Business View Magazine | December 2018

252 253 were asked to meet with the shipper’s preferred tracking and tracing provider to work out a solu- tion for forwarding our tracing data directly onto loads for the shipper.Within six weeks, we had a working solution in place that autogenerated system reports every 15 minutes on every load currently moving by truck.We moved 50 to 100 trucks per day for this company in various loca- tions.” In the beginning of 2017, larger IMCs (Inter- modal Marketing Companies) were coming out with their own version of apps they wanted drivers to log into and update. Redbird recognized this as a problem for their owner-operator base because drivers would have to learn several apps to update the many IMCs they service. Redbird’s operating system already had an app tailored to over-the-road shipments, but not intermodal. So they met with their provider and laid out the needs for an app with functions that could sat- isfy all customers. This solution has been in full use for a year, and is not only meeting customer requirements, but making it easier for drivers by simplifying the process down to one single app. As Ledbetter explains, “Our current technology has also greatly reduced tech calls from custom- ers who, themselves, are advanced enough to receive this information. New enhancements we are working on include: auto ETAs, traffic patterns, and knowing our GPS position to better pinpoint REDBIRD CARRIERS ETAs.We’re setting a goal for 98 percent of our shipments to be on time. In a nutshell, we are able to make better business decisions today based on actual information our technology pro- vides us.We’re on the cutting edge in the inter- modal sector for companies our size.” Looking to the future, Redbird wants to contin- ue adding locations in more cities that are heav- ily travelled with intermodal freight. But the goal is not to flood any particular market with several locations. “We are also in the midst of buying a related business - a car-transport hauling com- pany in Florida,” Belew shares. “And we have a lot of room on our six-acre terminal to erect more facilities to expand into an over-the-road oper- ation.We have a small such operation now of about 50 trailers and we do regional hauling. For another new project, I’m working with real estate brokers and my attorneys.We’ll be going to all our locations where we need a yard and an office, and buying our own properties to move into, so we can pay rent to ourselves instead of someone else and build up property equity.” Redbird has a truck brokerage firm in Spring- field, Missouri, that Belew says, “We’re going to beef up and take on a tremendous amount more business in that line. In brokerage, the shipper gives you a load and you find a carrier, like Red- bird, to haul it –you broker it to another trucker, and that’s a huge industry. The most important points to know about Redbird Carriers is that we’re extremely organized.We close out and balance every week on our owner-operator driver pay against our billing. Our owner-operator turn- over on intermodal trucking is the lowest in the industry.We’ve never had more than one percent of accounts receivable over 90 days old, mostly due to the fact that we deal with repeat com- panies across the country. Our customer base in every city in the country with intermodal freight would rather have Redbird, one company with 18 to 25 locations, on their payable list than having to deal with 25 different companies.We don’t care to do the international side of intermodal trucking due to greatly varied fuel surcharges, partially paid invoices, and, mostly, slow pay.We’re mostly interested in domestic and continuing to do it extremely well.” PREFERRED VENDOR n Tailored Logistics Solutions www.tailoredlogistics.com