4 Gen Logistics

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My organization is a tissue and towel manufacturing and distribution company, and we have three facilities currently servicing our customers in Oklahoma City, Moreno Valley California, and Winchester Virginia. I’m the VP of the supply chain, so I oversee the supply chain organization, which encompasses customer service, transportation, distribution, operations, import, and transportation.

What challenge were you trying to address with 4 Gen Logistics?

With Long Beach being one of the most prestigious ports in the US, it always experiences volume congestion. With the amount of volume and turnover, we had to spend a lot of time inside the port queueing for containers — which resulted in a lot of different costs such as staff, transportation, and demurrage. Sometimes it was because of contract negotiations, terminal congestion, and other areas.

What was the scope of their involvement?

4 Gen presented us with a cold program between their company and another shipping company. The program allows us to immediately designate specific crewing with the Long Beach Port at the terminal after the vessel discharges. This is so our product or container actually moves directly within a 1–2 ship operation.

Additionally, this program exempts us from appointments, and our containers are moved expeditiously to the Rialto Inland Yard. In general terms, 4 Gen is a logistics company that delivers full import containers from Long Beach to our facility — which they then return empty to the port.

What is the team composition?

Our main point of contact is Keith (Sales Manager), and we also have a direct relationship with David (Owner).

How did you come to work with 4 Gen Logistics?

The product that they launched was presented as a unique opportunity for us. It’s almost like creating a shuttle operation between Rialto and the port, and then a second operation from Rialto to our facility.

How much have you invested with them?

In general, we’ve probably spent north of $2.2 million per annum.

What is the status of this engagement?

The ongoing partnership started in July 2019.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

The feedback is very positive and we’re very satisfied that the service has allowed us to improve a lot of the supply chain effectiveness in our organization — it made our products more readily available in an expedited manner. I would say the best benefit we’ve received from this partnership is the balance of costs and services.

Now, we have a lot of expedited availability and we’re able to de-bottleneck the port congestion issues that we experienced in the past. As for the costs, we’ve been able to minimize the amount of demurrage that we used to spend at the port. While there are still additional costs, the benefits outweigh them, which results in 6-digit savings for the company.

How did 4 Gen Logistics perform from a project management standpoint?

We jointly devised a shared online document where we update a lot of the availability, status, and feedback in terms of the container deliveries. This creates a more streamlined communication between all the parties involved.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their scrutiny to details is very satisfying — 4 Gen almost never calls us in the usual term. They have very tight planning even before the vessels call the terminal. As for the speed of their operation, it’s almost like we can expect our containers to always be available at the Rialto location with 24 hours — which is really magnificent. We can always count on them to bring a steady supply of products and know exactly when we’ll get them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They can probably continue delivering in terms of an improved IT portal to allow the customers to communicate through their platform.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would highly encourage them to speak to 4 Gen, to see what they can do for their company. I would also suggest that they approach them with an open mind and see if there are any other synergies they can do.