One might imagine an automotive assembly line or perhaps an aircraft plant turning out passenger jets.
The brand-new CDW electronics distribution facility in North Las Vegas is 513,000 square feet -- about seven football fields -- under one roof. A large conference table in the front office seems miniaturized. Doors seem built for a doll house.
The new structure, put up on land leased from DP Partners at 3201 E. Alexander Road, doesn't just have an address, it has most of a street.
The facility already has the capability of shipping 96,000 cases a day from its 100 loading docks, and that capacity is expected to do nothing but go up.
CDW sees the new center tripling its already significant ability to get a variety of electronic items to its customers with both speed and accuracy.
Eleven acres of floor space, 7 miles of conveyor belts, 50 miles of underground wiring, the ability to send as many as 120 loaded tractor-trailer trucks onto the road every day. Seemingly endless, multi-story rows of blue and orange shelves are in place to hold computers, printers, scanners and their associated parts.
Aaron Paris, vice president and chief operating officer of DP Partners, said during the Feb. 9 grand opening that few companies can compare.
"CDW is at the high end of mechanization," he said.
Somer Hollingsworth, president and chief executive officer of the Nevada Development Authority, said the company's arrival in North Las Vegas amounts to more than a Fortune 500 company that does $6 billion in annual business coming to town. CDW, he said, promises to be a "bell cow."
Hollingsworth recalled growing up on a farm and noticing how the bell cow of the herd led the others out to the fields in the morning and then back to the barn at night.
Now that CDW is here, he told a large gathering of company employees and city notables, many companies, as well as organizations like the Nevada Business Association, are going to be looking at the city as a possible site for more facilities.
North Las Vegas Mayor Michael Montandon told the group that his city aims to work on attracting more firms in its own right.
"If this isn't a bell cow company," he said, "we'll make it a bell cow company."
The city has a dedicated team working on acquiring new businesses, he said, then joked, "This is what we do. If they don't, they're all fired."
John Edwardson, CDW chairman and chief executive officer, said the company has already reached its maximum capacity in its 450,000-square-foot Vernon Hills plant. With the new facility, he said, the company will be able to triple its capacity. In addition, in the event one location experiences problems shipping, perhaps due to severe weather, the other will be able to act as a back-up.
He said the plans to open the North Las Vegas operation attracted much attention and enthusiasm at the home office. About 50 of the expected 170-180 employees needed for the new location were transferred from Illinois, and no one had to go far in searching for volunteers.
"We could have literally filled every single job here from Chicago," Edwardson said.
Instead, CDW will hire between 120 to 130 employees from the local area.
Edwardson also said the company plans to have an active presence in the community. He stressed the point by donating an Acer laptop computer and two Enson printers to Cheyenne High School.
"The company has a tradition of community involvement," said Clark Walter, CDW's program manager for corporate public relations. "That's one reason we made a donation to the high school, as a way of introducing ourself to the community ... We've built homes for Habitat for Humanity in the Chicago area, where we're based. We've also contributed to Hurricane Katrina relief and work with Children's Memorial Hospital."
Each company employee, Walter said, is given one day off a year to contribute to a reputable nonprofit or charity.
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