Truckers answer the bell to keep the economy moving during pandemic
Essential freight needed delivery. Challenges and obstacles arose from all sides. Trucking operators responded with quiet determination—and the formidable dedication of selfless drivers—to keep goods flowing.
Gary Frantz is a contributing editor for DC Velocity and its sister publication, Supply Chain Xchange. He is a veteran communications executive with more than 30 years of experience in the transportation and logistics industries. He's served as communications director and strategic media relations counselor for companies including XPO Logistics, Con-way, Menlo Logistics, GT Nexus, Circle International Group, and Consolidated Freightways. Gary is currently principal of GNF Communications LLC, a consultancy providing freelance writing, editorial and media strategy services. He's a proud graduate of the Journalism program at California State University–Chico.
Motor carriers have been whipsawed by the pandemic. Yet through perseverance, grit, and savvy, they have managed to keep the trucks running and employees safe, making essential deliveries to support millions of stay-at-home families and an economy struggling to find new footing.
Dave Bates, senior vice president of operations for Thomasville, North Carolina-based Old Dominion Freight Line (ODFL), has dealt with hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, strikes, recessions, and numerous other disruptions during his 33 years in the trucking industry. “This is by far the most challenging environment we have ever had to operate in,” he observes.
The less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier saw an immediate 20% drop in shipments when the pandemic hit in late March and raged across the country in April. May saw a nearly 17% drop, he notes. Some segments of the business fell off a cliff, while others rebounded relatively quickly. “We are heavy into food supplies and medical products as part of our normal [mix]. That picked up for us,” Bates recalls. “It was the [small business] mom-and-pop type freight where we saw it dry up because they were not able to be open.”
With the onset of the pandemic and its initial impact on volumes, ODFL, which on average handles some 120,000 LTL shipments daily, made an immediate decision to right-size its workforce. The company in April furloughed about 15% of its employees, in three phases, for 90 days—and kept their health benefits intact. “We knew at the beginning of the pandemic [the impact on the business] was not going to last long,” Bates notes. “We wanted them back, and we knew [conditions would change and] we were going to need them back at some point.”
Through it all, service levels remained consistent across ODFL’s network of 238 service centers, which, Bates says, is a testament to ODFL’s nonunion workforce. “None of this would be possible without our employees stepping up and doing what was needed. I could not be prouder of our team and what they’ve done to get us through,” he says, adding, “I hope we never have to go through this again.”
TURNING THE BUSINESS ON ITS HEAD
At Richmond, Virginia-based Estes Express Lines, a purposeful shift several years ago to increase its presence in the burgeoning e-commerce, omnichannel, and last-mile segments helped blunt the downside business impact of the pandemic, says Pat Martin, vice president of corporate sales and strategic planning.
“Delivering [e-commerce purchases] last-mile to homes and helping businesses [and fulfillment centers] restock, that’s what’s driving the market right now,” he notes. Consumers relegated to being at home have doubled down on projects, ordering “everything from basketball hoops to hot tubs, pool and yard supplies, and patio furniture—anything to fix up the house.”
Traditional business expectations and operating assumptions have been turned on their head. “Parts of the economy have never been better, and other parts have never been worse,” Martin notes. “The market is simply crazy right now; it just depends on what your mix of business is.” While Estes saw business fall off in April and May, June and July have seen a recovery, to the point where the company has begun aggressively managing capacity. “We’re not bringing on a lot of new business right now; [we’re focused on] taking care of our existing book of business,” he says.
ALL HANDS ON DECK
For Memphis, Tennessee-based FedEx Freight, at the outset of the pandemic, figuring out who was closed and who could still accept deliveries became an immediate challenge, recalls Lance Moll, senior vice president of operations. “We called 24,000 customers prior to attempting delivery to confirm whether or not they were open,” he says.
It was a critical time where essential freight still had to be delivered where it was most needed. The company responded with an “all hands on deck” approach, proactively reaching out to shippers to confirm operating hours and set specific pickup and dropoff times. Drivers were equipped with protective gear. Cleaning and disinfecting routines were implemented for offices and trucks. Protocols were adopted to limit close contact between drivers and shippers. Signature requirements were suspended to help maintain proper social distancing.
