Elkay opens plumbing distribution center in Freeport

OAK BROOK – Elkay Manufacturing, the nation’s leading manufacturer of stainless steel sinks, has opened a 268,000-square-foot warehouse and distribution center in Freeport to better serve its growing Midwest markets.

The facility at 1750 S. Lincoln Drive will serve as the primary distribution hub for the region, handling products manufactured at the company’s Illinois manufacturing plants in Lanark, Savanna and Broadview.

Freeport’s location near major transportation arteries was a draw for serving customers in the Midwest, the company said. Those customers include home center stores such as Home Depot, local home builders, plumbing distributors such as Ferguson, as well as do-it-yourself e-commerce consumers throughout the region.

Rapidly changing technology was the main impetus for the new distribution center, Elkay said.

“Consumers and our trade partners have accelerated delivery expectations as a result of the digital economy,” Kraig Kniss, vice president of plumbing operations at Elkay, said in a news release. “Demands are ever-changing, and we need a regional distribution center that can respond rapidly to these fluctuations. Having a strategically located, professionally managed distribution hub here in Freeport will be instrumental in meeting these elevated customer requirements.”

Once fully operational, the facility will employ a full-time staff of 35. Many of those jobs have been filled, but applicants can go to corporate.elkay.com and click on search careers at the top of the page to find jobs at Elkay.

The facility will store and distribute up to 5,000 product stock keeping units annually, including water bottle fillers, drinking fountains, Smartwell Water Delivery Systems, and Elkay’s signature stainless steel sinks.

“Elkay has been a long-term member of the Northwestern Illinois business community,” Kniss said. “While times and the demands of the market may have changed, we are pleased to demonstrate our commitment to the area by expanding our presence here with this new distribution center.”

Elkay, with headquarters in Oak Brook, has more than 2,500 employees worldwide, working from 17 sites in the U.S., China and Mexico.