Rohit Laila has spent decades building and tuning supply chains that balance speed, cost, and resilience. He’s led network shifts, overseen automation rollouts, and stayed close to the shop floor—from the hum of sorters to the cadence of dock doors. With a 2 million–square-foot distribution center slated for Buckeye, Arizona, opening in 2028, he’s channeling that experience into Burlington’s next leap: highly automated flow, advanced sorting systems, and custom software. In this conversation with Oliver Sinclair, he unpacks why the timing matters, how the Arizona node will rebalance West and Southwest demand alongside Savannah, Riverside, and a 2.1 million–square-foot site in Ellabell, Georgia, and which ROI and workforce bets will turn start-up costs into durable savings.
What problem are you solving with the 2 million–square-foot Buckeye, Arizona distribution center, and why now? How did you size it, and what specific service or speed targets are you aiming to hit by 2028?
Off-price is won on speed and agility, and our West and Southwest demand has outgrown the cadence we can sustain without a new anchor. The 2 million–square-foot footprint near Phoenix gives us linehaul reach into key population centers while easing pressure on California nodes. We sized it to absorb growth and volatility while shifting the majority of supply and processing to the most efficient facilities—something we’ve been executing across the network. By 2028, our target is simple: materially faster daily operations, with shorter door-to-floor cycles and fewer touches, so stores see fresher assortments without trading off accuracy.
“Highly automated” can mean many things. Which core processes will be automated first (inbound, put-away, picking, sortation, loading), and why? What throughput rates or accuracy gains are you targeting in each?
We’re starting where variability meets volume: inbound sortation, carton handling, and store-ready allocation. Advanced sorting systems give us stable flow, while automation supports put-away and picking to reduce rehandles and misroutes. Loading will be semi-automated with guided sequencing so we protect cube and appointment discipline. The goal is cleaner, faster dailies—fewer exceptions at each stage, tighter store allocation, and a steadier beat on the dock so trucks roll on time and in full.
You’re deploying advanced sorting systems and custom software. What functions will custom code control that off‑the‑shelf WMS/WES can’t? How are you de‑risking integration and change management—pilots, shadow mode, rollback plans?
Off-the-shelf platforms are our backbone, but custom code will orchestrate the off-price nuances: real-time priority rules for unpredictable assortments, cross-DC flow decisions, and carton-level routing that shifts as new deals land. Our software will tune sorter logic and exception branching to our playbook, not the other way around. We’re de-risking through staged pilots, multi-week shadow mode with mirrored transactions, and clear rollback paths so we can revert to proven methods within a shift if needed. That rhythm—pilot, learn, harden—lets us scale confidence before we scale volume.
Off-price retail demands fast processing of unpredictable assortments. How will the new DC handle SKU volatility, carton variability, and late vendor changes? What exceptions will stay manual, and how will you keep them from becoming bottlenecks?
We’ll pair advanced sorters with zoning that absorbs carton variability without stopping the line. Late vendor changes will flow through rules in our custom layer, re-slating cartons to the right stores in real time. Delicate, oddly shaped, or compliance-flagged exceptions will stay manual at ergonomic workcells to keep velocity high where automation shines. The trick is small, well-instrumented islands of manual work surrounded by automated highways—so exceptions are resolved in minutes, not hours, and never clog the main arteries.
You’ve been shifting more volume to newer, more efficient facilities. What criteria decide which nodes get which flows—supplier proximity, carrier lanes, cube, seasonality? Can you share an example reroute and the measured impact on cycle time and cost per unit?
We weigh supplier proximity, carrier lanes, store clusters, and cube density, then seasonality tilts the final call. As new capacity comes online in Savannah and Riverside, we prioritize lanes where a single linehaul hop replaces multiple handoffs. A recent reroute to a newer node cut touches and simplified appointments; the net result was shorter cycle time with a cleaner dock rhythm and a healthier cost per unit. The lesson: move volume where the physical plant and carrier grid do the heavy lifting.
The network includes Savannah and Riverside facilities, plus a 2.1 million–square-foot site in Ellabell, Georgia. How will the Arizona node rebalance West and Southwest demand? What’s the step-by-step playbook for ramping a new node without degrading service elsewhere?
Arizona will absorb West/Southwest demand to relieve California, while Savannah and the 2.1 million–square-foot Ellabell site anchor the East. Our playbook is phased: stand up inbound and sort first, mirror allocation logic, then progressively shift store groups in waves. We lock carrier appointments, run shadow cycles against live stores, and only then cut over volumes. Throughout, we meter flows so Riverside and other California DCs keep service steady—no big-bang moves, just deliberate handoffs.
Start-up costs are expected to be offset by productivity gains. What’s the ROI model—capex, labor savings, maintenance, energy, and transportation trade-offs? Which KPIs will prove success in year one versus steady state?
