Logistics Management Solutions (LMS)

St. Louis, MO
Dennis Schoemehl, President & CEO
800-355-2153
www.lmslogistics.com

3PL Turnover:

$88m

Service Area:

North America

3PL Assets:

127 employees

Information Systems:

Good
TMS – Proprietary – TOTAL

Services:

Transportation management, freight management, consulting

Industry Focus/Key Customers:

Chemicals, industrial, manufacturing
Key Customers: BASF, Eaton, Ferro, Monsanto, Scotts Miracle-Gro, Vesuvius

Armstrong & Associates’ Evaluation:

Logistics Management is a 3PL of the modern era. It exploits and deals with technology very well in providing system transportation management. Its TOTALBid, reverse-auction bidding software, enables shippers to solicit and evaluate carrier bid packages via the Internet.

LQ: The 3PL industry has historically been very relationship-driven. In the recent 2009 Third Party Logistics Study 60 percent of respondents stated that this is the time to reevaluate their 3PL relationships. In your experience, what types of customer-3PL relationships have proven most effective in this period of global recession? What types of logistics relationships would you steer these companies towards?

Dennis Schoemehl: We’ve always believed that collaborative relationships fare far better than vendor-client associations. Our largest clients have been with us for more than 10 years and they’ve come to view us as a business partner. Regardless of what or how companies outsource, they need to give 3PLs a broader view of their shipping operations. For example, we worked with a client who was looking to cut costs on outbound freight, but we also discovered that a large savings opportunity existed within the inbound operations. By converting from a prepaid to a collect environment, the client significantly reduced expenses while gaining tighter control of their outbound and inbound shipments.

LQ: Tools for advanced business analytics are gaining interest in many corners. These technologies employ predictive modeling and complex optimization techniques. What is your outlook for such analytical tools and their applications to logistics activity?

Dennis Schoemehl: Businesses are looking to leverage the sum of their parts in order to whittle away freight costs and improve efficiencies. Due to the emphasis on the latter, I firmly believe more companies are employing optimization technologies and this will further drive the technology’s sophistication. Optimization engines take large amounts of data from disparate systems and empower companies to leverage all of their shipping activities by creating consolidated loads, continuous move routes, etc. A freight optimization engine has been part of our transportation management system, TOTAL, since its deployment in 2001. By creating optimized shipment plans, our clients have realized significant savings while maintaining or improving service levels.