Mark Solomon joined DC VELOCITY as senior editor in August 2008, and was promoted to his current position on January 1, 2015. He has spent more than 30 years in the transportation, logistics and supply chain management fields as a journalist and public relations professional. From 1989 to 1994, he worked in Washington as a reporter for the Journal of Commerce, covering the aviation and trucking industries, the Department of Transportation, Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court. Prior to that, he worked for Traffic World for seven years in a similar role. From 1994 to 2008, Mr. Solomon ran Media-Based Solutions, a public relations firm based in Atlanta. He graduated in 1978 with a B.A. in journalism from The American University in Washington, D.C.
The new CEO of less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier YRC Worldwide Inc. said Friday he is focusing much of his early efforts on fixing the operating culture at the company's national LTL division, saying the network and the attitude supporting it "are not where we want it to be."
In an Aug. 5 interview, James L. Welch said that "we still have work to do" at the division, known as YRC National. "We want to get rock-solid with our network and have a disciplined process for running the network." Welch, who started at YRC 13 days ago, did not provide specifics.
Welch, 57, spent seven years as CEO of the former Yellow Transportation, which was later integrated with Roadway Express to form YRC National. Though Yellow acquired Roadway in 2003, the integration took six years to complete and was fraught with delays and cost overruns due to operational redundancies. The integration also led to customer defections as Yellow and Roadway customers—most of whom were satisfied with service levels of the respective carriers—experienced service problems with the integrated business.
In 2009, the renamed YRC Worldwide shrank the YRC National network by about 25 percent in an effort to streamline the operation, improve service, and cut costs.
Welch said trucking integrations are never easy and not always successful. One problem at YRC National, he said, is there have been so many changes in the operational network since 2003 that customers and employees don't have any consistent pattern to follow. "We don't have the culture defined at YRC National," he said, without going into detail.
By contrast, Welch said he is pleased with the performance of YRC's three regional carriers: Holland, Reddaway, and New Penn. He singled out Holland, which has posted strong operating and financial results of late, for praise.
"I want Holland to continue to do business the way Holland does business, not the way YRCW does business," said Welch, invoking the company's four-letter stock symbol.
Welch said the company's overall network capacity is "meeting our needs right now," indicating there is no immediate rush to expand the network. He echoed comments made last month by outgoing CEO William D. Zollars that YRC is winning back former customers who had defected to rivals, and is gaining new market share as well.
100-day blueprint
Welch said he is following a 100-day blueprint for reshaping the company but added that it is not a hard timetable. "As a start-to-finish scenario, it's not a concrete 100-day plan," he said. Welch declined to comment on what moves he might take to shed underperforming units like the company's truckload operations.
Welch said he has spent his first two weeks talking to employees and customers by phone, via e-mail, and by walking the corridors of the company's 10-story headquarters building in Overland Park, Kan. "There has been a little lack of leadership that's been accessible to people," he said.
Welch also said he's been immersed in analyzing the details of YRC's multi-month restructuring plan that was finalized July 22, the day his hiring was formally announced. The executive had been, until his resignation the prior day, CEO of Dynamex Inc., a Dallas-based company specializing in time-definite, or expedited, transportation service.
YRC and three of its rivals last month announced rate increases of 6.9 percent on non-contract traffic, effective Aug. 1. Welch said that the LTL industry, after two or more years of destructive rate wars, is getting closer to achieving an appropriate balance of tonnage and yield needed for long-term profitability.
Welch said that there is already ample LTL capacity on the road and that no more is needed at this time. Capacity "is not tight, but it's not been as loose as it's been," he said.
Welch said he expects little, if any, tailwind from the overall economy for the balance of 2011. "I am approaching the rest of the year as there will be no improvement in the U.S. economy," he said.
Online merchants should consider seven key factors about American consumers in order to optimize their sales and operations this holiday season, according to a report from DHL eCommerce.
First, many of the most powerful sales platforms are marketplaces. With nearly universal appeal, 99% of U.S. shoppers buy from marketplaces, ranked in popularity from Amazon (92%) to Walmart (68%), eBay (47%), Temu (32%), Etsy (28%), and Shein (21%).
Second, they use them often, with 61% of American shoppers buying online at least once a week. Among the most popular items are online clothing and footwear (63%), followed by consumer electronics (33%) and health supplements (30%).
Third, delivery is a crucial aspect of making the sale. Fully 94% of U.S. shoppers say delivery options influence where they shop online, and 45% of consumers abandon their baskets if their preferred delivery option is not offered.
That finding meshes with another report released this week, as a white paper from FedEx Corp. and Morning Consult said that 75% of consumers prioritize free shipping over fast shipping. Over half of those surveyed (57%) prioritize free shipping when making an online purchase, even more than finding the best prices (54%). In fact, 81% of shoppers are willing to increase their spending to meet a retailer’s free shipping threshold, FedEx said.
