Congressman Jim Langevin makes a habit of visiting constituent businesses when home in Rhode Island. His aim is to hear their issues and get a read on the economy.

That’s what happened when he visited Dean Warehouse at the site of the former Leviton Manufacturing building off Jefferson Boulevard Friday morning. Coincidentally, he also got an earful on Gov. Gina Raimondo’s plan to toll large trucks to pay for state bridge repairs, and the news that AT Cross, which made its mark in high-end writing instruments, is bringing its warehouse operations for East Coast distributions back to the state.

“They’re coming back,” said Brad Dean, president, pointing to a section of the 650,000-square-foot warehouse filled with yellow cages stretching from the floor to the ceiling. Dean said the company’s warehouse operations would relocate from Franklin, Mass. to the Warwick location on Aug. 1.

Langevin was pleased to hear the news and later issued a statement.

“Any time a business opens up shop, expands or returns to Rhode Island, it’s good news. AT Cross has a long and proud history in Rhode Island, and it’s great to see them joining forces with another local company. I commend Dean Warehouse for setting the bar high in supply chain management, and I have no doubt that their professionalism and customer results will continue to attract the attention of new clientele,” he said.

Dean and Chris Castelli, vice president of operations, outlined the scope of the business that has operations in Cumberland, Lincoln and Ashaway, as well as out of state. Castelli said 115 companies use the Warwick warehouse, with about 75 trucks coming in and out of the warehouse daily. That picks up with the Christmas season with Cyber Monday out stripping all projections.

Castelli said that overall, e-commerce increased by 80 percent in the last two years. As for Cyber Monday, he said, the projection had been for a 200 percent increase in orders but it far exceeded that at 1,200 percent putting such a strain on some companies that they couldn’t make all the deliveries.

“It was booming, you couldn’t keep up with it,” he said.

Langevin questioned whether drones might be used for deliveries, as Amazon suggested.

Dean didn’t see that happening. Rather, he thought the warehousing of goods, as the case with Dean operations, would be strategically located at or near urban centers to expedite deliveries.

Langevin was also intrigued to learn about the company’s computer systems and measures to ensure the integrity of information and security. This is the bailiwick of Chris Goodfellow, vice president of information technology, who outlined measures taken to prevent hackers from inside or outside the company from gaining access to operations and information. Langevin, who has made cyber security a cause, followed with questions.

He also wanted to hear whether Dean is able to fill jobs. Dean said some skilled positions, such as operators of clamp and slip-sheet trucks, are difficult to fill. Langevin talked about his Counseling for Career Choice Act, legislation that supports comprehensive career counseling programs in high schools nationwide. The bill provides professional development to counselors to ensure they are able to offer students a comprehensive understanding of current workforce trends and post-secondary opportunities, including non-degree certificate programs, internships, apprenticeships, and two- and four-year degree programs.

Langevin steered away from commenting on truck-toll legislation, observing that it is a state, not a federal issue. Nonetheless, he was interested to learn how tolls might affect Dean’s operations.

Dean thought his operation would not be severely impacted and that the added costs would end up being paid by the customer.

“It’s going to flow downhill,” he said.

On the other hand, he thought through-state truck traffic would make a 20-mile detour of the state to avoid paying the tolls.