Smart Warehousing: High Growth at High Speed

How Carl Wasinger and Smart Warehousing have responded to rocketing growth.

When Carl Wasinger left corporate America and launched Smart Ware-housing in 2002, the company took up only 5,600 square feet.

“It was a little old warehouse out in Olathe, and it was just me,” he recalled.

Today, Smart Warehousing operates 24 different facilities in the United States and Canada—totaling more than 5 million square feet. Lego, Kraft Foods, Under Armour and other national brands are among its clients.

Smart Warehousing achieved a 40 percent increase in revenue in 2012, and Wasinger expects double-digit growth this year, too. Independent Cosmetic Manufacturers and Distributors, a trade group for cosmetics companies, recently named Smart Warehousing its preferred vendor for logistics, fulfillment and warehousing.

Exponential growth can be a burden, though, if a company isn’t prepared to handle it. Here’s how Wasinger and Smart Warehousing were able to ride the wave.

They built a system capable of growth // Before Smart Warehousing finally debuted, Wasinger spent a year developing custom software that lets clients log in and manage their inventory and orders.

“I looked all over the industry for a system that I thought would do what I wanted it to do, and I couldn’t find anything,” Wasinger said. “I knew if it was going to work the way I needed it to, it was going to have to be extremely flexible with a lot of ability for growth.”

That unique software—which was cloud-based before anybody really knew what the cloud was—has been the key to the company’s success. The company’s online dashboard gives clients a wealth of data, but the service is also easy to use—which means it’s easy to add new customers.

“I don’t think we could have predicted how big a deal the system, the software has become,” Wasinger said.

They were ready to fund growth // Having good connections helped Smart Warehousing find investors in the early days, Wasinger said, but it also has been crucial to build a solid working relationship with the company’s banking partners. Plus, Smart Warehousing has been able to fund a lot of its own growth.

They’ve acquired human capital, too // Every business owner will tell you that it’s tough to find the perfect person for job openings, and Wasinger is no exception. But Smart Warehousing has been able to graduate a lot of its own people to leadership roles.

“We really spend a lot of time trying to make sure we have the right people in the right places with the right skill-sets,” Wasinger said. “I don’t know whether we’re lucky or good, but we’ve really been blessed with some great folks.”

They tweak operations, but they stay true to their focus // Wasinger and his team are always refining their software to make it more efficient.

But they’ve resisted calls from customers to jump into transportation and other fields. “Don’t try to be all things to all people,” Wasinger said.