The Daily Recruiter

CSCMP Awards Mesher

The Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals’ (CSCMP) awarded Arthur Mesher, CEO of Descartes’, with the 2008 Distinguished Service Award. This highly distinguished award is given to individuals who go “above and beyond” to make substantial contributions to the supply chain management field. “I am honored to be recognized by this award and to be in the company of so many other inspirational and distinguished previous recipients,” said Arthur Mesher, CEO of Descartes. “My commitment to the industry remains with a continued focus to make the world a better place through logistics.”

The Annual CSCMP’s conference will take place this year on October 6, 2008 in Denver, Colorado, where Mesher will be honored. Arthur Mesher is the 43rd person to receive the award since it was first initiated in 1965.

Horizon Line has hired Jacob M. Wegrzyn as senior vice president of their Puerto Rico services division.  Wegrzyn will oversee operational, sales and strategic activities for the Puerto Rico market.  He previously served as vice president, Puerto Rico and Caribbean service for New Penn Motor Express.

JCPenney awarded Schneider national with the Supply Chain Provider of the Year for 2007 award recently at the annual Supplier Summit in Dallas. This award recognizes companies that excel in supply chain partnership with JCPenney business goals. “Being chosen as the recipient of JCPenney’s supply chain award is an incredible honor,” said Steve Matheys, Schneider National executive vice-president of sales, marketing and customer service. “Our drivers and customer service associates have been laser-focused on improving communication and delivering service excellence. It’s really gratifying to see their hard work paying dividends and customers taking note.”

One of the United State’s primary chicken processor’s will halt production at two of its facilities due to increased feed costs and an oversupply of chickens. The company will close its Clinton, Arkansas and Bossier City, Louisiana facilities, eliminating 600 jobs.

Stephen M. Alberda and Pete Westerman both presented Total Logistic Control’s Holland Logistic Center with the President’s Safety Award. TLC is an 110,000 sq. ft. temperature freezer and cooler facility, which has remained accident-free for more than 27 years.

Goodyear plans to cut costs by expanding production in overseas markets and concentrate on increasing supply chain efficiencies. The company will shut down its tire manufacturing center in Somerton, Australia, to complete its goal reduction of approximately 25 million units of high-cost capacity as part of its 4-point cost savings plan.
Further, Goodyear will realign its supply chain to focus manufacturing in new markets, as well as restructure its U.S. facilities to assist in running them more efficiently. The Akron, Ohio-based firm will invest: $500 million to expand China production; $600 million to expand in Brazil and Chile; $600 million in Poland and Germany; and $700 million in the U.S. “Going forward, we anticipate capital investments totaling between $1 billion and $1.3 billion per year from 2008 to 2010,” said CEO Robert Keegan.

Nestle, the nutrition, health, and wellness company has teamed up with Schneider National, one of the country’s leading truckload carriers, to move their products from their North American manufacturing plants to specific Nestle distribution facilities throughout the United States.

Supply & Demand Chain Executive Magazine named Bristlecone as a Supply and Demand Chain Executive 100 company for 2008. This is the second year in a row that Bristlecone has received this distinction. Bristlecone was chosen because of its leadership and innovation in supply and demand chain consulting. “We are delighted to be recognized by this esteemed publication as a supply chain management innovator,” said Ashok Santhanam, President and CEO of Bristlecone. “At Bristlecone we pride ourselves on providing cutting edge strategies and solutions to help our clients create agile and adaptable supply chains for strategic advantage in an increasingly competitive and constantly evolving marketplace.”

Douglas A. Fisher, D.B.A., has been named director of the Center of Supply Chain Management, for Marquette University’s College of Business Administration. Fisher is a former instructor from Auburn University in Alabama and an associate at Cascade Consulting Partners, Inc., a management consulting firm based out of Eugene, Oregon. At Marquette, Fisher will teach in areas of operations and supply chain management, collaborate with students and local businesses to sustain internships, and administer center operations.

Andrews Transport LP, based in Fort Worth, Texas has promoted Mark Bliss to senior vice-president of quality and risk management.

Inbound Logistics magazine’s readers named BNSF, LLC as one of the top logistics providers for a fifth consecutive year. More than 5,000 readers contributed in this year’s survey, placing votes for 325 individual companies. “BNSF Logistics provides the flexible and innovative supply chain solutions that companies large and small demand. Our readers recognized that BNSF Logistics is responsive to their needs, and offers strategic solutions designed to drive business process improvement and change,” stated Felecia Stratton, Editor of Inbound Logistics.

Hormel Foods Corporation started construction on a new production facility in Dubuque, Iowa. Hormel plans to open the facility by November 2009, which will be operated by its subsidiary Progressive Packaging LLC. “Iowa has been at the center of feeding this country and the world for more than a century, and we look forward to continuing our partnership with the people of Iowa to deliver great-tasting, nutritious meals to consumers throughout our system,” said Jeffrey M. Ettinger, chairman of the board, president, and chief executive officer of Hormel Foods.

KLLM Transport Service, based out of Jackson, MS, has enhanced their company by providing a Logistics Services department. Logistics Services will make available 24-hour customer service and dispatch. Kirk Blankenship will serve as director.

Tom Linebarger has been named president and chief operating office for Cummins Inc, based in Columbus, Indiana.

Penske Logistics will be laying off 146 employees at its Lockbourne transportation and distribution facility, effective August 31^st. Penske Logistics recently lost a contract with Whirlpool Corp. and will now be succeeded by Kenco Logistic Services, headquartered in Tennessee. “It is our intention to hire as close to 100 percent of the employees as we can,” said Greg Boring, director of operations for Kenco.

Border Cold Storage, headquartered in Pharr, Texas, opened a new building near the United States-Mexico border just north of the Pharr/Reynosa International Bridge. The new facility is built on 16 acres of land, which will allow for continued growth.  The 50,000 sq ft building houses 10 cold rooms, a 13-door refrigerated dock, and a dry storage area.  The state-of-the art facility encompasses a carbon dioxide/ammonia refrigeration system and motion-sensor lighting, as well as radio frequency scanning, tracking, and online order entry.

Nationalease, based out of Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois, has named Chris Leach, area vice president in Atlanta, Georgia the top 2007 salesperson.

Magellan Transport Logistics, headquartered in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania, opened a branch office in Springfield.

FFE Transportation Services Inc. was named 2007’s Specialized Carrier of the Year by Landstar Global Logistics Inc. at a recent conference in Nashville, Tennessee.   This decision was based upon various components including on-time performance, equipment availability and condition, and customer responsiveness.

Frozen Food Express Industries Inc., a transportation company based out of Dallas, Texas has reduced the maximum speed of its truck fleet from 65 to 62 miles per hour. Frozen Foods made this change in order to lessen the impact of increasing gas prices.

“This is a decision we’ve been contemplating for quite some time, and we simply have to take some definitive action, as many other carriers have already done, to offset costs that are rising faster than our ability to deal with them,” said Russell Stubbs, senior vice president and chief operating officer.

“Independent studies have found that for each mile-per-hour that a truck reduces its average speed, we can expect a 1/10th of a mile increase in that truck’s average miles per gallon,” said Stubbs.”