Sustainability

Barrett Distribution's Commitment to Sustainability

As the midpoint of the supply chain, distribution centers are in a unique position to drive sustainability throughout the supply chain. Barrett, through their efforts, has not only been recognized for their business success, as one of the fastest growing companies by Inc. Magazine, and as a winner of the Pacesetter Award from the Boston Business Journal, but has also been inducted in the GXT Green Honor Roll in recognition of their significant investment and success in mitigating their carbon footprint and climate impact. At Barrett, we have embraced several sustainability initiatives as we work to reduce the carbon footprint of our U.S. warehouse network. 


To date, our Sustainability efforts have included:

  • Solar panels in Franklin, MA which generate more than 6,000kw of power
  • Innovative high efficiency LED warehouse lights and usage measurement dashboards that reduce energy use
  • Modern fleet of fuel-efficient vehicles and no-idle rules
  • Recycling programs in all locations
  • Motion detector lighting
  • Natural lighting and installation of sky lights

In recognition of our efforts, in .  GXT Green recognized twelve organizations that made significant contributions to sustainability efforts in their companies, their communities, and to the global community. 

Sustainability

Tim Barrett, COO of Barrett Distribution, and his brother Arthur, President, have proof of their conviction that becoming sustainable has been a boon to their business. Contributing to their customers' Return On Investment is key to Barrett's success.   Established as a single warehouse in 1941, Barrett runs a privately owned network of more than 2.1 million square feet of state-of-the-art warehousing capacity, providing customized logistics solutions for customers throughout the United States and Canada from a network of facilities in the Northeast, Southeast, Mid-Atlantic, Northern California, Southern California and Calgary, Canada. "Being sustainable in every aspect of our business has improved our bottom line, as well as bringing value to our customers", said Tim.  "It also provides that extra edge that gives us an advantage when competing for new business".


Barrett management has done a tremendous job of focusing on the triple bottom line (three "P"s of sustainability):  People, Profit, and Planet. When asked to identify the 10 most important sustainable initiatives that Barrett Distribution has undertaken or is in the process of implementing throughout their facilities, Tim and Arthur described the following projects as keys to their success. Below are goals for all distribution centers to consider:


Waste & Energy

Reduce Obvious Energy Waste


This includes strict rules on truck idling time in the parking lots and warehouse, diligence and clear procedures regarding the opening of loading dock doors, and proper insulation of the office and warehouse space.


Water Saving Toilets and Fixtures


Although we sometimes forget about water use in our analysis of resource usage, this is a prime area for sustainable savings.   Waterless urinals, dual-flush toilets, and motion detecting faucets can all contribute to sustainable savings. And don't forget those motion detectors on the restroom lights, and high efficiency hand dryers.


Solar Energy


What good is hundreds of square feet of roof space if you don't put solar arrays on them? In their Franklin facility, Barrett has installed a state-of-the-art solar power system which generates more than 6000kw of power per month.  This is enough to power the facility, with leftovers which are sold back to the power company at a profit.  Best of all, with tax and energy incentives, this investment of over $2,000,000 had an ROI of less than a year.


Reduced Lighting and Energy Use


Older, inefficient fixtures that require frequent bulb changes should be replaced with bright, efficient, LED lighting, focused appropriately in work areas.  In addition, motion detectors should be put in place to turn lights on and off, both in the warehouse and office areas, to eliminate lighting use when not needed.   Barrett has also installed a large number of Prismatic skylights in warehouse areas, along with sensors that operate lighting based on the amount of sunlight shining in.  "We have found that, in addition to saving energy, having well lit facilities has boosted morale and productivity of the staff in the warehouse", noted Arthur.

Monitoring

Smart Meters


In many areas of the country, smart meters are becoming available for commercial use.  Not only can usage be better monitored, but as power companies develop "time of day" energy rates, usage can be adjusted accordingly.  For example, electric forklifts can be charged at night, when power is less expensive.


Energy Monitoring, Management, and Comparison


With energy monitoring software, it becomes easy to identify and remedy any and all inefficiencies in the use of electricity, gas, and water.  In collaboration with their sustainability consultant, GXT Green, Barrett is currently a beta-sight for new state-of-the art software from 1Efficiency.  This software allows them to monitor energy and resource usage across multiple facilities, comparing them to both industry benchmarks and to similar facilities in their network.  The data is loaded automatically through the utilities.  With this data in one screen it is easy to track and identify opportunities for improvement.


Optimized Facility Layouts


In their quest to reduce costs and improve efficiency for their customers, Barrett pays tremendous attention to optimizing their warehouse layouts.   They constantly analyze the movement of products, as well as the seasonality of demand.  Thus, they increase efficiency of picking efforts, minimizing energy use, time, and effort.


Involve Your Employees in the Effort


At the end of the day employees are a key contributor to sustainability improvements.  They are the ones that turn the lights on and off, run the forklifts, and open and close the doors.  Employees are educated in sustainable behaviors, and encouraged to suggest additional ways to improve.  In the Franklin facility, a screen showing the power usage is displayed on a large monitor, showing employees and visitors how efficient their usage is, and reminding them of their success.


