The continuing supply chain struggles affect every industry, and really, every consumer too. These issues have demanded a great deal more of everyone, from carriers and warehouse managers to port operators and, of course, the companies trying to ship their goods.

If you’re in logistics, you must find ways to provide greater value and develop more comprehensive solutions. There are simply that many problems to solve.

But that can also be the source of real opportunity for companies who decide to take on the challenge and develop tangible solutions – assuming they’re willing to venture outside familiar territory.

Redwood Logistics is a good example of that willingness. Redwood started out in 2001 as a  fairly conventional third-party logistics company – conventional in the sense that it offered the usual array of 3PL-type services. But the company was unconventional in the sense that it was always on the lookout for more it could be doing.

“The market needed more back then, and obviously needs a lot more now. Responding to those needs transformed us from a 3PL into a tech-forward supply chain integrator and problem solver,” said Mark Yeager, CEO of Redwood Logistics. “And we are seeing now just how much shippers and logistics service providers need partners who can do that.”

Redwood today is a $1.2 billion company, with growth over the past four years being about half organic and half by acquisitions.

“Each has fed the other,” Yeager said. “The acquisitions and subsequent integrations have given us the additional capabilities that have made the organic growth possible.”

One problem Redwood noticed in the industry was the proliferation of technology tools which, despite their value in helping improve operations, were creating IT nightmares for a lot of companies.

“They were having to devote so many resources to software implementation, it was essentially canceling out the benefits of the tech products,” Yeager said.

Redwood’s response was to develop RedwoodConnect, a no-code integration tool that basically allows companies to integrate all these technologies right into their platforms. It allowed those struggling companies to skip the IT challenges and get straight to the benefits of the tech assets. At its core RedwoodConnect serves as a backbone for Redwood’s larger Logistics Platform as a Service (LPaaS) methodology, which sets out to create an open ecosystem of freight data.

“They no longer have to accept a preconfigured service and learn how to deal with its structure,” Yeager said. “Now the service gets configured to the structure they already know. This is what we want for our customers – to be able to take advantage of all the technology that’s available. We found a way to make that much easier for them to do so.”

People in the supply chain/logistics field make thousands of decisions every day, so they need the right tools to make sure their information is visible in real time. That puts them in the best position to make decisions about procurement, carrier contracts or anything else they’re looking to do.

And while one might expect companies are looking for cost-savings above all else, Yeager has found that is not necessarily the case. Often, they want visibility and real-time information even more than they want direct cost-reductions.

“They want to understand what’s going on in the supply chain because the lowest-cost option isn’t always the best,” Yeager said. “So, technology to aid decision-making has to start there, and we’ve made sure to emphasize that with the technology solutions we’ve developed.”

In the end, it really is all about integration. Shippers need to integrate carriers and supply chain partners such that they become an extension of their businesses. The supply chain and logistics market has looked for such innovations over the past several decades and needs them now more than ever as the challenges inherent to the industry seem to multiply by the day.

Finding the technology solutions, Yeager said, has allowed Redwood to grow from the traditional 3PL space into a modern 3PL with a digital 4PL component, simply finding ways to solve logistics problems — whatever they are.

One thing should not be overlooked, though. Building an enterprise like this takes exceptional people. It’s not enough just to have a great tech team. Redwood has also recruited an extensive group of professionals with experience from the client side – people who not only understand the pain points of shippers and Logistics Service Providers (LSPs), but who can also recognize solutions that will make a difference.

The right people, investment in technology and the nerve to embrace disruptive concepts at the intersection of logistics and technology – in today’s stressed supply chain industry, this can be a combination that leads to astonishing success. Redwood Logistics shows it’s possible.

 

Dan Calabrese has been covering the supply chain and transportation industry for 20+ years, writing for publications such as Transport Topics, Inbound Logistics and a variety of association publications.