Joe Fleming

"The steel industry is a funny industry because they are batch producers in a JIT [just-in-time] environment," says Joe Fleming, vice president at Comprehensive Logistics, which manages Weirton Steel's trucking needs (see sidebar).

A steel company might produce one type of steel for an entire month and then want to ship it to Cincinnati.But the mill might need more trucks than are available on that day.The steelmaker then might not need trucks for another month."Our automotive accounts are much more predictable," Fleming says.
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"All the freight is moving across the country," Fleming says.
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Interest has been climbing in the past six months, says Joe Fleming, vice president at Comprehensive Logistics (Youngstown, Ohio).
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"We committed to bringing them up to state-of-the-art electronically and to giving them a way to monitor service and performance they didn't have before," Fleming says.
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Before outsourcing, 95 trucks showed up one day at Weirton's cold mill, even though the mill wanted only 80, Fleming says.More than one person was dispatching, and they didn't communicate with one another."The people on the docks having to load all of those trucks got very upset," Fleming says.
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"Dispatchers don't talk to 80 carriers," Fleming says.

The steel industry is a funny industry because they are batch producers in a JIT [ just-in-time ] environment , says Joe Fleming , vice president at Comprehensive Logistics , which manages Weirton Steel's trucking needs ( see sidebar ).

A steel company might produce one type of steel for an entire month and then want to ship it to Cincinnati.But the mill might need more trucks than are available on that day.The steelmaker then might not need trucks for another month.Our automotive accounts are much more predictable , Fleming says.They're much more demanding with JIT , but the predictability makes it much easier to manage..

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All the freight is moving across the country , Fleming says.If there were a truck-driver shortage , wouldn't something not be moving.Prices aren't drastically going up..

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Interest has been climbing in the past six months , says Joe Fleming , vice president at Comprehensive Logistics ( Youngstown , Ohio ).Much of the new interest is from steel companies.

Pacific Great Lakes Logistics in Cleveland manages Trico Steel's deliveries.USF Logistics of Long Grove , Ill. , manages delivery logistics for the Timken Co.
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We committed to bringing them up to state-of-the-art electronically and to giving them a way to monitor service and performance they didn't have before , Fleming says.They decided to take their resources and focus them on other areas and do a better job of making steel and servicing their customers..

...
Before outsourcing , 95 trucks showed up one day at Weirton's cold mill , even though the mill wanted only 80 , Fleming says.More than one person was dispatching , and they didn't communicate with one another.The people on the docks having to load all of those trucks got very upset , Fleming says.

When Weirton inputs information about a shipment in its computer , that information also goes to Comprehensive Logistics' computer.The electronic dispatch system uses a computerized algorithm to send the information to trucking companies by fax or by the Internet.The trucking company receives a bulletin saying there's an available load for pickup and delivery.The trucking company then responds through the system or by telephone.

The primary carrier has 15 minutes to respond before the information goes to a second and third carrier.
...
Dispatchers don't talk to 80 carriers , Fleming says.The computer directs them to the place they ought to be.We're letting the computer shop for the carriers..

Steelmakers that outsource their logistics don't pay the carriers directly.The logistics companies do that and then bill the steel companies.

"The steel industry is a funny industry because they are batch producers in a JIT [just-in-time] environment," says Joe Fleming, vice president at Comprehensive Logistics, which manages Weirton Steel's trucking needs (see sidebar).

A steel company might produce one type of steel for an entire month and then want to ship it to Cincinnati.But the mill might need more trucks than are available on that day.The steelmaker then might not need trucks for another month."Our automotive accounts are much more predictable," Fleming says."They're much more demanding with JIT, but the predictability makes it much easier to manage."

...
"All the freight is moving across the country," Fleming says."If there were a truck-driver shortage, wouldn't something not be moving?Prices aren't drastically going up."

...
Interest has been climbing in the past six months, says Joe Fleming, vice president at Comprehensive Logistics (Youngstown, Ohio).Much of the new interest is from steel companies.

Pacific Great Lakes Logistics in Cleveland manages Trico Steel's deliveries.USF Logistics of Long Grove, Ill., manages delivery logistics for the Timken Co.
...
"We committed to bringing them up to state-of-the-art electronically and to giving them a way to monitor service and performance they didn't have before," Fleming says."They decided to take their resources and focus them on other areas and do a better job of making steel and servicing their customers."

...
Before outsourcing, 95 trucks showed up one day at Weirton's cold mill, even though the mill wanted only 80, Fleming says.More than one person was dispatching, and they didn't communicate with one another."The people on the docks having to load all of those trucks got very upset," Fleming says.

When Weirton inputs information about a shipment in its computer, that information also goes to Comprehensive Logistics' computer.The electronic dispatch system uses a computerized algorithm to send the information to trucking companies by fax or by the Internet.The trucking company receives a bulletin saying there's an available load for pickup and delivery.The trucking company then responds through the system or by telephone.

The primary carrier has 15 minutes to respond before the information goes to a second and third carrier.
...
"Dispatchers don't talk to 80 carriers," Fleming says."The computer directs them to the place they ought to be.We're letting the computer shop for the carriers."

Steelmakers that outsource their logistics don't pay the carriers directly.The logistics companies do that and then bill the steel companies.

"BestTransport will give us immediate visibility on the hundreds of shipments we manage daily," said Joe Fleming, Vice President, Comprehensive Logistics.
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"BestTransport has taken what we have done for years through a slow, serial fax process and made it a rapid, parallel, and real-time function," Fleming added.