Chapter 9..........1989 - 1993..........The History of Dixie Sales Company

 October 1989 - 75th Anniversary Open House at 5920 Summit Avenue

Nearly 700 Attend Dixie Sales’ 75^th  Anniversary Open House – Greensboro, NC

From the pages of the Southern Lawnmower Dealers’ Newsletter comes this article about Dixie Sales Company’s 75^th Anniversary Celebration:

On Sunday, October 1^st (1989), over 700 people attended Dixie Sales Company’s 75^th Anniversary open house in their new distribution center located in Brown’s Summit, North Carolina. 

Display booths representing 28 different manufacturers were manned by national service or sales managers and their representatives.  Not only did the attendees get to visit with these prominent service figues, they also saw product, equipment and engine demonstrations.  Lot of good food, including bratwurst flown in by Kohler Engines was enjoyed by those who toured the distribution facility.

Honored OEM guests included:  Jim Steffan, General Service Manager, and Alan Hazle, Educational Director, from Briggs & Stratton, along with representatives from AEA of Charlotte;  Neil Davis and Bob Strawn from Tecumseh Products, along with representative from Smith Engines & Irrigation; Mike Ball from Kohler Company, along with representatives from RBI;  Skipper Okubo, General Manager, and Mike Littell, Eastern US Sales Manager, Kawasaki Motors, USA; Al Davis, Manager Parts and Service, and Tom Whitesides, National Service Managers, Aircap Industries; Bill Forster, National Service Manager, and Dave Hanson, Assistant Service Manager, General Power/Lawn Chief; Tom Beheler, National Parts and Service Manager, Foote Transmissions; Bob Schuck, National Service Manager, MTD Products; Ben Chrisman, Vice-President, Service, Murray-Ohio and representatives from RBI; Don Bruxvoort, National Service Manager, and Dave Barrett, Parts Manager, Noma Outdoor Products; Donnie Rhodes, Rally National Service Manager, Cliff Cecil, Rally Field Service Representative, Dick Reynard, Parts Department Manager, and Glenn Youmans, Parts Department Operations Manager, all from AYP (American Yard Products); Mike Kent, National Sales Manager, Optimol; Mike Mitchell, National Service Manager, IDC (Ryan);  Roy Fox, National Sales Manager, Janis Grimm, Technical Consultant – Sweden, and Rick Ernest, Regional Sales Representative, all from Sandvik-Windsor; Charles White, National Sales Manager, Square Cut Trimmer Line; Keith Lichty, Sales Representative, Carlisle Tire & Rubber; Al Wingate, Sales Representative, Autolite Spark Plugs; Bruce Rosenbaum, Manager, Customer Service, and Chuck Brown, Sales Representative for Power Lawnmower Parts.

Ernest and Grace Starmer at Dixie Sales Company’s 75^th Anniversary Open House

A highlight of the open house was the Grand Prize Drawing.  A 12HP Murray rider and a “’Bagin’ Wagon” attachment was donated by Murray-Ohio, and the drawing was made by Murray’s Vice President, Service, Ben Chrisman.  Other door prizes were donated by MTD, American Yard Products, Aircap, Inertia Dynamics, Noma Outdoor, and others.  Engines were provided by Briggs & Stratton, Tecumseh, Kohler and Kawasaki.

On Monday, October 2^nd, Norman Beck, Executive Director, and Jerry Novakowski, President, NESDA, presented a one-day dealer management seminar to over 70 attentive service dealers.  NESDA plans to hold more extensive two-day seminars around the country in the near future.  Dealers who attended the one-day seminar at Dixie Sales reported that it was highly beneficial and informative.

Over 250 people attended a Monday night banquet celebrating Dixie’s 75^th Anniversary.  Normal Beck delivered the keynote address.

Tuesday and Wednesday, October 3^rd and 4^th, continuous service and update schools were conducted by manufacturers and suppliers.  Dealers from eight states attended these schools.

American Handling and Warehouse Automation in 1990, 1992 and 1995

It took only a couple of busy seasons in 1988 and 1989 to realize that we could not continue to pick parts with grocery carts and a gravity feed conveyor in the pack-out area.  Picking almost any size order required walking and pushing a cart over 50% of the total time spent processing the order on the warehouse floor which we realized was unproductive and created high labor costs for activities that added no value to the process.

I decided to stop by the American Handling booth at the Louisville EXPO OPE industry trade show in 1989.  American Handling’s positive reputation in the OPE industry made their choice a simple decision.  They were to design and install a conveyor and racking system at Dixie Sales that would improve productivity, reduce order processing costs and allow us to handle huge seasonal variations in business in a cost effective manner.

The 1990 installation was done at night, including all new or relocated shelving and racking, conveyors, zone picking, pneumatic tubing for sending orders to the picking zones, new locations for every part number in the building, and installation of a partial mezzanine.  In 1992, American Handling returned and finished the mezzanine, added additional shelving, racking and conveyors with a tote elevator system to the second level and well as flow racks above and below.

In 1995, an addition was added to 5920 Summit Ave distribution center and American Handling was invited to return, updating existing warehouse systems and shelving and designing the racking and receiving layout in the warehouse section of the addition. 

Below is a diagram of the 5920 Summit Ave distribution center showing American Handlings total design and work in 1990 and 1992.

  

 1990 and 1992 Warehousing Systems Installations By American Handling