August 17, 2019 at 3:48 a.m.
Lids distributor
Poole wears many hats for Indy-based company
Lids distributor
Bought a hat recently from the Lids store in the Muncie Mall, Glenbrook Square in Fort Wayne or Castleton Square in Indianapolis?
If so, a Jay County High School graduate had a hand in getting it there.
Isaac Poole, who graduated from JCHS in 2009, works as director of distribution for Lids.
Poole is in charge of bringing in about 20 million hats per year to the Indianapolis distribution center and sending them out to the company’s about 1,000 locations in the United States.
He oversees prioritization, organization and execution of fulfillment of orders to all U.S. stores. He is responsible for parcel freight as well, leading a request for proposals for a multi-million dollar parcel freight contract this year.
He is also in charge of finding ways to reduce costs and make Lids more efficient.
“The main part of my job is just to reduce costs through automation and process improvement,” said Poole.
Part of that task includes doing research and visiting trade shows to check out new equipment that might help the process. He’s visited trade shows in Chicago and makes multiple visits annually to the Lids distribution center in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, just west of Toronto.
“There’s tons of warehousing expos that are out there that really show off different automation within warehouses — robots, conveyances,” he said.
Among the improvements made during his time with Lids was the transition to a robotic picking system about four years ago. It saved the company about $2 million per year, Poole said.
He also serves as product manager for all of the information technology systems at the Indianapolis distribution center.
If so, a Jay County High School graduate had a hand in getting it there.
Isaac Poole, who graduated from JCHS in 2009, works as director of distribution for Lids.
Poole is in charge of bringing in about 20 million hats per year to the Indianapolis distribution center and sending them out to the company’s about 1,000 locations in the United States.
He oversees prioritization, organization and execution of fulfillment of orders to all U.S. stores. He is responsible for parcel freight as well, leading a request for proposals for a multi-million dollar parcel freight contract this year.
He is also in charge of finding ways to reduce costs and make Lids more efficient.
“The main part of my job is just to reduce costs through automation and process improvement,” said Poole.
Part of that task includes doing research and visiting trade shows to check out new equipment that might help the process. He’s visited trade shows in Chicago and makes multiple visits annually to the Lids distribution center in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, just west of Toronto.
“There’s tons of warehousing expos that are out there that really show off different automation within warehouses — robots, conveyances,” he said.
Among the improvements made during his time with Lids was the transition to a robotic picking system about four years ago. It saved the company about $2 million per year, Poole said.
He also serves as product manager for all of the information technology systems at the Indianapolis distribution center.
“I’m the one who is supposed to hold the vision for how I want these systems to work and what improvements I want to be made,” he said.
A career in business was always in the plans for Poole, who was a member of the 2008 JCHS regional championship boys soccer team. He started his collegiate career at the University of Indianapolis before shifting to Ball State University as a sophomore. He narrowed his focus in the business realm to operations and supply chain management during his junior year and graduated in 2013.
He then spent about seven months working in the quality department at FCC (Indiana) in Portland. He shifted to Lids in December 2013, getting connected to the company through his then-girlfriend, now-wife’s uncle, Bryan Shepherd, who was its vice president of loss prevention.
Since then, his career has gone as planned.
“When I started at Lids six years ago, where I am now, it’s exactly the path where I thought I would be,” said Poole, who lives in Fishers with his wife Mackenzie and their dog Winston. “I like it. I really like the people I work with. It’s a great company. I like that work that I do. I like taking a process and analyzing it and making it better. You can actually see improvements …”
As he looks toward the future, he said he’d like to be the man to be completely in charge of the supply chain for a company.
“That’s what I would want to do next,” he said. “I think that would be my overall goal.”
A career in business was always in the plans for Poole, who was a member of the 2008 JCHS regional championship boys soccer team. He started his collegiate career at the University of Indianapolis before shifting to Ball State University as a sophomore. He narrowed his focus in the business realm to operations and supply chain management during his junior year and graduated in 2013.
He then spent about seven months working in the quality department at FCC (Indiana) in Portland. He shifted to Lids in December 2013, getting connected to the company through his then-girlfriend, now-wife’s uncle, Bryan Shepherd, who was its vice president of loss prevention.
Since then, his career has gone as planned.
“When I started at Lids six years ago, where I am now, it’s exactly the path where I thought I would be,” said Poole, who lives in Fishers with his wife Mackenzie and their dog Winston. “I like it. I really like the people I work with. It’s a great company. I like that work that I do. I like taking a process and analyzing it and making it better. You can actually see improvements …”
As he looks toward the future, he said he’d like to be the man to be completely in charge of the supply chain for a company.
“That’s what I would want to do next,” he said. “I think that would be my overall goal.”
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