At the same time, exploding e-commerce volumes accelerated use of the company’s FedEx Freight Direct service, which provides home delivery of heavy, bulky items, such as fitness gear, outdoor furniture, and sewing cabinets. The service, which had been growing at a decent clip prior to the pandemic, really took off as homebound consumers began ordering more oversized items from online retailers. “The pandemic continues to drive unprecedented volumes, and we have managed our linehaul model to align with current demand,” Moll notes.
AGILITY TO THE FOREFRONT
With market disruption and a clouded view of the future, fleets are placing a premium on flexibility and agility. One example is St. Louis-based CPC Logistics, which provides CDL (commercial driver’s license)-qualified drivers to private fleets and other dedicated needs. It is one “leg” of a three-legged trucking operations stool: CPC manages all aspects of driver recruiting and deployment, the manufacturing or retailing business (such as a pharmacy, automotive aftermarket, or consumer products concern) does network and route planning, and a third party provides the rolling-stock equipment and maintenance.
This “unbundled dedicated” model flexed with the pandemic, such that “we were able to move drivers from one area or customer to another who saw higher demand and needed more capacity,” notes Dan Most, CPC Logistics’ vice president of safety and operations. “That met the customer’s volume need while making sure the driver had the opportunity to work and continue earning a paycheck.” CPC Logistics has about 3,000 full-time drivers assigned to its clients.
TUNING IN TO DRIVERS
On the truckload side of the business, carriers report a similar story. Freight disappeared in late March and early April, then began a slow but determined rebound. “People are refocused. There’s hardly any inventory,” notes Greg Orr, executive vice president of U.S. truckload for Canada-based trucking conglomerate TFI International. “A lot of catch-up is happening with supply chains right now.”
Orr’s management portfolio includes the operations of TFI truckload subsidiaries CFI and Transport America. He’s observed that currently, some 65% of their customers are seeing solid, steady volumes. The other 35% “are now trying to come out of [the pandemic], rebuild inventories, and win back customer confidence,” he says.
His biggest concern has been drivers and how the loss of personal interaction brought on by Covid-19–related distancing protocols is affecting them. “They’re vital to the country,” Orr stresses. And while they are professionals and, in his view, clearly committed to what they do, “protecting them and being super-attuned to their needs and concerns has never been more important. Last week, I was out in the yard [at CFI’s Joplin, Missouri, office] and had no less than a half-dozen drivers walk up to me and want to talk. They’re out on the road seven to 10 days [at a time], and they miss that personal connection, seeing a friendly face.”
At the end of the day, “the pandemic has placed focus on what our individual actions mean not only to our own safety but to the safety of others around us as well,” comments Darren Hawkins, president and chief executive officer of LTL carrier YRC Worldwide. “We have entered an era where, more than ever, personal responsibility [for safety] is front and center.”
Concludes Hawkins: “The collective power of a society that is more aware of its surroundings, more prepared to act safely, and committed to acting in the best and safest interest of everyone is the promise of a better future for us all.”
The New York-based industrial artificial intelligence (AI) provider Augury has raised $75 million for its process optimization tools for manufacturers, in a deal that values the company at more than $1 billion, the firm said today.
According to Augury, its goal is deliver a new generation of AI solutions that provide the accuracy and reliability manufacturers need to make AI a trusted partner in every phase of the manufacturing process.
The “series F” venture capital round was led by Lightrock, with participation from several of Augury’s existing investors; Insight Partners, Eclipse, and Qumra Capital as well as Schneider Electric Ventures and Qualcomm Ventures. In addition to securing the new funding, Augury also said it has added Elan Greenberg as Chief Operating Officer.
“Augury is at the forefront of digitalizing equipment maintenance with AI-driven solutions that enhance cost efficiency, sustainability performance, and energy savings,” Ashish (Ash) Puri, Partner at Lightrock, said in a release. “Their predictive maintenance technology, boasting 99.9% failure detection accuracy and a 5-20x ROI when deployed at scale, significantly reduces downtime and energy consumption for its blue-chip clients globally, offering a compelling value proposition.”
The money supports the firm’s approach of "Hybrid Autonomous Mobile Robotics (Hybrid AMRs)," which integrate the intelligence of "Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs)" with the precision and structure of "Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs)."
According to Anscer, it supports the acceleration to Industry 4.0 by ensuring that its autonomous solutions seamlessly integrate with customers’ existing infrastructures to help transform material handling and warehouse automation.
