Trucking services change with the times
Carriers aim to provide faster, cheaper service to meet emerging needs
By Marc Barnes -- Furniture Today, May 14, 2007
High Point, NC — Years ago, furniture transportation used to mean picking up furniture in a truck at the factory, taking it to a warehouse and ultimately to a furniture store, where a customer would pick it out.
Things changed. The factory moved overseas. For much of the trip, the truck turned into a ship. The customer is still there, but today, might very well pick out his furniture on the Internet.
And that's led to changes in how the furniture gets from Southeast Asia to a den or a bedroom in the customer's home.
Mark Ramirez, president of California-based Furnigistix, said that much of what his company offers these days has come about because of new customer demands. For example, Furnigistix has formed liaisons with other companies to expand its delivery footprint to 36 western states and increased its warehouse space from 30,000 square feet to 400,000 square feet in a six-month period.
Ramirez said that transportation is more crucial than ever, both for the increasing volume of sales that are coming from dotcoms, big box stores and interior designers, as well as for sales by conventional retailers, because of the changing nature of the market.
"The industry has softened up and you have to keep the floor turning," said Ramirez. "If they keep seeing the same stuff, they are not going to come back."
Power of information
Josh Brown, CEO of America West, said his firm has brought other skills to bear as the furniture industry has shifted. America West is not only a furniture carrier, but an air freight forwarder as well.
According to Brown, America West has invested millions of dollars in information technology for the benefit of customers who send out hundreds of air freight packages each day. Brown said that as furniture transportation has evolved, America West already had the systems in place to provide real-time tracking over the Internet.
"We have taken what we know on the air freight side — having the information three days later for overnight shipping is not helping the customer very much," he said. "The real- time tracing and tracking has now become available for our furniture customers."
Richard Eanes, president of Warren Trucking, said that one of the challenges that today's furniture transporters face is finding ways to bring less-than-container-load furniture to smaller retailers.
New opportunities
"In the past, the Top 100 guys were the ones who could afford to tie up $30,000 in a container, but the smaller guys can't afford to commit that much capital," said Eanes. "Now we are able, through better management of the supply chain, to make multiple pickups from multiple factories in Southeast Asia, consolidate them and bring them to a facility here, which gives (smaller retailers) the opportunity to be competitive in the marketplace."
But he said that more needs to be done to develop a single standard of barcodes and bills of lading.
"Until we get to the point where the retailer says to the importer that 'this is what we want,' it's going to be a slow process," said Eanes.
At Four Truckers, Carl Abernathy, executive vice president of sales, said there are four things that the industry is looking for today: timely information, reasonable price, a consistent time in transit and getting the product there in good condition without a lot of claim issues.
Abernathy said keeping those points in mind helped his firm grow sales 31% last year and 17% so far this year.
What's new with Four Truckers is something that can't be seen. The firm is moving to automatic transmissions on its trucks to make them easier to drive, enhancing its driver scheduling process and building comfort areas at each of its service centers.
At Caldwell Freight, Ron Boroughs, senior vice president of business development, said his firm is reaching out to the furniture industry by being more proactive. Boroughs said Caldwell's goal is to be flexible in seeking out global and local opportunities.
"We want to be the go-to company if there are any solutions needed for transportation," he said. "The challenge is to figure out the points of distribution, where we need to be to best serve the industry."
Boroughs said that like the furniture industry, transportation companies are facing their own challenges, including new requirements on catalytic converters for truck engines and continuing fluctuations in fuel prices.
"It is a different world and it brings a lot of challenges," he said. "Information is the key to finding out what we as carriers need to do to serve the industry, because the industry is going through so much change right now."
Mike Caldiero, vice president of sales and marketing for MGM Transport, said that transportation of furniture is changing as much as the furniture industry itself.
Caldiero said that MGM's answer has been to works with facilities on both coasts, as well as investing in new technology to enable customers to track the product and warehousing to give customers a place to store it. MGM also enables several retailers to pool their resources on a single container — and have the contents delivered to each of them separately, no matter where they are located.
MGM also has begun an initiative to help manufacturers package goods better in containers to help eliminate damage.
"We have a packaging expert on staff to evaluate (their packaging) and provide feedback to them to help eliminate claims," he said. "The ultimate goal is to get it to the consumer undamaged."
Within the home delivery sector, Maury Mussa, president and CEO of Mainstreet Delivery, said that the business has grown exponentially, in part because manufacturers are selling furniture direct-to-consumers or to online stores.
"If they are selling in this channel, then they want to control the direct-to-home (delivery) so they can deal with one service," said Mussa. "I have designed my own network, which gives me efficiencies and economies of scale."
Playing to strengths
Bob Brody, sales manager of Delivery Solutions, said that online sales have expanded the reach — and the challenges — of home delivery businesses.
"(Retailers) can't manage keeping up with the industry and the technology, because it is a full-time job," said Brody. "Most people have recognized that (outsourcing home delivery) is better off for the balance sheet. Delivery is the most difficult and the most important part of the sale — and it's not the specialty of the retailer."
Patrick Cory, vice president of strategic planning for Cory Home Delivery, said one of his company's main missions right now is keeping costs down in a challenging time.
To minimize expenses, Cory has trimmed back on schedules, delivering to a particular Zip code four days a week instead of five; using routing software so that drivers don't get lost; and making sure that the furniture is undamaged, so it doesn't have to be brought back.
Cory said that it's crucial for the retailer to get accurate phone numbers and help set delivery expectations to help it get done without a hitch.
"Focusing on all the little things saves money and as a side benefit, it improves service," he said. "You are saving money and satisfying the customer, which leads to customer retention and more sales — the circle of life for the furniture business."
