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Consolidation complete
Central Stores and FacOps combine, University Stores opens
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
By Emily Smudde, WSU News intern
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PULLMAN, Wash. – After a long consolidation process, the Facilities Operations Storeroom has moved from its location in the McCluskey Building to its new location on Dairy Road where it has merged with Central Stores to become University Stores. As of April 17, University Stores is open for business.
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Related 01/31/11 Central Stores, FacOps storeroom to merge
08/04/11 Consolidation of university stores and storeroom under way
12/20/11 Central Stores relocating in January; FacOps in March |
Having the staff and inventories from both units in one location has proven more efficient, said Jeff Gossard, director of WSU Supply Management Services. One benefit is WSU staff and faculty can now buy materials for construction and maintenance projects, as well as equipment for campus labs and research at the same location. This means that any needed materials for campus projects and research can be acquired from a single campus location, Gossard said.
"Being able to purchase for Central Stores and Facilities Services simultaneously is advantageous because we can take advantage of blankets and contracts pricing for the entire organization,” Gossard said,” so we can pass on better pricing to all campus customers through bulk purchasing.”
The final steps in the merger are to combine the two inventories into one and then develop a more user friendly University Stores website, Gossard said. He hopes this process will be complete by next summer.
With the new University Stores location, online ordering and deliveries have become more important, he explained. Currently orders can be placed on the Central Stores website.
Overall, Gossard is happy with the results of the merger.
"Merging these two entities has been a long process, but in the end University Stores has shaped up to be a very nice warehouse,” he said. "Needed parts are organized and easy to find, and the warehouse is as clean and pleasant as a warehouse can be.”
Before the merger, Central Stores was located in a 66-year-old Quonset hut off Grimes Way. The short term plan for the building is to tear it down and create a gravel parking lot. Eventually, according to the 2012 Pullman Campus Master Plan, a multilevel parking structure will be built there. In the mean time, the building has been used for conducting hearing tests and as part of a SWAT team training exercise.
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