Energy Zones


Distribution centers have very distinct usage patterns, all of which can be optimized in different ways.  By installing separate meters in facilities, offices, warehouse, and refrigerated sections can be isolated and optimized accordingly.  This is especially relevant where smart meters are available.   


Engage Your Suppliers


Sustainability is an important element throughout the supply chain.  It starts with your manufacturers, and ends with the ultimate customer.  Ensure that your suppliers and clients understand ways to eliminate waste and cost.  Ship efficiently.  If products need to be taken out of packaging and kitted, think about ways to eliminate waste in the bulk packaging.   Choose warehouse locations that are most efficient for the manufactures and the end-users.  Help them understand how this helps the triple bottom line, and how sustainability efforts will help their business, as the future of our planet.

Related Content

What Happens if Holiday Sales Exceed My Forecast?

By Faith Artieda • September 14, 2026
The orders are coming in faster than expected. Your best seller is disappearing from inventory, a holiday promotion performed better than anyone predicted, and suddenly your biggest concern is not generating more sales. It is keeping up with the ones you already have. Exceeding your holiday forecast is exciting. It is also one of the fastest ways to test whether your fulfillment operation is truly prepared for growth. When More Orders Change the Plan A holiday forecast helps your 3PL prepare for expected demand, but customers do not always follow the forecast. A product can take off unexpectedly, an influencer can create a sudden rush, or a promotion can perform far beyond expectations. When that happens, the impact reaches much further than order volume. Inventory moves faster. More people may be needed to pick and pack orders. Packaging materials disappear sooner. Carrier volume increases. Receiving becomes more important if additional inventory is on the way. The challenge is keeping all of those pieces moving together without allowing the customer experience to suffer. Talk About the “What If” Before Peak Your peak season conversation should include what happens if sales are significantly higher than expected. Before the rush begins, make sure you and your 3PL have discussed: How much additional volume the operation can accommodate Which products are most likely to sell quickly How additional inventory will be received Upcoming promotions and product launches Whether extra packaging materials are available How custom packaging, gift messages, inserts, and kits will be maintained Who communicates with whom when forecasts start changing You may never need the backup plan. But holiday peak is a much better time to use one than create one. Do Not Let Growth Change the Customer Experience When orders surge, speed naturally gets more attention. Quality still matters just as much. Your customer does not know that your holiday promotion exceeded expectations or that thousands of other packages are leaving the warehouse that day. They know whether their order was correct, carefully packed, and delivered as expected. A successful peak season is not simply about getting through more orders. It is about handling growth while preserving the experience that helped customers choose your brand in the first place. Preparing for the Unexpected With Barrett At Barrett Distribution Centers, peak preparation starts with understanding each brand and what a successful season looks like for them. Our teams work closely with customers to prepare for changing order volume, inventory needs, special projects, and the details that still need attention when things get busy. With experience supporting growing ecommerce and omnichannel brands, Barrett is built to help customers navigate the moments when demand moves beyond the original plan. Because when sales exceed expectations, your fulfillment partner should be ready to grow with the opportunity, not become the reason you have to slow down. You cannot predict exactly how successful your holiday season will be. You can prepare for the possibility that it becomes much bigger than planned. Because exceeding your forecast should create excitement, not a fulfillment problem.

What is the Most Common Cause of Fulfillment Errors? (September 2026)

By Faith Artieda • September 14, 2026
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Barrett's technology environment includes WMS capabilities such as real-time tasking and flexible RF deployment, along with automation designed to support warehouse workflows. Can Incorrect Product Data Lead to Fulfillment Problems? Yes. Accurate data is essential to warehouse operations. Incorrect item information—including units of measure, dimensions, weights, and other product details—can create problems throughout receiving, inventory management, fulfillment, shipping, and billing. Barrett's implementation materials specifically identify data integrity as critical to a successful onboarding and note that inaccurate item information can contribute to inaccurate shipments and inventory control issues. How Can Warehouse Processes Reduce Fulfillment Errors? Standardized processes create consistency. Documented procedures, employee training, inventory controls, and quality management help warehouse teams understand how orders should move through an operation. When an issue does occur, identifying why it happened is equally important. Barrett's Business Process Optimization approach emphasizes documented processes, continuous training, inventory control, and root-cause analysis when a process fails. Its stated quality goal is zero defects . How Does Technology Help Prevent Fulfillment Errors? Warehouse technology provides greater control and visibility throughout the fulfillment process. A warehouse management system can support inventory management, customer-specific processing, task management, and order workflows. Reporting and analytics can then help operations teams monitor performance and identify potential issues. Barrett uses a KPI engine and analytics capabilities to monitor metrics including order accuracy, inventory accuracy, fill rate, and on-time fulfillment. What Happens When a Fulfillment Error Occurs? The goal shouldn't simply be to correct an individual error. 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A 3PL can use inventory controls, warehouse technology, documented processes, employee training, quality management, and performance reporting to support accurate fulfillment. What fulfillment KPIs should brands monitor? Order accuracy, inventory accuracy, fill rate, on-time fulfillment, order cycle time, and receiving accuracy can provide useful insight into fulfillment performance. Barrett tracks these and other operational KPIs within its reporting environment.

