Company Report: Comprehensive Logistics, Inc: Reaching customers in real time

Comprehensive Logistics, Inc. is a non-asset based 3PL provider with roots in the transportation industry dating back to 1903. What started as a J.V. McNicholas' horse and cart operation - handling general transport and storage in Youngstown, OH - transitioned to a steel hauler and then CLI's sister motor carrier company, Falcon Transport Co., in the 1980s.

CLI was founded in 1995 to service manufacturers and has since become a $75 million business with multiple facilities in Maryland, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Ontario.

CLI's core warehouse management processes are receiving, storage, picking, value-adding and shipping. On the transportation management side, it handles a large amount of outsourced material operations and on-site logistics management in metal stamping plants across the country for General Motors and other companies. Both sets of processes can be adapted for the healthcare, aerospace and consumer goods industries as well as food and beverage, electronics and high-tech.

Advanced technology & processes

Ask CLI what sets it apart from the competition and it will tell you its technology and processes.

"The secret weapon is our information technology," says Brian Hume, Senior Vice President. "We have a very powerful and unique technology deployment coupled with a very highly-disciplined process-based approach and culture."

Prior to his current position, Hume had a successful career in automotive sequencing and sub-assembly, as well as consulting. He was asked in 2005 to run CLI by CEO Don Constantini. He brought on fellow Montreal native Steve Olender that same year to update the company's technology, and in 2008 Olender was promoted to VP of IT for both CLI and Falcon Transport.

CLI has built its systems based on the latest, cutting-edge technology to meet stringent processing standards and customer demands for high quality. It offers clients Solarsoft, an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, and Comprehensive Logistics Automated Sequencing System (CLASS) a proprietary shop floor solution that's been fully integrated into the ERP.

CLI's advanced processes and technology stem partly from its automotive pedigree. Hume says the difficult climate at present is the culmination of an ongoing struggle the sector has been engaged in for some time.

"There's been intense pressure for years to be cost competitive yet to deploy technology in terms of lot- and part-level traceability to better meet safety and quality standards," he says. "That pressure has formed a crucible out of which we have evolved as a low-cost, extremely high-capability service provider.

"In the auto industry, we measure, retain and act on data at a part level. We know five years later what torque was applied to an individual bolt and what sequence or vehicle numbers received it. That's something most companies are not asked to do."

CLI also understands trust is crucial with clients and therefore makes the supply chain as transparent as possible, continually updating its customers. Everything is done in real time in its transportation management operations and its plants and facilities. It goes to the "nth level of detail to make information available to customers over the Web," Hume says. For example, an operator in Baltimore can scan component parts, assemble them, and then scan the assembly, with the information updated to the Web in real time so customers can monitor throughput and productivity remotely.

"We create the ability to see through the supply chain and reach our customers in real time - to create the ultimate in transparency and Web visibility," says Olender.

Weathering the economy

CLI's growth since 1995 has been at 500 percent. The economic downturn has affected the company, and it has been compelled to make significant cost reductions to maintain solid footing.

"We are effectively weathering what is an historic downturn. It's been challenging because of the high concentration of automotive activity in our commercial portfolio, but our revenue is stable and has not fallen off," Hume says. "We continue to open new facilities, such as the one we launched in Avon Lake, OH, in January for Ford. We're establishing a number of warehousing facilities in 2009 and have recently been awarded a $60 million contract to provide complex vehicle sub-assemblies."

Minimizing waste, variation

CLI's employees use a quality management portal, where they are able to document and define all processes. This same portal is used for training purposes. Employees are also reimbursed for tuition when they want to further hone their skills. An in-house recruiter familiar with company culture seeks out new talent.

CLI also maintains long-term relationships with its suppliers and takes multiple bids for repetitive business. "We don't buy a lot of things, though," Hume says. "We are asset light. We don't want to own things, so in a lot of cases we use capital leases."

The company does invest in R&D though, and plans soon to invest in voice message instruction technology for its logistics management within warehouses. Hume explains that the sum total of the technology that CLI deploys on the shop floor is designed to control and guide human behavior because human behavior introduces variation into processes.

"Our goal is to repeat processes with a minimum of waste and variation. If an operator is out of process, a series of pre-defined escalation alerts are generated so that corrective action can be taken in real time. We're driving their thinking and movements, and therefore driving process adherence."

Vision system error-proofing technology can also scan and identify objects by their shape and even detect variations from a stored image. Instructions are additionally transmitted in multiple languages for employees.

Growth focused

CLI and its sister company are in the middle of a major re-branding and marketing initiative with Ologie of Columbus, Ohio. The official re-launch is in May, and the businesses will have increased exposure in trade publications and at upcoming trade shows and events. Beyond that, CLI is hoping to introduce ISO-14001 in the next year, adding to its green efforts with returnable packaging, and upgrades to more efficient lighting systems. In terms of growth, Hume says CLI is aiming for a substantial increase.

"Our three-year goal is to double both our companies' revenue. We believe it's well within our grasp," he says. "All of the heavy lifting is done in terms of implementing a process- and technology-based culture and we're now concentrating on our growth."
Coming next month: A report on CLI's sister company, Falcon Transport.




 

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