ODW Logistics to add another large facility to its growing Lockbourne campus

ODW Logistics will add another facility to its Rickenbacker-area campus, further expanding its local footprint that already includes millions of square feet.

The third-party logistics company begins construction this month on a new e-commerce and retail distribution building. It is located at ODW's growing Lockbourne complex, where it has a pair of existing distribution centers under lease.

The new, 864,000-square-foot facility located at 6780 Schieser Farms Road will employ 200 to 300 people when it opens in June 2026, the firm said.

The company is executing a 10-year lease for the space, which is being designed by Archall Architects and built by Exxcel Project Management.

When complete, ODW will have nearly 6 million square feet in Central Ohio. Much of its space was added in the last few years, including the company's existing Lockbourne facilities that measure 930,000 square feet and 540,000 square feet. The larger building opened in June 2024 and the other became operational in fall 2023.

Gary Meador, the company's COO, said about one-third of the new facility will be a fully automated e-commerce operation that utilizes autonomous mobile robots, or AMRs, to perform tasks including unloading containers and picking e-commerce orders. Conveyors and forklifts also will be automated.

Automated inventory control towers will be used to validate shipments as they're loaded into trailers.

"The vision is to take advantage of all the industry-leading automation that's out there – all the way from the start of the process through the back end," Meador said. "It allows us to work more efficiently and keep labor costs down."

Meador said despite the automation, e-commerce operations still require a fairly large headcount. He said existing ODW employees will staff the facility to start, and the company will incrementally hire more people in the coming years.

In addition to the e-commerce operation, the building will serve as a food-grade facility for retail distribution.

"We'll do a lot of our (consumer packaged goods) business in that facility," Meador said.

ODW isn't done growing at the Lockbourne campus. Meador said long-term plans include opening another 500,000-square-foot building there.

Meador said ODW's breadth of services – warehousing, transportation management, e-commerce fulfillment and retail consolidation – have allowed the company to grow at such a rapid rate.

"We have a competitive advantage because of all the solutions we offer," he said. "Our customers recognize the value, and so we're seeing the benefits of that. We've really seen some significant growth in the last three to four years."

Source: Columbus Business First