Schneider Logistics, Green Bay, Wis., has made great progress integrating two companies that it acquired approximately two years ago, says Todd Ericksrud, vice president of global logistics sales. The acquisitions were of American Port Services, a leading U.S. provider of port transloading/deconsolidation, warehousing and distribution services, and American Overseas Air Freight, an international freight forwarder and Customs broker. "We have really figured out how to work together well over the last couple of years and the result is a very impressive service offering for our customers," Ericksrud says. "We now can truly provide end-to-end supply chain services as well as point solutions both domestically and internationally."
To underscore the integration, Schneider Logistics will launch a re-branding program in April that will bring both acquired companies under the Schneider Logistics name. Until now, the companies have operated under their existing names as wholly owned subsidiaries of Schneider. "Going forward, we will go to market as Schneider Logistics across our entire product portfolio, which includes domestic and international capabilities in North America, Europe and Asia," Ericksrud says. "We now are not only a 3PL and transportation brokerage company, but under the same roof we also have the ability to do international freight, port drayage and transloading."
When it was acquired in August 2005, American Port Services operated more than four million square feet of warehousing space at key U.S. gateways in Savannah, Charleston, Norfolk, Seattle, Los Angeles and Houston. American Overseas Air Freight, a California-based international forwarder and broker, had more than 50 agents worldwide when it was acquired in early 2006.
"Adding international transportation management services and forwarding and brokerage services to the port transloading and drayage services of American Port Services and Schneider's truckload and intermodal services is a very logical next step for the company to build out its international freight capabilities," said supply chain analyst John Fontanella, at the time of the second acquisition.
Fontanella went on to question how Schneider would integrate information and activity between its operating units. "A wonderful opportunity presents itself to them to integrate the information flows of all its business units into a common portal that offers views of business activity and status along any point of the supply chain. Along with vertically integrated business operations, vertically integrated information streams will greatly increase the value of Schneider's global logistics offerings," he said.
That visibility has been achieved using Schneider's proprietary system, SUMIT Global View, Ericksrud says. "We can now provide our customers with visibility across all of the modes and exchanges that occur throughout the supply chain," he says. "We essentially have best-of-breed operating systems for each node in the supply chain and SUMIT Global View provides the layer of visibility across all these systems, so if a customer is shipping a product from Shenzhen to Detroit, or between any two points, we can track that end to end. That means that customers can start managing their inventory a little better and have more confidence in their supply chain. We think our customers will see a significant positive impact."
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