VALDOSTA — As one of five Home Depot distribution centers in Georgia the Home Depot Rapid Deployment Center services 150 Home Depots. 

The Valdosta RDC acts as a flow through of sorts and no product is stored on site. The product is meant to be received in inbound and quickly moved to the outbound section of the facility as rapidly as possible. 

Because of the nature of the facility, efficiency is the name of the game. 

“Very little of this is by chance,” General Manager Chris Falcon said. “Everything we do is planned and with great precision.” 

When the product first arrives, it is received in the inbound section of the facility and goes one of three places: the conveyor system, break pack or moved so a pallet loader can pick it up, Falcon said. 

The five-mile conveyor system manages product that is 50 pounds or less, Falcon said. The conveyor system doesn’t handle packages more than 50 pounds in order to be “conscious of associates on both sides” of the conveyor who are loading and unloading product.

The break pack section is where packages are broken down into individual products. The individual products are put into boxes to be shipped to the Home Depot that needs them. The system is used to distribute a small number of items to the stores so they aren’t required to buy a full pack of a product if they only need two or three. 

The third place product goes is onto to a pallet loader. The pallet loader, similar to a forklift, is used to move products too large for the conveyor system. 

After the product is assigned to its particular location, it is tagged and sent out to be loaded onto a truck in the outbound section.

The RDC also has what Falcon calls “Team Depot,” a group of volunteers from the RDC that gives back to the community. 

Team Depot maintains McIntosh Memorial Park, participates in Keep Valdosta/Lowndes Beautiful, works with Second Harvest and Habitat for Humanity, holds supply drives and places flags at veteran grave sties on Memorial Day, Falcon said. 

“Team Depot is intended to give our time and efforts back into the community,” he said. “Our mission was to have a quarterly event, but folks wanted to do more. Folks are so generous with their time.”

Home Depot also has what is called the Homer fund, Falcon said. The Homer fund is an employee-funded disaster relief fund for other employees in the company. 

“It is literally associates taking care of each other,” Falcon said. “It speaks well of the caring and generous nature of the people who work here.”

The RDC also has two peer-to-peer review systems, he said. One is a bravo card and the other is a recognition card. 

The bravo card is awarded as monthly recognition to an employee from each shift who has exceeded expectation is given a small prize.

Recognition cards are put into a drawing at the end of the week during the safety meeting and whoever’s name is drawn gets to spin the “wheel of safety,” Falcon said. 

The wheel features different prizes that include food to local restaurants, hats, shirts, mugs and Spam. 

Yes, a container of Spam. 

Though, contrary to what would be expected, Spam is the most sought-after item on the wheel, Falcon said. Associates will sometimes chant Spam when the wheel is spinning.

It is a sort of jackpot, if you will.

Falcon loves Spam, so if an associate’s spin lands on Spam he or she has the opportunity to bargain with Falcon for his container of Spam. 

The entire reward program is set up locally and is part of Falcon’s belief in the company’s core values: excellent customer service, taking care of the staff, building strong relationships, respect for all people, entrepreneurial spirit, doing the right thing, giving back and creating shareholder value, according to the Home Depot website. 

“A lot of companies talk about values, but I’m proud to work for a company that lives its values,” he said. 

Jason Smith is a reporter at The Valdosta Daily Times. He can be contacted at 229-244-3400 ext.1256.