In additional findings from DHL, the Weston, Florida-based company found:
43% of Americans have an online shopping subscription, with pet food subscriptions being particularly popular (44% compared to 25% globally). Social Media Influence:
61% of shoppers use social media for shopping inspiration, and 26% have made a purchase directly on a social platform.
37% of Americans buy from online retailers in other countries, with 70% doing so at least once a month. Of the 49% of Americans who buy from abroad, most shop from China (64%), followed by the U.K. (29%), France (23%), Canada (15%), and Germany (13%).
While 58% of shoppers say sustainability is important, they are not necessarily willing to pay more for sustainable delivery options.
Schneider says its FreightPower platform now offers owner-operators significantly more access to Schneider’s range of freight options. That can help drivers to generate revenue and strengthen their business through: increased access to freight, high drop and hook rates of over 95% of loads, and a trip planning feature that calculates road miles.
“Collaborating with owner-operators is an important component in the success of our business and the reliable service we can provide customers, which is why the network has grown tremendously in the last 25 years,” Schneider Senior Vice President and General Manager of Truckload and Mexico John Bozec said in a release. "We want to invest in tools that support owner-operators in running and growing their businesses. With Schneider FreightPower, they gain access to better load management, increasing their productivity and revenue potential.”
Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, but Mode Global said it will now assume Jillamy's comprehensive logistics and freight management solutions, while Jillamy's warehousing, packaging and fulfillment services remain unchanged. Under the agreement, Mode Global will gain more than 200 employees and add facilities in Pennsylvania, Arizona, Florida, Texas, Illinois, South Carolina, Maryland, and Ontario to its existing national footprint.
Chalfont, Pennsylvania-based Jillamy calls itself a 3PL provider with expertise in international freight, intermodal, less than truckload (LTL), consolidation, over the road truckload, partials, expedited, and air freight.
"We are excited to welcome the Jillamy freight team into the Mode Global family," Lance Malesh, Mode’s president and CEO, said in a release. "This acquisition represents a significant step forward in our growth strategy and aligns perfectly with Mode's strategic vision to expand our footprint, ensuring we remain at the forefront of the logistics industry. Joining forces with Jillamy enhances our service portfolio and provides our clients with more comprehensive and efficient logistics solutions."
In addition to its flagship Clorox bleach product, Oakland, California-based Clorox manages a diverse catalog of brands including Hidden Valley Ranch, Glad, Pine-Sol, Burt’s Bees, Kingsford, Scoop Away, Fresh Step, 409, Brita, Liquid Plumr, and Tilex.
British carbon emissions reduction platform provider M2030 is designed to help suppliers measure, manage and reduce carbon emissions. The new partnership aims to advance decarbonization throughout Clorox's value chain through the collection of emissions data, jointly identified and defined actions for reduction and continuous upskilling.
The program, which will record key figures on energy, will be gradually rolled out to several suppliers of the company's strategic raw materials and packaging, which collectively represents more than half of Clorox's scope 3 emissions.
M2030 enables suppliers to regularly track and share their progress with other customers using the M2030 platform. Suppliers will also be able to export relevant compatible data for submission to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), a global disclosure system to manage environmental data.
"As part of Clorox's efforts to foster a cleaner world, we have a responsibility to ensure our suppliers are equipped with the capabilities necessary for forging their own sustainability journeys," said Niki King, Chief Sustainability Officer at The Clorox Company. "Climate action is a complex endeavor that requires companies to engage all parts of their supply chain in order to meaningfully reduce their environmental impact."
Supply chain risk analytics company Everstream Analytics has launched a product that can quantify the impact of leading climate indicators and project how identified risk will impact customer supply chains.
Expanding upon the weather and climate intelligence Everstream already provides, the new “Climate Risk Scores” tool enables clients to apply eight climate indicator risk projection scores to their facilities and supplier locations to forecast future climate risk and support business continuity.
The tool leverages data from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to project scores to varying locations using those eight category indicators: tropical cyclone, river flood, sea level rise, heat, fire weather, cold, drought and precipitation.
The Climate Risk Scores capability provides indicator risk projections for key natural disaster and weather risks into 2040, 2050 and 2100, offering several forecast scenarios at each juncture. The proactive planning tool can apply these insights to an organization’s systems via APIs, to directly incorporate climate projections and risk severity levels into your action systems for smarter decisions. Climate Risk scores offer insights into how these new operations may be affected, allowing organizations to make informed decisions and mitigate risks proactively.
“As temperatures and extreme weather events around the world continue to rise, businesses can no longer ignore the impact of climate change on their operations and suppliers,” Jon Davis, Chief Meteorologist at Everstream Analytics, said in a release. “We’ve consulted with the world’s largest brands on the top risk indicators impacting their operations, and we’re thrilled to bring this industry-first capability into Explore to automate access for all our clients. With pathways ranging from low to high impact, this capability further enables organizations to grasp the full spectrum of potential outcomes in real-time, make informed decisions and proactively mitigate risks.”