's economy, helping companies find any way to reduce their costs and get their product to the end location even quicker is key." Listen

Sanders says infrastructure was an important consideration when choosing which of its 120 facilities to expand. OHL leaders chose Plainfield for two main reasons: its central location and business friendly environment.

"Indiana is ‘The Crossroads of America,'" says Sanders. "It's well located for East coast distribution, but also southern and western distribution. Indianapolis has the FedEx hub, and I-74, I-65 and I-70 provide convenient truckload transportation. It's a good place for our clients to be, and that's helping drive the growth." Listen

While a struggling national economy is causing many companies to focus on simply surviving, OHL leaders say their diversified business helps them sustain—and even thrive—during economic downturns. Even in a recession, freight continues to flow, and Plainfield's central location helps reduce fuel costs and meet the "just in time" demands of today's businesses.

"Basically, by being a multi-client campus environment, we're not tied to one industry," says Sanders. "Having customers across different verticals—like consumer product goods, healthcare or automotive—enables us to weather that storm a little differently than most companies."

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