The capex includes building out Arizona and completing Georgia investments within an estimated $290 million envelope for supply chain initiatives. The return comes from labor productivity, energy efficiency, maintenance predictability, and linehaul rationalization as we shift the majority of processing to efficient nodes. Year one, I’m watching safety, on-time departure, door-to-floor velocity, and exception rates. Steady state adds sustained cost per unit improvement, slot utilization, and network inventory turns that reflect the full automation and routing benefits.
On workforce design, what new roles will automation create, and which tasks will be upskilled? How will you hire, train, and retain talent in Buckeye’s labor market, and what metrics will you track for safety, quality, and engagement?
Automation creates controls techs, flow managers, and data-savvy team leads, while upskilling operators on HMI, diagnostics, and quality verification. In Buckeye, we’ll blend local hiring with transfers from experienced sites so culture and best practices land on day one. Training will be hands-on around the actual sorters—people remember the rhythm of a line, the feel of correct carton flow, and the sound of a healthy motor. We’ll track recordables, near-misses, first-pass yield, and engagement pulse scores to keep both safety and quality front and center.
Custom software often outlives its first use case. How will you future‑proof the tech stack—modular architecture, API strategy, digital twins? What’s your approach to data governance, real‑time visibility, and cross‑DC orchestration?
We’re building modular services with clear APIs so we can swap hardware or rules without rewriting the world. A digital twin of the Buckeye facility will let us test slotting, wave logic, and surge plans before they touch the floor. Data governance sits on a shared model across DCs so real-time views roll up cleanly for network decisions. That consistency is what lets Arizona, Savannah, Riverside, and Ellabell “talk” to each other and rebalance in hours, not weeks.
Peak volumes can overwhelm even well‑engineered sites. How will you handle surge capacity—swing shifts, overflow zones, dynamic slotting, carrier flex? Can you share a concrete stress‑test scenario and the lessons you expect to apply?
We’ll pre-wire overflow zones, stand up swing shifts, and use dynamic slotting to compress walk paths when volumes spike. Carriers will have flex appointments with clear guardrails so linehauls stay consolidated. Our stress test simulates a multi-week surge into Arizona while Savannah opens “this spring,” ensuring the network absorbs both events without starving stores. The expected lesson: surge success is won weeks earlier with disciplined pre-picks, clean ASNs, and a dock schedule that breathes without breaking.
Sustainability is now a cost lever. What energy, building, and packaging choices will lower your per‑unit footprint—automation duty cycles, HVAC zoning, solar, trailer pooling? How will you measure and report those gains operationally?
Automation will run smart duty cycles, and HVAC will be zoned so we condition air where people are, not where steel is. We’ll evaluate solar and lean into trailer pooling to cut empty miles. Operationally, we’ll track kWh per unit, trailer utilization, and corrugate per unit right alongside cost and service metrics. When teams see those numbers daily, sustainability becomes not just a value, but a lever they can pull.
Vendor performance drives DC efficiency. What changes are you asking of suppliers—prepacks, ASN accuracy, carton standards? How will compliance be enforced and supported, and what early metrics will signal progress?
We’re asking for tighter ASNs, consistent carton standards, and store-friendly prepacks that match the pace of advanced sorting systems. Compliance will be a mix of support—clear guides, validation tools—and accountability. Early reads are ASN match rates, damage rates, and how often a carton sails through without a touch. When vendors hit spec, the sorters hum, and the whole line moves like a metronome.
Transportation links the network. How will the Arizona location reshape your parcel, LTL, and TL strategies—zone skips, linehaul consolidation, appointment discipline? Where do you see the biggest savings without sacrificing speed?
Arizona unlocks cleaner TL consolidation to Western store clusters and improves parcel zone profiles via targeted zone skips. LTL becomes the exception, not the plan, as we push volume into fuller linehauls with disciplined appointments. The biggest savings come from fewer touches and straighter lines—less rehandling, more direct moves—made possible by placing 2 million square feet near the demand it serves. Speed improves because the miles are smarter, not just shorter.
Looking back at 2025 cost savings, which single initiative created the most leverage, and why? What step-by-step advice would you give your team before day one of Arizona’s ramp to replicate that win?
In 2025, the early savings came from productivity initiatives inside the DCs—cleaner flow, tighter waves, fewer exceptions—proof that process beats heroics. My advice: lock standards first, instrument everything, then automate the highest-friction paths. Stand up shadow mode, measure relentlessly, and only cut over when the data says the new path is better across safety, quality, and speed. Do that, and start-up costs get offset by real gains instead of wishful thinking.
What is your forecast for automation in off-price retail supply chains?
Automation will become the default backbone, but with a human heart—machines setting the tempo, people solving edge cases. By 2028, facilities like the 2 million–square-foot Arizona node will be table stakes, and networks with cross-DC orchestration—from Savannah to Riverside to Ellabell—will win on agility. Investment will stay disciplined, just as we’ve framed within about $290 million for key supply chain initiatives, because ROI is earned in operations, not in slides. The winners will blend advanced sortation and custom software with simple truths: clean data in, steady flow through, and a truck that leaves the dock exactly when it should.
