GEMCO expansion increases shipping capacity, sets stage for automation

HUDSON, Ohio – GEMCO Medical’s new distribution center in Salt Lake City, Utah, will expand shipping capacity by up to 150,000 packages each month while freeing up space at its Hudson, Ohio, headquarters to pilot new automation technology.

The company currently ships about 350,000 packages each month from Ohio and is shifting part of that volume west as it builds a more geographically balanced distribution network.

“Salt Lake City will follow our current footprint at first to make sure new automation scales the business where we need it to,” said Matt Ewards, CEO of GEMCO Medical. “Once the rollout in Ohio proves successful, we’ll deploy it to Salt Lake City. So, we’re looking at 500,000 packages shipped per month between the two facilities initially without automation and, in a perfect world model, almost 1 million packages with it.”

Two-day ground shipping reduces reliance on air freight

The new distribution center will also allow GEMCO Medical to reach most of the United States with two-day ground shipping, supplementing its existing air freight network while helping it to meet delivery timelines.

“We did some modeling around, where can we put a distribution center that affects the most lives that we serve today and how can we get it there more economically and more quickly without air freight,” Edwards said.

In addition to being more expensive, air freight can be less predictable. Delays caused by congestion – or rare disruptions like a 2025 UPS plane crash in Louisville, Ky., that affected 20 GEMCO Medical shipments bound for Hawaii – highlight the advantages of multiple shipping options for greater reliability.

“With the Salt Lake City distribution center, we gain added redundancy and economies of scale that help our customers remain competitive in the marketplace,” Edwards said.

Diabetes market growth offsets competitive bidding concerns

Despite a Medicare competitive bidding program that could significantly restrict which providers supply continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) and insulin pumps starting in 2028, GEMCO remains bullish on the diabetes market.

Edwards says the company’s investments in automation, network expansion and fulfillment efficiency are designed to help providers – especially those he calls “regional influencers” – remain competitive.

“We’re seeing a very large interest in the diabetes category and we’re onboarding new customers every month,” he said. “Those that are successful are those that are serving patients that have other chronic conditions that often stack up with diabetes. These providers are in the community; they’re in the hospitals; they’re serving the pulmonologist across the hallway. They have a brand, and they’re cornerstones of care.”

Edwards also highlighted several factors that could help offset the impact of competitive bidding, including a diverse payer mix beyond Medicare fee-for-service and expanded access to a broader diabetes population – an area CGM manufacturers are actively working to grow.

“To use a baseball analogy, it’s early innings for this product category,” he said.

Photo courtesy of GEMCO Medical.