RK Logistics announces expansion into Arizona

RK Logistics, a Silicon Valley provider of warehousing, e-commerce fulfillment and supply chain management services, recently announced it has opened up a new Scottsdale, Az.-based office.

Company officials said that this new office will support customers throughout the greater Phoenix area, as well as southern Arizona. And they added the office will, at first, be the location for the company’s local sales, business development and administrative staff, with a focus on providing logistics services for current and also emerging industrial and manufacturing businesses and also their suppliers in Arizona’s Silicon Desert region.

This marks RK’s third expansion in 2023, in addition to new Texas- and Michigan-based facilities.

Rock Magnan, president of RK Logistics, told LM that there were various drivers for RK Logistics to expand into Scottsdale.

“We have been examining this market for the past 18 months,” he said. “Basically, we're going where our customers are. Driving this are two things: the growth of EV [electric vehicles] and semiconductor business in the greater Phoenix area. Companies such as semiconductor manufacturers like TSMC and lntel, as well as electric vehicle builder Lucid, are establishing a long-term presence here. We have 30 years of experience in Silicon Valley working with semiconductor firms, and more than 10 years in the EV battery business. We did a study of customer demand and concluded that Phoenix is one of the largest emerging markets for these industries. We needed to be there to support our customers' growth.  One example of this market's emergence: the SEMICON trade show, which for years has been in San Francisco, is moving next year to Phoenix. This will be the hub of semiconductor growth in the U.S. for years to come and a leader of the innovation economy.” 

What’s more, RK logistics said it will open up a new 190,000 square-foot warehouse in the Phoenix market in the fourth quarter. The company said this new warehouse will be comprised of state-of-the-art material handling and warehouse management systems, and coupled with its proximity to major highways and transportation hubs, they said this location will provide optimal access to markets throughout the Southwest region.

When asked what the main benefits of this expansion are for RK’s shipper customers, Magnan said that the Phoenix area is the largest emerging market for new technology in the western U.S., adding many of its customers (and their suppliers) also are expanding into this area to take advantage of the lower cost of doing business, availability of quality workforce, and quality, cost-effective space at a reasonable price. 

“Clients want to be able to access in Phoenix the same experience, proven capabilities and industry-specific logistics expertise we provide them in Silicon Valley,” he explained. “We will be providing the full spectrum of solutions and services under our 3PL+ portfolio. We are targeting two major sectors: warehousing and logistics for EV batteries and warehousing/parts management/JIT sequencing for semiconductor manufacturing.  We also will offer traditional general warehousing and storage, inventory management, retail support, and e-commerce fulfillment, as we do at our other 11 locations in California, Michigan and Texas.”