YRC Worldwide's Gilbert Retires

Garcia restructures sales operations as carrier strives to win back customers

YRC Worldwide is continuing an executive restructuring alongside “workforce adjustments” as it attempts to stave off bankruptcy and return to profitability.

Terrence M. Gilbert, a senior vice president and former president of Roadway Express, retired Sept. 25 after 30 years with Roadway and YRC Worldwide.

As chief sales and marketing officer, Gilbert helped integrate the sales teams of Yellow Transportation and Roadway as the carriers were merged to form national less-than-truckload carrier YRC earlier this year.

The company is also eliminating an undisclosed number of jobs.

“The company continues to make workforce adjustments across the company in response to economic conditions affecting business volumes,” YRCW said in a statement.

John A. Garcia, executive vice president and chief sales officer, heads YRC’s sales efforts. He joined YRC this June after a stint as chief marketing officer for Sprint Nextel.

Greg Reid, executive vice president, remains chief marketing officer, and will take on responsibility for YRC’s largest corporate accounts. Craig Tallman, a senior vice president and corporate sales executive, will lead the field sales organization.

Garcia's organization will play a critical role in rebuilding YRC's business, which has suffered this year as shippers concerned about a potential bankruptcy shifted freight to competitors.

“The modifications are an advancement of the functional organizational structure introduced in June across YRC Worldwide to streamline decision-making, eliminate duplicate efforts and costs,” Garcia said in a memo to YRC Worldwide employees.

YRC Worldwide trucking co. making more job cuts

Troubled trucking concern YRC Worldwide Inc was slashing more jobs this week, just before the end of the its third quarter, as it continues to work with lenders and labor to stave off collapse.

Sources inside the No. 1 U.S. less-than-truckload company said the cuts were substantial and layoffs were being made across many departments.

Company officials would not disclose how many jobs were being eliminated but said "workforce adjustments" were underway.

"YRC Worldwide is making workforce adjustments across the company in response to economic conditions affecting business volumes and to advance the company's movement to a functional organizational structure.

"The company is not providing updated employment numbers at this time, since workforce actions are still in process," YRC officials said in a statement.

Holland Celebrates 80 Years of Driving Customer Success

Holland, a subsidiary of YRC Worldwide Inc. will celebrate 80 years of excellence beginning this week, reinforcing its reputation as a leading provider of next-day and regional service and one of the most unwavering brands in the transportation industry.

“In 1929, the founders were confident they could be successful in spite of the Great Depression,” said Jeff Rogers, president of Holland. “Since then, our experienced professionals have met the challenges of 13 recessions by sticking with a plan to offer our customers the best value.”

Today, Holland is the leading provider in its region with more than 4,000 tractors, 8,000 trailers and 71 percent of its deliveries made next-day. Holland has built the most comprehensive next-day network in its region, with industry-leading performance in on-time service and claims ratio.

Holland’s commitment to outstanding customer service and quality recently earned the company Logistics Management magazine’s Quest for Quality award for the 24th consecutive year. The award is based on an annual customer survey conducted by the magazine. In addition, Holland recently received a 2009 Shipper’s Choice Award for excellence in the LTL trucking category by Canadian Transportation & Logistics magazine, based on the results of more than 5,000 reader evaluations of truck transportation carrier performance.

John and Catherine Cooper started Holland Motor Express in 1929, hauling grain and hay for West Michigan farmers. In 1930, the company began to diversify with the purchase of an International truck and trailer that John drove each day from Holland, Mich., to Chicago.

The company opened service centers in Chicago, Holland, Mich., and Grand Rapids, Mich. in 1931. Two years later, they expanded the network with service centers in Cincinnati, Ohio, Fort Wayne, Ind., Indianapolis, Ind., and Kalamazoo, Mich. By 1939, Holland had grown to a company with 58 employees and revenue of $300,000.

Charles Cooper, John’s son, became president of the company in 1958. Under his leadership, the company exceeded $1 million in profit in 1971. Charles remained president until 1984 when the company was acquired by TNT North America. The company changed its name to US Freightways Corp. in 1996 (and later to USF Corp.) to emphasize its independent identity and industry leadership. These actions also gave birth to the name USF Holland.

Holland was acquired in 2004 by Yellow Roadway Corp. (now YRC Worldwide). Today, Holland is part of YRC Regional Transportation, a strategically important operating division of YRC Worldwide.

