IPEX CEO: Growing Jax operation crucial to serving Southeast

IPEX CEO: Growing Jax operation crucial to serving Southeast (Courtesy of the Jacksonville Business Journal) — With the opening of its warehouse in West Jacksonville, manufacturing company IPEX now has a key distribution asset to capitalize on the construction boom in Florida and other parts of the South.
IPEX manufactures advanced PVC and CPVC piping systems and a variety of materials for plumbing, water and electrical uses. The manufacturer conducted a ribbon cutting for its Jacksonville warehouse Wednesday, and its CEO said he expects to more than double the staff for the location.
IPEX CEO Travis Lutes said the facility is set to cut down wait times for the company’s product to 24 hours or less.
“We have manufacturing sites both coast to coast in the United States and Canada, but currently, a lot of the products that are sold here in the Southeast are manufactured in Charlotte or further north,” Lutes said. “So by opening this distribution center, we’re opening it up to servicing our customers better in not just Jacksonville and Florida, but really the whole Southeast region.”
Setting the heart of the southeastern supply chain in Jacksonville revolved around more than its geography, though.
A surge in construction around the area and a vital labor pool also attracted IPEX to the Jacksonville site.
“There’s actually a number of reasons, one of which is exactly that there’s a lot of construction in general in Florida, but certainly a lot of construction going on here in Jacksonville, and we want to be part of that, but also the employee base,” Lutes said. “We always take a look at that when we look at building a new facility, and (we’re) really proud of the team that we’ve developed here over the last few months. We’re now up to 21 employees, and if we continue to grow, our aspiration is to be up close to 50 employees here.”
The warehouse is 300,300 square feet and located at Florida Gateway Logistics Park at 9909 Pritchard Road.
Work on the build-out of the IPEX warehouse cost about $2.7 million.