When Bibles for America began shipping Bibles 20 years ago,
We operated out of the trunks of cars.
As we grew, so did our need for more room to store and process Bible orders.
In 2004, we opened a 5600 square foot distribution center in Commerce, California, where we operated for the next 15 years.
In 2019, as we experienced increased demand for Bibles, we began to look for a new space that would meet our growing needs.
After a brief search, the Lord opened up the opportunity to rent a wonderful new space in Anaheim, California.
Construction on the 6000 square foot shell began in December 2019, and we fully moved in on February 28, 2020.
Upon entering the facility, you are in a 600 square foot flexible work area
Which is left open for work tables for temporary projects or can be used for overflow storage.
Along the north wall is bulk storage for 100,000 English Recovery Versions
as well as a secondary section which houses over 400,000 copies of Bibles and books in English, Spanish, and Korean.
The heart of the DC is the Bible processing assembly line.
As we were planning our move, we felt that it was a good opportunity to refresh not only the look of the DC but also the workflow
Both to consider better ergonomics to take care of the staff and volunteers as they packaged Bibles, but also ways to increase our output in the years to come.
With this in view, we've invested in new machinery and equipment for this critical area of production.
To process Bible orders, first a pallet of 1200 New Testaments is moved into position and placed on a pallet pal.
This spring-loaded device slowly raises the pallet as boxes are unloaded, keeping the working height within proper ergonomic guidelines.
The Bibles are unboxed and sent down a gravity-fed conveyor belt to the next station,
Where a slip cover is placed on each Bible.
Next, preassembled inserts are placed inside the slip cover and the Bibles are sent to a mechanical conveyor.
Guide rails move them into position to enter into our new automatic shrink wrapping machine.
After being sealed, the Bibles proceed into a heat tunnel so that the plastic shrinks to conform to them
And they roll down a conveyor belt to a 7 foot long worktable made of rollers.
There the Bibles are stacked, labeled, and easily rolled down to the final station, where they are put into mail sacks and placed in a bin for transport.
Next, they are taken to the loading dock to be placed in a BfA van and delivered to the post office bulk mail receiving unit for shipment.
The assembly line allows us to maintain 6 feet of separation between each workstation for social distancing purposes.
And the new equipment allows us to comfortably process at a rate of 25 Bibles per minute
Which is 3 times faster than our operating speed with our old machinery.
In addition to individual Bible orders from the public, Bibles for America also supplies distribution materials to registered volunteers.
The south side of our distribution center is dedicated to this order fulfillment.
When orders are received, staff members can print out pick-slips,
Gather the requested items from racks, and then easily and efficiently pack, weigh, and ship out the orders.
Next to the packing area in the southwest corner is an office where the postal paperwork is processed and the bulk Bible labels are printed.
Finally, the east side has a multipurpose break room.
In addition to providing an eating area, the space will soon be upgraded with a full video conferencing setup for meetings
And a raised countertop where individuals can work on laptops.
The break room contains sliding glass doors which open up to the main work area.
We are thankful to the Lord for providing BfA with this new distribution center and we look forward to fulfilling many more Bible orders in the years to come.
May the Lord's word continue to run.