“Our core values of integrity, respect, excellence and hard work stitch together our past, present and future,” Rogers said. “Our people are our greatest strength and they will carry our proud heritage into the future.”

ABF Earns Spot on 2009 InformationWeek 500 - Its Fourth Consecutive Appearance on the List

ABF Freight System, Inc., has been cited as an innovator in information technology by InformationWeek magazine, which lists ABF on the 2009 InformationWeek 500. The InformationWeek 500 companies were revealed on September 14, 2009, at a gala awards ceremony at the St. Regis Resort in Monarch Beach, Calif. ABF appears on the list for a fourth consecutive year.

"For over 20 years, the InformationWeek 500 has honored the most innovative users of business technology," said Rob Preston InformationWeek editor-in-chief. "Year after year, InformationWeek 500 companies harness technology to improve efficiency, boost productivity, drive revenue, and establish a competitive advantage. We applaud this year's winners, and the CIOs and other executives whose ingenuity and risk taking are at the center of business technology innovation."

The InformationWeek 500 rankings are unique among corporate rankings as it spotlights the power of innovation in information technology, rather than simply identifying the biggest IT spenders. To be ranked in the InformationWeek 500, companies with revenue of $250 million or more must complete a rigorous application on their technology strategies. The process includes quantitative and qualitative assessments of business tech innovation. Completed applications are reviewed by a panel of InformationWeek editors, who determine the ranking. The data is aggregated for all 500 companies.

"ABF is honored to be included on this prestigious list once again," said ABF Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing Roy Slagle. "Through collaboration with our customers, our IT group continues to improve supply-chain visibility and processes through homegrown innovation. The result is a unique experience where user-centric applications are designed to meet the specific needs of our customers."

Analyst: "Fierce" competition leading to discounts in LTL market

Despite some signs that overall freight demand has bottomed and is picking up, the less-than-truckload market remains extremely competitive, with some of the biggest carriers continuing to offer steep discounts in an effort to grab market share in the down economy.

Still, shippers think prices are going to go up over the next few months. Full Story.....

YRC Worldwide’s future looks more promising, analyst says

YRC Worldwide Inc. still is losing customers to competitor Con-way Inc., but YRC’s future is beginning to look more promising, an analyst said Tuesday.

Con-way, based in San Mateo, Calif., has cut prices to drive volumes, prompting more small and midsized shippers to move additional portions of freight away from YRC because of concerns about the company, Longbow Research analyst Lee Klaskow said in a note. But recent channel checks have shown that freight from large customers has stabilized, the note said. Full Story.....

YRC Worldwide Ranks 62 on 2009 InformationWeek 500

YRC Worldwide Inc. announced today that the company has ranked 62 on the 2009 InformationWeek 500, an annual listing of the nation's most innovative users of business technology. The 2009 InformationWeek 500 companies were revealed on September 14, 2009 at an awards ceremony held during the InformationWeek 500 Conference at the St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort in Dana Point, California.

"This award is an affirmation of our continued steps to develop and advance technology that enables our employees to excel and better service our customers," said Mike Naatz, Chief Information Officer, YRC Worldwide. "It is a pleasure and honor to be acknowledged by InformationWeek again this year for our continual innovation in providing technology solutions for the transportation and supply chain industries."

YRC Worldwide Technologies was recognized by InformationWeek for its new application, the Pricing and Activity Management System (PAMS). YRC Worldwide IT, Pricing and Sales teams collaborated to develop this ground-breaking new application. YRC Worldwide was determined to cut the waiting time for customers requesting a pricing bid. YRC Worldwide wanted to retire the legacy systems used by Roadway and Yellow (now YRC). With PAMS, YRC has the ability to respond to bid requests promptly, with customized pricing agreements. In its first four months of full deployment, PAMS drove a reduction of 25% in the closure rate of pricing requests. YRC now completes most simple pricing requests in a day.

"For over 20 years, the InformationWeek 500 has honored the most innovative users of business technology," said InformationWeek Editor-in-Chief Rob Preston. "Year after year, InformationWeek 500 companies harness technology to improve efficiency, boost productivity, drive revenue, and establish a competitive advantage. We applaud this year's winners, and the CIOs and other executives whose ingenuity and risk taking are at the center of business technology innovation."