Leading the new U.S. office will be Mark Messina, who was named this week as Anscer’s Managing Director & CEO, Americas. He has been tasked with leading the firm’s expansion by bringing its automation solutions to industries such as manufacturing, logistics, retail, food & beverage, and third-party logistics (3PL).
Supply chains continue to deal with a growing volume of returns following the holiday peak season, and 2024 was no exception. Recent survey data from product information management technology company Akeneo showed that 65% of shoppers made holiday returns this year, with most reporting that their experience played a large role in their reason for doing so.
The survey—which included information from more than 1,000 U.S. consumers gathered in January—provides insight into the main reasons consumers return products, generational differences in return and online shopping behaviors, and the steadily growing influence that sustainability has on consumers.
Among the results, 62% of consumers said that having more accurate product information upfront would reduce their likelihood of making a return, and 59% said they had made a return specifically because the online product description was misleading or inaccurate.
And when it comes to making those returns, 65% of respondents said they would prefer to return in-store, if possible, followed by 22% who said they prefer to ship products back.
“This indicates that consumers are gravitating toward the most sustainable option by reducing additional shipping,” the survey authors said in a statement announcing the findings, adding that 68% of respondents said they are aware of the environmental impact of returns, and 39% said the environmental impact factors into their decision to make a return or exchange.
The authors also said that investing in the product experience and providing reliable product data can help brands reduce returns, increase loyalty, and provide the best customer experience possible alongside profitability.
When asked what products they return the most, 60% of respondents said clothing items. Sizing issues were the number one reason for those returns (58%) followed by conflicting or lack of customer reviews (35%). In addition, 34% cited misleading product images and 29% pointed to inaccurate product information online as reasons for returning items.
More than 60% of respondents said that having more reliable information would reduce the likelihood of making a return.
“Whether customers are shopping directly from a brand website or on the hundreds of e-commerce marketplaces available today [such as Amazon, Walmart, etc.] the product experience must remain consistent, complete and accurate to instill brand trust and loyalty,” the authors said.
When you get the chance to automate your distribution center, take it.
That's exactly what leaders at interior design house
Thibaut Design did when they relocated operations from two New Jersey distribution centers (DCs) into a single facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 2019. Moving to an "empty shell of a building," as Thibaut's Michael Fechter describes it, was the perfect time to switch from a manual picking system to an automated one—in this case, one that would be driven by voice-directed technology.
"We were 100% paper-based picking in New Jersey," Fechter, the company's vice president of distribution and technology, explained in a
case study published by Voxware last year. "We knew there was a need for automation, and when we moved to Charlotte, we wanted to implement that technology."
Fechter cites Voxware's promise of simple and easy integration, configuration, use, and training as some of the key reasons Thibaut's leaders chose the system. Since implementing the voice technology, the company has streamlined its fulfillment process and can onboard and cross-train warehouse employees in a fraction of the time it used to take back in New Jersey.
And the results speak for themselves.
"We've seen incredible gains [from a] productivity standpoint," Fechter reports. "A 50% increase from pre-implementation to today."
THE NEED FOR SPEED
Thibaut was founded in 1886 and is the oldest operating wallpaper company in the United States, according to Fechter. The company works with a global network of designers, shipping samples of wallpaper and fabrics around the world.
For the design house's warehouse associates, picking, packing, and shipping thousands of samples every day was a cumbersome, labor-intensive process—and one that was prone to inaccuracy. With its paper-based picking system, mispicks were common—Fechter cites a 2% to 5% mispick rate—which necessitated stationing an extra associate at each pack station to check that orders were accurate before they left the facility.
All that has changed since implementing Voxware's Voice Management Suite (VMS) at the Charlotte DC. The system automates the workflow and guides associates through the picking process via a headset, using voice commands. The hands-free, eyes-free solution allows workers to focus on locating and selecting the right item, with no paper-based lists to check or written instructions to follow.
Thibaut also uses the tech provider's analytics tool, VoxPilot, to monitor work progress, check orders, and keep track of incoming work—managers can see what orders are open, what's in process, and what's completed for the day, for example. And it uses VoxTempo, the system's natural language voice recognition (NLVR) solution, to streamline training. The intuitive app whittles training time down to minutes and gets associates up and working fast—and Thibaut hitting minimum productivity targets within hours, according to Fechter.
