Maryland-based WeFixFreight.com provides the shipping industry with a fix for damaged freight, and two Arkansas companies are part of the solution.
If pallets are not stacked properly, when a driver slams on the brakes or is in a crash, the trailer's contents can tip over or shift, and the damaged goods are often rejected by companies.
"If one of them breaks loose, it looks like the scene of a horror movie," said Bill Carlin, the company's chief operating officer.
Carriers still have to pay their clients for damaged goods. For a fee, WeFixFreight offers its clients access to a mobile app that directs truck drivers to a participating warehouse where the pallets are offloaded and re-bundled. Drivers then continue to their original delivery points.
Two Arkansas warehousing companies work with WeFixFreight -- Hackbarth Delivery Service in Little Rock and Springdale, and OnTime Logistics, also in Springdale. Carlin said he is recruiting more companies that are located in eastern and western Arkansas.
Tim Ward, director of sales and marketing at OnTime Logistics in Springdale, said his company has been in business with WeFixFreight for about 18 months. Beginning at 2 a.m. each day, Ward's warehouse crew begins handling freight from customers such as FedEx and Amazon.com.
The rush ends around 11 a.m., but WeFixFreight's clients often need repackaging at unpredictable times.
"They'll drop the freight off to us, and we'll do all the work that's necessary," Ward said. "There's usually not much notice."
WeFixFreight holds a brokerage license, but most of the freight brokers who connect drivers with warehouses to re-bundle their freight work for partner companies like XPO Logistics, C.H. Robinson and Epes Logistics Services.
WeFixFreight's business model relies on outside freight brokers, who are also in demand by other transportation companies. Cargomatic, Uber Freight and other companies are vying to save shippers money by connecting drivers to freight with location-based apps. Freight brokers oversee the process and handle any problems.
Automation is expected to eventually take over some of the role of the freight brokers, said Chris Caplice, executive director of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Center for Transportation and Logistics.
Carlin said the company's business model was formed with automation in mind. He said WeFixFreight is more oriented to customer service, so he expects the company to be propelled by automation rather than be disrupted by it.
"My value is more in being an emergency broker," Carlin said. "I'm not auctioning off my services to truckers. We want to be the AAA to our clients."
Business on 09/14/2017