Nippon Express is building a new warehouse in Wood Dale, Illinois to serve gateway functions for the Midwest particularly for the automobile industry.

Nippon Express USA, the subsidiary of Nippon Express, held a groundbreaking ceremony recently to mark the start of construction work for the facility that is scheduled to start operations in January 2021.

"The environs of Chicago, Illinois, host one of the largest industrial clusters in the US, and the automobile industry, in particular, has built up a concentration of facilities in nearby states such as Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee," it said in a statement.

Nippon Express USA's Chicago hub has already established facilities in three locations near Chicago with the aim of providing gateway functions for the Midwest as one of the most important hubs in the country.

Its existing warehouse in Wood Dale offers storage, delivery and logistics services for general cargo, including electrical discharge machines, press machines and other heavy equipment.

"In opening a new business location in Wood Dale, NE USA is seeking to generate synergetic effects by bolstering its logistics functions and restructuring its business locations, including the sharing of facilities with the Nippon Express Group's company Associated Global Systems, Inc., in order to meet the diverse needs of automotive-related and other customers for such incidental operations as repacking and inspections as well as cross-docking," it added.

Main office to be relocated

Nippon Express said upon completion of this warehouse, its head office in the US, presently situated in New York, will be relocated to the new facility with the intent of enhancing the speed and efficiency of operations by integrating head office, sales and operational functions into a single location and thereby improving Nippon Express' operations across the US.

"Nippon Express USA will be placing particular focus on upgrading its nationwide logistics functions serving the automotive and pharmaceutical industries, positioned as priority industries in the Nippon Express Group's Corporate Strategy," it added.