Merging four lines while maintaining best-in-class distinction is what Greatwide Logistics company is all about.
Written and produced by James Buchanan & Nick Ledue
Sometimes when you open your shopping bags, you find that the shoes you bought don’t really match the pants, and the shirts are a bit too tight.
Finding a way to make the outfit work is what Greatwide Logistics Services of Dallas, Texas, is trying to do after a major shopping trip.
The history of the company can be traced to 2000, when Fenway Partners acquired Transportation Industries, LP, to form Greatwide Logistics Services. Since then, the company has continued with an aggressive acquisitions strategy, making it one of the leading providers of truckload transportation and warehouse/distribution services.
With Greatwide’s relatively dramatic growth has come the need to find a way to coordinate and integrate these many companies and their respective services (lines) under one roof.
As Dick Metzler, Greatwide’s chief commercial officer, notes, “Do they naturally and easily fit together? No. Job number one for us is to make each line the best-in-class when it comes to its services in its relative core competency. The next step, and one that we’re nudging pieces into alignment as opposed to slamming things together, is to find ways to integrate the lines.”
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In order to understand the unique challenge that Metzler and Greatwide face as they seek to integrate its lines, it is first important to take a look at how the company operates.
After its formation, Greatwide steadily expanded its operations through a series of acquisitions. These acquisitions include companies such as May Trucking, Inc.; American Trans-Freight; Stewart Stiles; and Cargo-Master, Inc. In total, ten companies were combined to form the company’s current incarnation.
Today, the company has 90 facilities...
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