EXPECTED RESULTS REALIZED
Key benefits of the project include a reduction in mispicks—which have dropped to zero—and the elimination of those extra quality-control measures Thibaut needed in the New Jersey DCs.
"We've gotten to the point where we don't even measure mispicks today—because there are none," Fechter said in the case study. "Having an extra person at a pack station to [check] every order before we pack [it]—that's been eliminated. Not only is the pick right the first time, but [the order] also gets packed and shipped faster than ever before."
The system has increased inventory accuracy as well. According to Fechter, it's now "well over 99.9%."
IT projects can be daunting, especially when the project involves upgrading a warehouse management system (WMS) to support an expansive network of warehousing and logistics facilities. Global third-party logistics service provider (3PL) CJ Logistics experienced this first-hand recently, embarking on a WMS selection process that would both upgrade performance and enhance security for its U.S. business network.
The company was operating on three different platforms across more than 35 warehouse facilities and wanted to pare that down to help standardize operations, optimize costs, and make it easier to scale the business, according to CIO Sean Moore.
Moore and his team started the WMS selection process in late 2023, working with supply chain consulting firm Alpine Supply Chain Solutions to identify challenges, needs, and goals, and then to select and implement the new WMS. Roughly a year later, the 3PL was up and running on a system from Körber Supply Chain—and planning for growth.
SECURING A NEW SOLUTION
Leaders from both companies explain that a robust WMS is crucial for a 3PL's success, as it acts as a centralized platform that allows seamless coordination of activities such as inventory management, order fulfillment, and transportation planning. The right solution allows the company to optimize warehouse operations by automating tasks, managing inventory levels, and ensuring efficient space utilization while helping to boost order processing volumes, reduce errors, and cut operational costs.
CJ Logistics had another key criterion: ensuring data security for its wide and varied array of clients, many of whom rely on the 3PL to fill e-commerce orders for consumers. Those clients wanted assurance that consumers' personally identifying information—including names, addresses, and phone numbers—was protected against cybersecurity breeches when flowing through the 3PL's system. For CJ Logistics, that meant finding a WMS provider whose software was certified to the appropriate security standards.
"That's becoming [an assurance] that our customers want to see," Moore explains, adding that many customers wanted to know that CJ Logistics' systems were SOC 2 compliant, meaning they had met a standard developed by the American Institute of CPAs for protecting sensitive customer data from unauthorized access, security incidents, and other vulnerabilities. "Everybody wants that level of security. So you want to make sure the system is secure … and not susceptible to ransomware.
"It was a critical requirement for us."
That security requirement was a key consideration during all phases of the WMS selection process, according to Michael Wohlwend, managing principal at Alpine Supply Chain Solutions.
"It was in the RFP [request for proposal], then in demo, [and] then once we got to the vendor of choice, we had a deep-dive discovery call to understand what [security] they have in place and their plan moving forward," he explains.
Ultimately, CJ Logistics implemented Körber's Warehouse Advantage, a cloud-based system designed for multiclient operations that supports all of the 3PL's needs, including its security requirements.
GOING LIVE
When it came time to implement the software, Moore and his team chose to start with a brand-new cold chain facility that the 3PL was building in Gainesville, Georgia. The 270,000-square-foot facility opened this past November and immediately went live running on the Körber WMS.
Moore and Wohlwend explain that both the nature of the cold chain business and the greenfield construction made the facility the perfect place to launch the new software: CJ Logistics would be adding customers at a staggered rate, expanding its cold storage presence in the Southeast and capitalizing on the location's proximity to major highways and railways. The facility is also adjacent to the future Northeast Georgia Inland Port, which will provide a direct link to the Port of Savannah.
"We signed a 15-year lease for the building," Moore says. "When you sign a long-term lease … you want your future-state software in place. That was one of the key [reasons] we started there.
"Also, this facility was going to bring on one customer after another at a metered rate. So [there was] some risk reduction as well."
Wohlwend adds: "The facility plus risk reduction plus the new business [element]—all made it a good starting point."
The early benefits of the WMS include ease of use and easy onboarding of clients, according to Moore, who says the plan is to convert additional CJ Logistics facilities to the new system in 2025.
"The software is very easy to use … our employees are saying they really like the user interface and that you can find information very easily," Moore says, touting the partnership with Alpine and Körber as key to making the project a success. "We are on deck to add at least four facilities at a minimum [this year]."