Load Delivered Logistics is an innovative supply chain company leading the way for the next generation in the 3PL industry. According to Robert Nathan, CEO of Load Delivered Logistics, they use proprietary technology and the company’s team of experts to provide clients with the tools to make supply chain management quicker, more reliable, and more cost efficient.
Recently, Load Delivered Logistics continued its aggressive growth, adding 60 jobs and 24,000 square feet to its existing office in River North this year. Nathan said they chose to expand into the basement of their building because they are always looking to find new ways to improve their team members’ work environment, and experience, at Load Delivered.
“We value the time and effort our team gives us every day, and we hope to provide them with conveniences and perks,” he said. “For this reason, we decided to expand our office and remodel the basement of our building. The new space will include a state-of-the-art employee training facility, a full gym and kitchen, men and women’s locker rooms, white board walls and a large recreation area with Ping-Pong tables, pool tables, couches, etc.”
He added, “We hope to not only provide our employees with space to relax and enjoy themselves, but also a space where they can collaborate with each other, and express their creativity and ingenuity. We encourage our employees to challenge themselves in all aspects of the business, and we hope that the new amenities will nurture this passion for competition and, in turn, promote a healthy lifestyle for all our team members.”
So what does this mean for employees? They’ll have access to resources and a knowledge center, a larger area to train new hires, and reinforce a positive company culture and environment.
Nathan said they chose to establish, and grow, Load Delivered in Chicago because the city is a major hub for the transportation industry. There a number of major railroads located here, Chicago is the largest city in the Midwest region, and most Fortune 500 companies have a base of operations in the Chicagoland area.
“We are also involved in a number of organizations including World Business Chicago (WBC) and the Supply Chain Innovation Network of Chicago (SINC), aimed at developing and supporting Chicago’s economy and supply chain industry. We cannot think of a better place to have started our business than Chicago!”
Another benefit of opening the company’s doors in Chicago, according to Nathan was that, in 2008, the climate and local businesses aligned themselves perfectly with our temperature-controlled specialization.
“The region relies heavily on temperature-controlled shipping because of the intensely hot summers,” Nathan said. “Also because of the large meat-packing industry located in Chicago, there was a great need for reliable temperature-controlled transportation providers, and Load Delivered was happy to be of service.”
Load Delivered currently has an office in Los Angeles; the company’s growing its presence on the West Coast. Nathan says the next step in the company’s expansion plan would be to open an office in Canada and then Mexico.
There are several factors Nathan attributed to Load Delivered’s aggressive growth. Yet he says the biggest contributor, over the past six years, has been the company’s insistence on challenging the current market landscape and always taking risks.
“We knew from the very beginning that we wanted to become a billion dollar company,” he said. “But our challenge has been to achieve this with half of the number of employees as our competitors. The way we chose to accomplish this was to focus on big data and technology. Our goal was, and is, to make all our processes faster, fully automated and more efficient, helping our employees do their job to the best of their abilities and, in turn, servicing our customer more completely and faster than our competitors.”
This reliance on, and belief, in the power of technology has been championed by the company’s young management staff – all members of Generation Y – who understand the importance of innovation and collaboration, according to Nathan.
“As an organization, we hope to lead the way for the “Next Generation” of third party logistics companies. We are supply chain engineers, with the ability to use our technology and our expert staff to craft, optimize and manage sophisticated and efficient supply chains for our customers.”
“In addition to our focus on technology,” Nathan continued. “Our commitment to our team has been a huge contributor to our aggressive growth. We are a group of millennials who are constantly searching for new ways to engage our team members and allow each individual to provide value to the team through his or her personal strengths. We strongly believe in challenging our staff and supporting them to become the best professionals they can be.”
He added, “Another important factor to our growth was our decision to specialize early. The company was founded in 2008 in the midst of the Recession. In order to provide the most value to our customers, we chose to specialize in temperature-controlled logistics. People may not have been buying plasma TVs or patio furniture at that time, but they still needed to eat.”
So how does Load Delivered’s growth and market share affect the competitive market landscape? Nathan thinks that there is an impending paradigm shift in the third party logistics industry.
“Soon enough, there will be no room for the “traditional 3PL.” If third party logistics providers wish to survive, they must adapt. Consumer behavior is changing drastically and, with it, the way products are delivered to consumers. The key for survival in this industry is adopting new technology and automating processes to further enable staff to meet customers’ needs.”
He added, “We believe that many smaller 3PLs will not be able to adapt fast enough and will be acquired by larger 3PLs with more resources or simply go out of business. This will lead to the next generation of 3PLs, which will be faster, more agile and more advanced than ever before. At Load Delivered, we believe that we are leading the way for this new generation of 3PLs.”
Five years from now, Nathan expects Load Delivered to be an even more prominent key player in the 3PL industry, especially in the Chicago area due to the innovative approach to the way they do business.
“Our goal over the next five years is to grow into a billion dollar company with half the staff of other dominant local 3PLs,” he said. “To do this, we will continue to evolve and adapt to consumer behavior and further innovate through our proprietary technology to ensure we are on the cutting edge.”