Seasonality Is More Than a Q4 Problem

By Faith Artieda • September 11, 2026
When people talk about seasonality in ecommerce, the conversation almost always gravitates toward the holidays. Black Friday arrives, orders climb, warehouses get busier, and brands prepare for what is often considered the most demanding stretch of the year. But not every brand follows the holiday calendar. For a swimwear company, summer might be the busiest period of the year. An apparel brand could experience significant demand around a product launch or seasonal collection. Other businesses may see sharp increases tied to promotions, retailer orders, or events that have very little to do with November and December. For Harrison Smith, Director of Commercial Revenue at Barrett Distribution Centers, understanding those patterns is an important part of understanding the business itself. “When I work with brands, I wanna understand everything about the business,” Harrison explained. Every Brand Has Its Own Rhythm Harrison has spent about 20 years in the 3PL industry and has been with Barrett for roughly four and a half years. His role touches pricing, transportation, new business, and existing customer relationships, which means much of his work begins with understanding how a company actually operates. That includes looking beyond annual order totals. “I wanna understand everything about the business,” Harrison said. “It’s looking at yearly trends, looking at within the year, what does that look like? Do you have those peaks?” Those peaks tell a story. A brand might look relatively consistent when viewed across an entire year, but a closer look could reveal several weeks when order volume changes dramatically. Understanding when those moments occur can influence when inventory needs to arrive and what the fulfillment operation needs to be prepared to handle. As Harrison puts it, “ When do you need to bring your inventory in to service that holiday peak, or is it a summer peak because you sell swimsuits or whatever it might be?” The important part is not whether your peak happens during the holidays. It is whether you and your fulfillment partner understand when it happens and what it means for your business. Better Data Creates a Clearer Picture Seasonality is also one of the reasons Barrett asks brands for detailed information during the pricing and solutions process. Order history, inventory patterns, volume changes, and previous peaks help paint a much clearer picture than an annual average ever could. The more complete that picture becomes, the easier it is to understand what supporting the brand will actually require. “The better the data, the better our pricing,” Harrison explained. When information is incomplete, assumptions have to fill the gaps. Harrison notes that those assumptions naturally tend to be conservative because a 3PL has to prepare for what the operation might require. Better information allows the conversation to become much more specific to the business in front of you. That is why understanding your own seasonality matters before you ever reach the busiest week of your year. Plan Around Your Peak, Not Everyone Else’s Peak season should not be defined by the calendar. It should be defined by your customers. For some brands, that means preparing for the holidays. For others, the most important months could arrive much earlier. What matters is recognizing those patterns early enough to prepare inventory and have meaningful conversations with the people responsible for fulfilling your orders. At Barrett, that starts with curiosity about the individual business rather than assuming every customer behaves the same way. Because your busiest season does not have to be Q4 to deserve a plan. Whenever your customers are ready to buy, your fulfillment operation should be ready for them.

What Is Cross-Docking? How Barrett Uses It in Omnichannel Logistics (2026)

By Faith Artieda • September 10, 2026
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Retail logistics can involve additional requirements, including routing, labeling, palletization, ASN management, and vendor compliance. Barrett's omnichannel capabilities are designed to support these requirements alongside cross-docking and other value-added services. For brands serving multiple retailers, having these capabilities within the same 3PL operation can help coordinate increasingly complex distribution requirements. How Does Technology Support Cross-Docking? Cross-docking requires coordination between inbound inventory, warehouse operations, orders, and outbound transportation. Barrett's technology stack includes warehouse and transportation management systems designed to support its omnichannel operations. Its TMS interfaces with its WMS to maintain a single order record, while transportation capabilities provide visibility into rates, transit times, inbound and outbound management, tracking, and other shipment information. This connection between warehouse and transportation operations is important when products need to move efficiently through a distribution network. Is Cross-Docking Right for Every Business? No. Cross-docking is one logistics strategy, and whether it makes sense depends on how a company's products and orders move through its supply chain. Some inventory may benefit from traditional storage and fulfillment, while other products may be candidates for cross-docking. Businesses should evaluate factors such as inbound transportation, inventory requirements, outbound orders, customer requirements, and distribution destinations. An experienced 3PL can help determine which processes make the most sense within the broader fulfillment operation. Frequently Asked Questions What does cross-docking mean in logistics? Cross-docking is a logistics process in which applicable products move from inbound receiving toward outbound distribution with limited storage in between. What is the difference between cross-docking and transloading? Both involve transferring products through a logistics facility, but the specific process and transportation requirements can differ. Barrett identifies both cross-docking and transloading among its value-added service capabilities. Does Barrett Distribution offer cross-docking? Yes. Barrett lists cross-docking and transloading among the value-added services available within its omnichannel fulfillment operations. Can cross-docking be used with traditional warehousing? Yes. Cross-docking does not have to replace traditional warehousing. Different inventory and order flows can require different approaches within the same overall distribution strategy. Can cross-docking support omnichannel fulfillment? Yes. Cross-docking can be one component of an omnichannel logistics strategy that also includes warehousing, B2B and B2C fulfillment, retail compliance, transportation management, and value-added services.
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