By DAN HEATH
CHAMPLAIN — Beer today, gone tomorrow.
World Warehouse and Distribution Executive Vice President Bill Glaude said the company has been told by local Customs and Border Protection officials that U.S. Foreign Trade Zone #54, which takes up 111,000 square feet of its Champlain facilities, is the most active Foreign Trade Zone in the United States.
The largest part of that activity involves a distribution project for Modelo Molson Imports L.P. Modelo Molson Imports was formed in 2008 to import, distribute and market the Modelo portfolio of beers throughout Canada.
World Warehouse has handled Modelo Molson's shipments to Canada's Maritime provinces and Ontario since late April 2008. The brands include Corona, Corona Light and Negra Modelo.
"We average 2,000 ocean containers a year in-bound," Glaude said. "That equates to about 3.5 million cases of beer."
That means approximately 2,000 container loads of Corona, Corona Light and Negra Modelo beer, about 3.5 million cases, passed through the Clinton County Foreign Trade Zone last year.
World Warehouse and Distribution Director of Transportation Dennie LaPorte said there were 286,000 unallocated cases of beer in the facility on Wednesday afternoon, in addition to those allocated for shipment.
Grupo Modelo ships the beer from Mexico to Freeport in the Bahamas, where it is transferred to container ships bound for the Port of Montreal. The containers are then trucked in through the Champlain border crossing to a World Warehouse facility in Champlain, where they enter the Foreign Trade Zone space. Those who enter the Foreign Trade Zone must sign in and be accompanied by pre-screened employees who ensure all Customs and Border Protection regulations are followed.
Using the Foreign Trade Zone allows Molson Modelo to avoid paying customs duties and taxes, because the goods are not technically in the United States. World Warehouse later rearranges the cases and 12-packs for shipment to Modelo Molson Imports' customers in Canada per company instructions.
The beer arrives on pallets stacked seven cases high. Shipments slated for the maritime provinces stay seven cases tall, but those going to the Ontario Liquor Control Board are switched to five cases high.
That work is done automatically by a machine that splits off the top two layers. LaPorte said the machine does the work of two people, without the threat of back injury.
In another section of the Foreign Trade Zone, workers were pairing 12 packs and shrink wrapping them for their return to Canada. LaPorte said World Warehouse prepares gift packages for Modelo Molson during the holiday season, such as beer and mug combinations.
Beer that isn't shipped before it's "best used by" date is destroyed, Glaude said. The same goes for an entire case even if only one bottle is broken.
Customs and Border Protection officials perform periodic checks of the operation to ensure all laws and regulations are being followed.
World Warehouse uses a LFS Warehouse Management information system created by Ehrhardt and Partner, based in Germany.
"Our technology is light years ahead of the curve," Glaude said. "Our customers can watch in real time the pick 'n' pack and shipping of their goods through the Web."
LaPorte said the information scanned into the company's computers tracks goods from the moment they arrive to when they are shipped. Data includes what each piece is, when it was moved, where it was moved to and why.
"Our customers can look at their inventory 24 hours a day, seven days a week," he said.
Glaude said Molson officials recently completed an audit of the entire operation. They told him it was the first time Molson has seen a 100-percent inventory accuracy.
"We operate under those guidelines all the time," he said.
About 85,000 square feet of the 100,000-square-foot Ridge Road facility is dedicated to the Foreign Trade Zone.
There is also 26,000 square feet dedicated to the Foreign Trade Zone at the 137,000-square-foot Lawrence Paquette Drive facility.
The latter location houses most of the company's U.S. office space in addition to the warehousing and distribution space.
All of the company's Champlain facilities are approved for Foreign Trade Zone use, so the square footage could expand up to 300,000 square feet.
World Warehouse has been ISO 9001 certified since 1997, Glaude said.
The International Organization for Standardization Web site states ISO 9000 family of standards represents an international consensus on good quality management practices. It consists of standards and guidelines relating to quality management systems and related supporting standards.
Glaude said World Warehouse was started in 1994 by two former F.W. Myers and Co. employees in 2,500 square feet of space in Champlain. The Foreign Trade Zone began operation that same year.
"From the beginning, we decided to concentrate on what we do well," he said.
That led to a focus on warehouse, distribution and order-fulfillment services. Glaude said many of its competitors offer those services in conjunction with customs brokerage services.
Within three months, the company had moved to a 47,000-square-foot warehouse it later purchased.
It now has 300,000 square feet of space in three buildings in Champlain, 350,000 square feet in Albany and 180,000 square feet in two buildings in Laval, Quebec. A third building to be built in Laval will give the company 1,000,000 square feet of space by the end of this year.
The entire operation sees 65,000 pick 'n' pack items shipped a day during the busiest time of year. That includes work for Burton, the snowboard equipment and apparel company based in Vermont.
"They are one of our larger accounts. We handle U.S. and Canadian distribution for all Burton products," Glaude said. "They started with us in 1996."
World Warehouse also works with Noble Environmental Power, the wind farm park developer and operator that has operations in Clinton and Franklin counties. World Warehouse can handle almost any kind of products, he said.
Glaude said the company shares profits with its employees twice a year. At peak, there are about 400 full- and part-time employees.
"We are continuing to grow at a pretty good pace," Glaude said.
E-mail Dan Heath at: dheath@pressrepublican.com
